Every professional photographer has asked at some point: how much should photography cost? It’s a longstanding question without an easy answer. But, could this be yet another annoyance that photographers could instead delegate to software? Zenfolio thinks so. The photography portfolio and booking platform recently launched a new tool called Smart Pricing. The tool uses factors like location and genre to suggest a price for prints, products, and digital downloads.
Zenfolio says Smart Pricing is based on “historical data points gathered from photographers pricing their products on the Zenfolio platform.” The algorithms are not a one-size-fits all number. The pricing estimates change based on the user’s location, the cost at local print labs, and the genre of photography. That means the software is taking pricing that users have set, making adjustments for genre and location, and suggesting a price based on that data. The new tool comes shortly after the company acquired a program for photo culling, Zenfolio Photorefine.
What’s Smart Pricing?
Zenfolio also notes that:
- Smart pricing is based on data from hundreds of thousands of data points.
- The goal is to help photographers save time from researching the local market.
- The system suggests prices based on location, genre, and lab fees.
- Photographers can use the suggested price or set their own.
- It’s included in the Zenfolio PortfolioPlus and ProSuite subscriptions.
Average prices are a good tool, but not the rulebook
Other photography platforms also suggest print prices. What’s different about Zenfolio’s new tool is that it’s based on location and genre rather than a one-size-fits-all price list. Location can play a major role in pricing. I can be told that my prices are too high one day, only to drive an hour to a major metropolitan area to be told I’m undercharging. Having access to data for the local area could be a big help.
But, at the same time, there are additional factors that aren’t considered. It doesn’t, for example, consider the actual cost of the session itself, just the prints. Some photographers use lower session fees and higher print costs and vice versa. Some photographers use a low cost to take the actual photos, then earn much of their income selling the prints.
Photographers also have a pretty wide range of print prices. I’ve seen photographers shooting sessions for less than what I would spend in gas to get there. On the flip side, it’s not uncommon for fine art photographers to charge three figures for large prints. Would averaging those prices cheapen the industry? Or would the pricing figures reinforce stereotypes among different genres of photography? Could averaging prices create predatory pricing?
I think the greater risk is actually underpricing artwork. Pricing a piece of art isn’t the same as pricing out an identical product. Art is subjective, and there’s a wide range of skill sets and styles among photographers. Just like some paintings sell for cheap and others for millions, a print by a photographer just learning the craft isn’t going to cost as much as a print by a nationally known photographer. That’s what photographers need to keep in mind when setting prices. Finding the average is a great start. Are you a newbie that’s below average? An average photographer? Or a one-of-a-kind artist? The answers to those questions need to be paired with other factors, like session fees, which aren’t part of the pricing tool.
If Smart Pricing is used just to inform decisions on pricing, it will be a solid tool. But photographers should consider it research, not a rulebook. I admire what Zenfolio is trying to do with Smart Pricing. It’s working towards easing a very common frustration, particularly for artists who want to spend more time making art and less time on business decisions. But I would treat those prices as suggestions and encourage photographers to consider the factors an algorithm cannot.
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