# Pricing your photography services > A practical guide to pricing photography: work out your real costs, offer clear levels and extras, and present prices in CoreHue so clients choose easily. Source: https://help.corehue.co/docs/guides/pricing-your-services/ Use this guide to work out your session prices and present them in CoreHue. You can show a fixed or starting price on an inquiry service, charge per slot for bookings, and offer choices in a proposal. ## Start with what a shoot really costs you Before you pick a number, add up what each booking actually takes. A price that only covers your time behind the camera quietly loses money on everything around it. - **Your time.** Not just the session, but consultations, travel, culling, editing, emails and delivery. Editing alone often takes two or three times as long as the shoot. - **Hard costs.** Gear and its replacement, software, insurance, travel, second shooters, props, prints and albums. - **Overheads.** Your website, your tools, accounting, marketing and tax. - **Payment fees.** CoreHue doesn't charge a platform fee on your client payments. You only pay Stripe's processing fees on card payments. See [Payment details and fees](/docs/payments/payment-details-and-fees). - **A real wage.** What you need to earn per booking to make this a living, not a hobby that drains you. Add those up and you have your floor. Your prices should sit comfortably above it. ## Then factor in your market and your work Costs set the minimum. Your market and experience set how far above it you can go. - **Know your local market.** A wedding photographer in a capital city and one in a small town serve different budgets. Look at what photographers at your level charge nearby. - **Price for your experience.** Ten years and a strong portfolio can charge more than a first paid season, and should. - **Sell the result, not the hours.** Clients aren't paying for time. They're paying for photos and films they'll keep for decades. ## Offer two or three levels, not one number A single price gives a client one decision: yes or no. Two or three clear levels change the question to "which one?", which is a much easier yes. - **Entry level:** the essentials at your lowest price. - **Middle level:** more coverage or more to take home. Make it the obvious best value. Many people choose the middle. - **Top level:** everything. Even clients who don't buy it make the middle feel reasonable. Keep the differences easy to scan: more hours, more edited photos, a highlight film, an album, a second shooter. Three is plenty. ## Use extras to grow the booking Extras let a client start at a level that fits and build it up themselves. They lift your average booking without raising your base prices. Common photography extras: extra hours, a second shooter, a highlight film, prints or an album, an engagement session, rush delivery, extra edited images. When clients choose their own extras, it feels like service, not a sales pitch. ## Where prices live in CoreHue There are three places, and each does a different job. ### 1. Items: your price list **Templates → Items** is your catalog. Each item has a name, an optional description and an optional price: *Wedding coverage, 8 hours*, *Second shooter*, *Highlight film*. Proposals and invoices pull from it, so your wording stays the same for every client. Leave the price empty on anything you quote case by case. See [Saving reusable items](/docs/payments/saved-items). ### 2. Services: one price, plus add-ons A **direct booking** or **mini session** service has one price, because the client is buying a specific time. Add-ons are the extras they can take while booking, with a quantity if it makes sense. See [Pricing, deposits and payment deadlines](/docs/online-booking/pricing-and-deposits) and [Adding add-ons to a service](/docs/online-booking/add-ons). An **inquiry** service doesn't take payment, so you choose how the price is shown on your booking page instead: a fixed price, "starting at", per hour, or no price at all. "Starting at" suits weddings and commercial work, where the final figure depends on the job. See [Setting up an inquiry service](/docs/online-booking/inquiry-services). ### 3. Proposals: where levels and choices come together A proposal is where a real quote happens, and it's built for tiered pricing: - **Included item** rows are part of the price, not optional. - **Add-on** rows are extras the client can tick, with a quantity if you allow it. - **Client choices** is a named group where the client picks exactly one option. That's your two or three levels. The total updates as the client chooses, and the proposal can carry the contract and a payment schedule too, so there's no gap between yes and booked. See [Offering options and add-ons in a proposal](/docs/proposals/offering-choices). ## Present prices so clients say yes - **Lead with what they get,** then the price. - **Show levels side by side.** A proposal does this for you. - **Answer the price question in your first reply.** "Let's jump on a call to discuss pricing" is where inquiries go cold. Send the proposal, or at least a figure. - **Make accepting the next step.** A proposal with the contract and deposit attached turns a yes into a booking in one sitting. - **Take a deposit.** It commits the client and protects your date. See [Getting paid on time as a photographer](/docs/guides/getting-paid-on-time). ## Frequently asked questions ### Should I show prices on my booking page? Showing at least a starting price filters out clients who aren't a fit and saves you both time. Hiding prices tends to bring more inquiries, but fewer of them book. Many photographers show "starting at" for big jobs and fixed prices for sessions. ### Can I charge in different currencies? Your default currency is set once in your profile. On Pro you can invoice in other currencies too. See [Invoicing in more than one currency](/docs/invoices/multiple-currencies). ### How do I raise my prices for existing clients? Update your items and services for new bookings. Proposals and invoices you've already sent keep their prices, so nothing changes for clients mid-booking. ### Can a proposal offer different levels without three separate quotes? Yes. Put your levels in a **Client choices** group and the client picks one. See [Creating a proposal](/docs/proposals/creating-a-proposal).