One of the hardest things for photographers is effectively figuring out what our services are worth. There are numerous factors to ascertaining what you are worth. I think the most obvious factor – and often times the only factor – that most clients consider and care about is the quality of the finished product. What a lot of people don’t realize is the work that goes on behind the scenes – the time spent shooting and the time spent processing.

About a year ago, I was approached by a local company wanting to hire me for event shooting. These events happened every two to three months and consisted of a press conference, a pre-party, the event and a post party. This was the first time that I had been asked to work on a scale such as this and I really gave it some serious thought. I factored in the amount of time it would take me to shoot each event and included travel time, shooting time and processing time. When all was said and done, I had arrived at a rate that was modest and fair, based on a reasonable estimate of the amount of time I would need to spend on the project. Of course this would vary per event as some might have taken more or less time depending on the event. At any rate, I figured I had arrived at a number that was more than fair due to my previous experience.

However – in part due to the number of photographers in the area trying to get into the same area of photography, and the majority of them offered cut rates, or even work for free “just to get in the door” – the deal never went forward. It’s a weird thing with photographers and I never understood why. I really don’t know of any other jobs in the world where people work for free “just to get in the door”. That’s usually reserved for practicums while you are still studying in school. My first background was in web development and I never worked for free “just to get in the door”. Sure, my first job wasn’t the greatest paying but over the years I’ve moved up and over and up – and sometimes back down – to get where I am today.

As a photographer, I’m always looking for cost effective – if not free – ways to advertise and grow my customer/fan base. Before I continue, I want to make it clear that for me, this is a side business and not my main means of providing for my family. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not, but I think if it was my only source of income most – if not all – of what I’m talking about would still hold true.

Enter Groupon. LivingSocial. WagJag. Kijiji Deals. There’s so many these days, I can’t keep up. There’s even a company that started up called OneSpout that delivers ALL deals to you in one email on a daily basis. Yesterday I noticed not 1, not 2, but 3 photography related deals. I’ve seen a few before here and there and wondered the ROI on those and seeing these three on the same day once again got me to thinking. I had thought about Groupon and LivingSocial before and have read a few things on merchant’s experiences with them and am still fairly undecided. One post I read comparing Groupon to LivingSocial mentioned that Groupon takes 50% – yes 50% – of the selling price, and also charges 2.5% on top of that for any purchases made with a credit card – which I’d assume would be quite a few considering these are all online sales. Although it does sound like this percentage is negotiable, it’s still pretty steep. Heck, I can throw a coupon in a local paper for a one time cost, and it doesn’t matter how many people redeem it – the paper doesn’t get a cut.

I haven’t looked to closely into what these online coupon sites cost the merchant, but to make things easy – let’s assume that it costs NOTHING to put put up a Groupon/LivingSocial/WagJag offer. I’m also going to be generous and keep the estimated hours on the low side. I also want to make it clear that I am not knocking these deals in any way, I’m just trying to understand the value or purpose for offering such deals.

Deal A: $49 for a Two-Hour Photo Shoot, 4 – 8×10′s, 2 – 5×7′s & up to 50 Edited Pictures on DVD (Valued at $700).

WOW! That really is a steal. Now let’s break it down. The deal mentions the two-hour photo shoot is in the location of your choice. Let’s assume 1/2 hour travel time each way (not to mention cost of gas), and 1/2 hour equipment setup and take down time. So far we are up to 3 1/2 hours. Already the photographer/company is down to working for $14/hr. Depending on the shoot, and the edits wanted by the client – I’ll go with 2 hours for processing & editing (based on a quick poll of photographers on Facebook). This includes offloading the files from your camera to your computer, going through them to find the “keepers”, and processing them for final delivery. So that puts said photographer up to 5 1/2 hours of time. We’re now down to $8.91/hr. Oh wait! The prints and the photos on DVD! Depending on where prints are done that cost really varies, but I think we’ve already seen the per hour “value” that has been attached to this photography/photography studios work – even though the deal mentions it has an actual value of $700.

At the time of this writing, there were 64 deals bought with 5 days and 8 hours left to go. Based on 5 1/2 hours of time, this photographer is going to be busy for roughly 352 hours – based on an 8 hour work day that’s 44 days to fulfill the current deals sold.

Deal B: $69 for a Photo Shoot, Prints and Image DVD (Valued at $660)

Again, WOW! This deal breaks it down a bit further – one two hour photo shoot, within a 50km radius of the GREATER Edmonton area (a $400 value), more than 50 digital images on DVD (a $75 value) an 11″ x 14″ print (a $125 value) and choice for one 8″ x 10″ or two 5″ x7″ prints (a $60 value). As you can see already, the deal price for this is below value of almost all of the individual components contained within it. But act quick! There’s only a limited number of deals available! At first glance, this makes sense to me – sell a few deals, but get the word out. However, I read further down and the one thing that really confused me about this deal is that the photographer mentions that he has 30 years of experience…

Now for the breakdown. This time let’s assume 1/2 hour to 1 hour travel time each way (not to mention cost of gas), and 1/2 hour equipment setup and take down time. So far we are up to 3 1/2 hours – 4 hours. Already the photographer/company is down to working for $19.71/hr – $17.25. Depending on the shoot, and the edits wanted by the client – I’ll go with 2 hours for processing & editing. This includes offloading the files from your camera to your computer, going through them to find the “keepers”, and processing them for final delivery. So that puts said photographer up to 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 hours of time. We’re now down to $12.55/hr – $10.62/hr. And again – there’s the photographer’s cost of the prints and DVD supplied as part of the deal.

Again, at the time of this writing, there were 374 deals sold with roughly 10 hours left. I don’t even know where to start on that one… I thought this deal was limited quantities? Based on this number of deals at 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 hours we are looking at between 2,057 and 2, 431 hours spent fulfilling this deal. Based on an 8 hour work day, that’s between 257 and 304 days. If this is all this photographer/studio ends up doing – that works out to a yearly salary of $25,806 (let’s give him a few days off, no one works 365 days/year). Please remember – this is ASSUMING Groupon/LivingSocial/WagJag cost the photographer nothing to offer a deal. Based on Groupon taking 50%, we’re down to a yearly salary of $12, 903. This is below the income considered to be the poverty lines ($14,000 – $20,377)  in Canada for a 1 person family depending on where he/she lives.

As much as I love photography, I know I wouldn’t willingly offer my services if it was my only source of income to live below poverty level. Not only that, for the number of extra hours as an extra income this wouldn’t really be worth my time as a photographer.

Deal C: $60 for $200 Two-Hour Photography Class and Nature Walk

This deal really caught my eye because it was different than most of the ones I have seen which have been similar to Deal A and Deal B. I’ve seen one other photography class offered and I suspect this is the way to go. With a deal like this you can target aspiring, beginner and experienced photographers and share your knowledge in a certain area of photography. The only thing you are really losing here is your time but if set up right, and for the right price, I’m sure that would be more than offset by the number of deals you sold. Unfortunately I was unable to find how many of this deal actually sold…

I’m not the world’s best photographer, I know that. As do all photographers, I have my strengths and my weaknesses. I provide a service and charge what I feel is fair for the quality and service I provide. But I would hope that photographers that charge less than I do provide a lesser service/quality product and those that charge more than me provide a better service/quality product. It only makes sense with physical, material objects we purchase, shouldn’t it be the same with services like photography?

I also want to mention the fact that most photography (e.g. the A and B examples) is something where the effort increases proportionally with the number of buyers. It’s this reason alone that makes me think Groupon (et al.) are not the best for photography and other such services: Groupon is all about getting people in the door in volume (which is why it’s all about the ‘activation’ quantity). If you run a store or restaurant and you normally get three people in on a Sunday, you can probably still handle five times that with your same staffing. You get more value out of more people. Any sort of one-on-one service (like photography) gets no real benefit from having “lots of customers” at a time.

In conclusion, I urge you not to sell yourself short or devalue yourself or your services with these types – or any types – of promotions. Not only are you devaluing your own services and products but it lowers the bar for other photographers providing similar services in your area.

If you are a photographer and have offered a deal through Groupon or LivingSocial or one of the many other online deal sites that are around these days, I’d love to hear about your deal, your experience and thoughts on why you decided to offer the deal that you did in the comments below…