Photography Studios
How to Start a Photography Studio: Estimating Your Cost of Sales
The cost of sales for a photography studio represents the direct costs of each job. Costs which support these jobs, but are shared among a number of jobs, are accounted for separately on your income statement. Knowing your cost of sales helps you to determine the gross profit you earn from a given job. It is this number, rather than the price of a job, which you should use to study the profitability and value of different jobs and clients.
What goes into cost of sales?
For location shoots, cost of sales will include all of the direct costs of travel to and from the location (whether it is gas, taxi, train, bus, etc.) If you are delivering prints, an album, or framed work, the cost of materials and labor to provide those services should be included. If you hire an assistant or additional photographers on an hourly or project rate for the job, the cost of that additional labor is also part of the cost of sales. However, if you or other employees work on a salary basis, the portion of your time spent on a given job is not considered cost of sales. As this salary would have to be paid regardless of the job happening, it is considered a general operating cost or fixed cost.
What you learn from cost of sales?
By looking at the cost of sales for different types of jobs and different clients as a percentage of the revenue earned for each, you will be able to compare the profitability of each project. Over time you may develop a standard maximum percentages for cost of sales. You should keep an eye on jobs which threaten to rise above this percentage. You can then determine on a case-by-case basis whether it is worth working with that client again, if the project should be priced differently, or if costs can be decreased in the future. Sometimes higher costs should be borne for certain clients because there are non-financial returns to take into account (such as the publicity and reputation you might earn by doing photo shoots for celebrity clients).
About the Author
Are you looking for more tips on opening a photography business or advice on developing photography business plans? Call 877-BIZ-PLAN to learn how Growthink can help you build your photography business.
A Guided Tour in Yuri Arcurs’ Photo Studio
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American Art Pottery $55 New – The foremost dealer and collector in America shares his knowledge and experience to provide a beautifully photographed guide to the major studios and artists as he explains how to appreciate and appraise individual pieces. The sumptuous forms and colors produced by studios such as Rookwood, Newcomb, Teco, Tiffany, Fulper and Roseville are detailed with rich color photography. How these studios began and who influenced their works form part of the text, but the primary focus is on allowing |
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American Sustainable Houses $81.14 New – Sustainability is the buzzword–and the imperative–in architecture today. These projects–the finest, most pioneering examples of sustainable architecture in America today–rise to the challenge. Full-color photography and commentary from the design studios show the innovations: standard materials used in new ways, unconventional solutions such as bamboo, paper, bottles, and tires, and much more. American Sustainable Architecture is packed with inspiring ideas for ensuring the future of o |
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An Absence So Great $1.99 Did photography replace an absence in her life or expose the truth of her heart’s emptiness? While growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning.   Jessie gains footing in her dream to one day operate her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can’t keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life. |
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An Absence So Great: A Novel $11.99 Did photography replace an absence in her life or expose the truth of her heart’s emptiness? While growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning. Jessie gains footing in her dream to one day operate her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can’t keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.From the Trade Paperback edition. |
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An Architecture of the Ozarks $40 Marlon Blackwell is a passionate polemicist. He’’s also a very gifted architect. The projects in this first monograph on the radical ruralist, as touted by the Royal Institute of British Architects, offer a new architectural language that at once celebrate the vernacular and transgress the boundaries of the conventional. The results areA[a, ?a we can”t help it, there’’s no better wordA[a, ?a beautiful. Incisive essays by David Buege, Dan Hoffman, and Juhani Pallasmaa and lush photography by Tim Hursley, Richard Johnson, and Kevin Latady explore Blackwell’’s projects, including his widely acclaimed Keenan TowerHouse, the award-winning Moore HoneyHouse, 2Square House, and Flynn-Schmitt BarnHouse, studios, and institutional buildings. Marlon Blackwell has received national and international recognition for his residential projects. He teaches architecture at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. |
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July 15, 2011 8:08 pm | 
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