Photo Lesson Pricing

I have had a request for a couple of hours of my time as a Christmas gift to a spouse regarding wildlife photography. This is the first time this has happened to me, and after my head came out of the clouds, I am contemplating what to charge. I am seeking suggestions on what to charge. Any comments appreciated.

Just thinking that $100 for 2 hours sounds about right.

I charge $50/hr or 4 hours for $175. Thinking of raising my rates in 2015 but most folks think my prices are pretty reasonable.
Good luck! Teaching is fun and I hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays!

I came from a design contracting background, so I got used to charging more than Rick and Kate for my time. I will reduce the price-per-person for group lessons, but on an individual basis you have to be sure you're making it worth your while. Teaching can be very rewarding--and good training if you have ever considered doing more of it or guiding down the road--but you still have to be sure you're not just donating your time. Make sure to take any potential expenses into account when determining your rate. If they're coming over to your place for the lesson, you have no expenses to worry about. If you're the one that has to commute, suddenly there's more time, gas money, etc. being spent.

Max

I used to charge $50 per hour plus 40 cents per mile mileage round trip from my home to wherever the tutoring took place. Became too confusing so I simply raised the rate to $60/hr and no mileage. Then I found out two things about "only" an hour. First, if the distance was great, it wasn't worth my time. In come cases I was driving an hour one way, two hours round trip for only a $60 session. Secondly, I found an hour is not enough time to get over the introductions and what they want to learn to get to the meat of the tutoring session. So now it's a two hour minimum at $60 per hour or $120. I do discount a third hour if they wish but I tend to discourage it because 3 hours I've found for most folks is too much ground to cover for max retention. Hope this helps. JR

Agree with John Reed and his approach about a minimum of 2 hours + travel costs + time if you have to travel more than 30 minutes. A client just bought a 5 hour block of time from me for their daughter-in-law. It will be spread over two sessions - the first a shooting session, the second an image review and critique, with some Photoshop processing techniques. I charged $50 per hour plus local taxes.

I just sent a sample gift card as part of an eNewsletter I sent to my database. Good way to secure new business. Here's what it looked like (some wording supplied by client - assembled in PS-CS6).

Thanks so much to all of you for your suggestions. I appreciate it.