How do you deal with a request from a family member or friend, who ask you to take their picture – for free?
Do you charge friends if they ask you to take photos? Do you charge uncle Ben when he want´s you to photograph all of his five children?
For many aspiring photographers this situation is a hot potato!
I´ve gotten countless of emails concerning this issue, because it can be so tricky to deal with. As a photographer you might like to get paid (oh yes) but you don´t want to come of as “being to much” or being stingy or un-friendly when it comes to friends and relatives.
My friends/family don´t ask me for free pictures anymore, they know I´m working hard and running a serious business. But I think it´s normal when you are still starting out, that people tend to think they can ask you to do it for free. It happened to me many times when I was first starting out!
When this happened I simply educated them and told them that there was much more to it than pressing a button. I explained that it would take lots of preparation and many hours of editing and therefore I could not take time out of my schedule to do it.
I said, “thank you for asking, but with my three kids and my business I simply don´t have the luxury to find time to do unpaid work”.
The moment you start to take your own work and time seriously people will feel this and be more careful to ask.
Keep in mind that people don´t ask to be rude, they ask because they don´t know how much effort you need to put into it – so my advice is to educate them about the amount of time it takes. Don´t justify yourself just say it as it is. And remember if you say yes to one friend…more will ask, so don´t go there 
If you aim to make it as a photographer, creating compelling images is the way you´ll make a living. If you give away your images for free, or spend too much time responding to requests for free images, you cannot make a living – it´s as simple as that.
As a photographer (beginner or pro) you also have expenses to cover. You need to buy a camera, lenses, a computer, software, storage devices. You need to pay for website hosting, and maybe even logo and a branding identity.
In other words, you need to respect that your work is worth something – no matter your level as a photographer, you still need to cover your expenses. So if you´re not feeling worthy enough to get paid yet – at least promise me, to think about all the expenses you need to cover!
Spending time photographing friends and family is great in the beginning, it´s a good way to practice your skills. But if you wish to push yourself to learn faster and become even more creative, I recommend that you early on start to photograph people you don´t know well. It can be friends of friends or children from the local school. But always ask for a fee – even if it´s a small one. You can always raise your price as you get more comfortable with your work and skills.
At some point you need to move beyond family and friends, push yourself out of the comfort zone and decide that you are serious about making a living of being a photographer.
Taking pictures for free, will never pay your bills, cover your expenses or make you feel good in the long run.
Everything you do is worth something!
Much love,Christina Greve
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
This is so true, and not only for photographers. My mother’s boyfriend, for instance, is an electrician. He sais promtly no to do any unpaid work for friends and family. But he do, from time to time, help us, and I in return help him with things that I normally do for a living – but for him I do it for free. So I think one can do for free for friends and family, if BOTH parts feel that they get paid in other ways (like doing things for each other).
Thank you so much for this article Christina! When I first started building my portfolio I did alot of sessions for free. I don’t think I realized how much work goes into editing. Once I realized how long photos took to edit, and the workflow process I started to avoid “free sessions.” Those sessions can only take you so far, and I feel to establish credibility as a business, you need clients who value your work. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration, hope, and talent
Thank your for this, Christina. I did only decide after doing photography for two years to ALWAYS get some sort of payment from family and friends. Now it’s time to venture out into photographing more people I don’t know quite as well!
Thank you again! : )
Hmm.. this post is making me feel like I’m doing something wrong. I’m only just starting out, so people don’t even know to ask me for photography. So I’m literally throwing myself at people who will let me take photos of them. I wonder if I am doing myself a disservice? But I need a portfolio – catch 22??
You are not doing anything wrong dear – we all have to make a start. In the beginning it´s all about practice and photographing as much as possible – and as long as it´s a hobby photographing friends and family for free is a good thing. But as soon as you take your first steps into running a photography business, that´s when you need a payment. You know you can always find models to work with via modelmayhem.com – a great way for aspiring models and photographers to build portfolio
Such a good and helpful article, christina! thank you! that`s one of my problems at the moment… :-/
Hugs!
Nora
this so true, but i feel that nobody understands this, even after i explained to my friends or family. They always say “please bring your camera” and then keep asking when the photos are ready! now i realize that the big mistake comes from me because i find diffucult to say “no”…
Thank you so much for this post, in some way it opened my eyes.
Thank you for your article. I enjoy photographing as a hobby and have no plans on going pro in any way although I want to learn more and explore for my own sake. I am often asked to bring my camera to various occations or asked to take photos of people. I can rely to many comments here.
I blog and several companies have asked to use my photos in promotions and newspaper articles. I’ve said yes for no charge – photo credit only… My boyfriend thinks I’m too nice and should charge for the use, but I find it very difficult to price my photos as I’m not a photographer professionally. I am instead happy and pleased someone found my pictures that interesting… A reward in itself, but they get to use the photos for free to benefit their cause/company and I get nothing. I think it’s difficult to set a value – not to mention saying no take someone’s pictures…. Awkward!
Your blog post gave me something to think about. Great blog as well.
Thank you
Such a great article. Few day ago I was asked by someone I don’t know, to take pictures at an expat event.This is the email I got:
) I am not good with taking good photos
I noticed that you are a photographer and I was wondering if you could help me. As you probably noticed we don’t have many photos posted from our past events for a couple of reasons: some never put them because of lack of time on their part and second (and you can easily see from the quality of the last ones posted by me
Would you be so kind to take a few photos (10-15) at our next event and post them please? It would mean so much to me and the community to finally have some nice event posted on our page!!!
I am still thinking what to do about this, since I don’t want to be perceived as a “no nice photographer”if I say no. But at the same time I feel that I could get future jobs if I do it.
Hi Barbara
I would send a reply like this;
“Sure I would love to! My price is $$$ (insert a good expensive fee). Let me know if you´re still interested.
kind regards xx”
Make it sort and precise – no emotional reactions – no freebies or special price
Remember you only want NICE costumers who love your work so much, that they are happy to pay – forget about the rest!
Show them that you respect yourself.
Hugs/ C