What should be optional in a photography proposal?

In this template: Extra edited photos ($25.00 USD per photo), Headshots for the team ($90.00 USD per person), Short social video ($600.00 USD). Optional lines sit next to the base price with a switch, so clients choose them without a follow-up email.

How much to charge for photography

Updated September 19, 2026. Example prices in US dollars from the photography proposal template.

Short answer: Price photography as one fixed line (half-day brand shoot at $1,400.00 USD) with a starting total of $2,000.00 USD, then 3 optional lines (extra edited photos, headshots for the team, short social video) the client can switch on, and quantities the client sets within your limits. Set your own numbers; the structure is what gets accepted.

A worked example for photographers: the pricing lines from our photography proposal, what is fixed, what the client can switch on, and how to present it so the total gets accepted rather than negotiated.

The example pricing

Line	Example price	How it is sold
Half-day brand shootFour hours, forty edited photos	$1,400.00 USD	Included
Extra edited photosBeyond the forty included	$25.00 USD per photo	Optional, off by defaultClient picks 0 to 40
Headshots for the teamTwenty minutes each	$90.00 USD per person	Optional, off by defaultClient picks 1 to 30
Short social videoSixty-second behind-the-scenes cut	$600.00 USD	Optional, on by default

Starting total with the defaults on: $2,000.00 USD, before the client chooses among 3 optional lines, with 2 quantities the client sets within your limits. Example prices in US dollars; the template works in 16 currencies and every number is yours to change.

How to present it

The core templates cover the projects most freelancers sell: a fixed-scope build, a retainer, a shoot, a consulting engagement. Each one prices the defined work as one line and everything negotiable as an option the client can switch on.

Fixed price for the thing you can define, recurring for the thing that continues, and countable options for whatever clients tend to add. That structure survives almost any trade.

Whatever you charge, the client should be able to see the total change as they choose. A total that responds is a total that gets accepted.

Questions people ask

How much should I charge for photography?: Price photography as one fixed line (half-day brand shoot at $1,400.00 USD) with a starting total of $2,000.00 USD, then 3 optional lines (extra edited photos, headshots for the team, short social video) the client can switch on, and quantities the client sets within your limits. Set your own numbers; the structure is what gets accepted.
What should be optional in a photography proposal?: In this template: Extra edited photos ($25.00 USD per photo), Headshots for the team ($90.00 USD per person), Short social video ($600.00 USD). Optional lines sit next to the base price with a switch, so clients choose them without a follow-up email.
How do I present photography pricing so it gets accepted?: The core templates cover the projects most freelancers sell: a fixed-scope build, a retainer, a shoot, a consulting engagement. Each one prices the defined work as one line and everything negotiable as an option the client can switch on.

Why this structure gets accepted

One fixed line the client can say yes to. Half-day brand shoot is priced as a whole, so the conversation is about the result, not the hours.
Options on the page, not in follow-up emails. Extra edited photos, Headshots for the team, Short social video sit next to the base price with a switch. People choose what they can see.
The total moves as they choose. On a Quote and Sign page the client toggles lines and sets quantities, watches the total update, and signs with their name. What they chose becomes part of the signed record.

Put it in front of a client

Open this pricing as a real proposal, change the words and numbers, and send the link. Your client reads it on their phone, adjusts the options, and accepts with one tap. Both of you get the signed PDF.

Try it in the editor, no account See the photography proposal template