What does a shoot have to cost for you to make a living?

How the number is built

1. Revenue needed = expenses + take-home ÷ (1 − set-aside). If you keep 25% for tax and contributions, every 75 you take home needs 100 of profit.
2. Price per shoot = revenue needed ÷ paid shoots per year. Count only shoots you actually invoice, not enquiries.
3. Hourly rate = price per shoot ÷ all hours the job takes, including editing, travel and admin. A 900 shoot that eats 15 hours pays 60 an hour; the same shoot at 8 hours pays 112.
4. Break-even shoots = expenses ÷ price per shoot: the number of jobs that only pay the bills before you earn anything.

What belongs in expenses

• Gear depreciation: bodies, lenses, lighting, computers, replaced every three to five years, so a 12,000 kit costs about 3,000 a year.
• Software, gallery hosting, insurance, accounting, website, marketing and advertising, travel, workspace, second shooters and assistants, education.
• Not the tax on your income: that is what the set-aside percentage is for.

What the calculator does not know

• Your market. It tells you the floor, not whether clients in your city will pay it. If the floor is above the market, the fix is fewer expenses, more shoots, a different client, or a different line of work, not a lower number.
• Print and album sales, which can carry a low session fee. Add them to shoots or subtract them from the income target.
• Your actual tax rate. The set-aside is a single percentage; ask your accountant for the real one in your country and canton or state.