What a commission actually costs you
A plain-language look at where the money goes when you hire a photographer for a day — and why the day rate is the small part.
When a quote lands and the number surprises someone, it’s almost always because they’re picturing the shoot day and nothing else. The shoot day is maybe a third of it.
There’s the scouting and the pre-light. There’s the edit — a careful selection, then hours of retouching that you never see and shouldn’t have to think about. There’s the gear that has to keep working in the rain, and the years it took to know which frame to keep.
You’re not paying for a day. You’re paying for the twelve images that survive it, and the certainty that they’ll be good.
