Cosplay photography prices!
Whether you’re a cosplayer looking to find out how much you should be paying for a cosplay photoshoot. Or a photographer deciding how much should you charge. Cosplay photography prices can vary all over the place! Is there a standard price you should be abiding to? Or is it really up to you? Let’s find out.
Cosplay photography prices – how much should you charge or pay?
In terms of cosplay photography prices, there isn’t any universal standard pricing that a cosplayer or photographer needs to follow. A cosplay photographer at an Anime convention can charge on the low end from $20-50 for a 30-60 minute photoshoot, while other photographers will charge up to $100. While the experience and the reputation of the cosplay photographer can determine the prices, there are other things that can dictate the price.
In this post, I’ll go over the main points regarding cosplay photography prices, how you can charge more money as a photographer (or save money as a cosplayer), and give you the best information so you’re getting the best bang for your buck.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
What is the “right” price for cosplay photography?
There is right or wrong price when it comes to cosplay photography. A newbie photographer can charge $100 or more and if the demand is there from cosplayers, then that’s totally fine. Likewise, I know lots of cosplay photographers who don’t even charge money for their shoots for various reasons (e.g. the cosplayers are friends with the photographers, the photographer is giving back to the community).
If you’re a cosplayer, instead of looking for the cheapest price or going for the most expensive thinking that’s the best thing, I would suggest instead working with different photographers and seeing which one is best for you. As a cosplayer that’s done many photoshoots myself, I can tell you that I’ve had some great photoshoots with photographers that charged very little money! And there were times when I paid a decent amount and they definitely delivered on the quality.
At the same time, I’ve also paid a lot of money and was fairly disappointed with the photos I got back; the photographer clearly just wanted to make a quick buck. So in short, your mileage may vary, and you’ll get good and bad experiences with photographers, regardless of the prices they charge.
I also want to point out their own skills as a cosplayer and model play a big role in how you look on camera, not the photoshoot price. Paying tons of money for a photoshoot cannot cover up if your costume looks bad or if you don’t have much experience posing on camera. So make sure your cosplay “game” is on point! If you want to learn more on how to improve your cosplay, click here to read my guide. Or if you want to learn more cosplay modeling, click here.
How to charge more money as a photographer
If you’re a cosplay photographer and you’re looking for ways to charge more money for your cosplay photoshoots, then that’s totally fine! After all, cosplay photography is a time-consuming hobby when you factor all the photoshoots and edits you need to do. So you totally deserve to get the compensation you feel you deserve.
Here’s how to increase your prices:
- Adjust your prices according to demand. The more cosplayers you have wanting to do photoshoots with you, the more you can charge! It’s how a small business works. Try increasing your prices slightly and see how the reaction is. If you’re still getting the demand, then you’re good to go. If not, then you may need to hold off on increasing prices for now.
- Boost your reputation and take lots of great cosplay photos. The more cosplay photos you take, the more people will know about you! When I’m on Instagram, I tend to see the same cosplay photos by a few cosplay photographers, because of their high reputation in the community. And it makes me want to do a photoshoot with that particular photographer, because of how good their photos are. This is the type of work you need to do in order to get better and easily increase your prices.
- Do group photos. Because it’s more difficult and more photos are needed when there is a group involved, it’s perfectly fine to charge more money for group photoshoots. So when you advertise your cosplay photography prices, be sure to emphasize any discounts you can give for having more than 1 cosplayer in the shoot. And cosplayers love to save money, so if they can do so by being in a group shoot, they for sure will want to do that!
How to get the best prices for cosplay photography
Now if you’re a cosplayer looking to decide what price you should fork out for cosplay photography, you’re either looking for the cheapest available options or you want to find the BEST photographer for YOU. Let me explain the options:
- Looking for the cheapest options available. If you’re looking to save money, then try to look time-for-pay (TFP) cosplay photographers, who will do a photoshoot with you for free in exchange for experience and portfolio pictures for them. Either that, or look for newer photographers who will charge less. Again, your mileage may vary, so don’t expect much from a free photoshoot. Also, I suggest you start networking with cosplay photographers. Help them out by testing out things for them, being friends with them, etc. That way, you can either get discounts, other photoshoot opportunities or even free photoshoots with them.
- Wait until an Anime or Comic convention for the best cosplay photoshoot prices. As I mention many times on this website, Anime and comic conventions are the best places to do cosplay photoshoots because of how convenient it is, and how you don’t have to pay extra to shoot at the convention. When you do shoots at a park or private studio, it costs money to rent or buy a permit, so the photographer has to increase their prices accordingly. But since conventions don’t charge for doing photoshoots (for now), the photographer can keep the prices lower. So aim for your photoshoot dates to coincide with a convention!
- Find the best photographer for YOU. This is the most important point. Finding the best cosplay photographer that suits your needs and makes you look the best, will make it the right price for you. As mentioned earlier, I’ve worked with photographers that only cared about the money, and the photos clearly showed that. But on the other hand, I’ve worked with other cosplay photographers that knew my strengths and weaknesses, asked me questions on how to make the shoot better, and they made me look as best as possible. So the best price for a cosplay photographer will be the one that makes you look best. 🙂
And that’s it! There isn’t a standard price for cosplay photography prices because there is a lot of nuance that goes into it, that we covered in this article. I hope you found it useful.
If you have any questions, leave a comment below. 🙂
My name is Roger Senpai. I’m a cosplayer that’s been in the community for well over a decade now. I’ve traveled all over the world to Anime and Comic conventions and hosted my own cosplay events. Now I’m writing articles for new and experienced cosplayers like you to help inspire, save you money and improve your cosplays!
