Should I Require a Retainer for Photography Sessions?

Quick Answer

Yes. Photographers should generally require some form of financial commitment before considering a photography session officially booked.

That's how I handle my own photography business, but requiring money to book and deciding what to call that payment are two different questions.

When you reserve a date for a client, you're reserving time you can no longer offer to someone else. You may also begin planning, communicating, scouting, arranging travel or holding additional calendar space before you ever pick up your camera.

Retainer, deposit, reservation fee and session fee aren't necessarily interchangeable terms. Your contract should clearly explain what the payment is for and what happens if plans change.

When Is a Photography Session Actually Booked?

Someone sends you a message.

They love your work.

They want to book.

You discuss dates.

They pick one.

Great.

But are they actually booked? For me, the answer is no.

A client's name written on your calendar isn't payment for the space they're occupying on it.

There should be an actual booking process, and part of that process should include a financial commitment from the client.

Because once I reserve that space, I'm making decisions based on the expectation that this session is happening.

I may turn away another client who wants the same date.

I may begin planning the session.

I may need to account for travel.

And depending on the session, I may be protecting more of my calendar than the client realizes.

“She said yes in a Facebook message” isn't booked.

It's a very enthusiastic inquiry.

Why Should Photographers Require Money to Book?

Because booking a photography session has value before the photography happens.

Your time isn't limited only to the hours you're holding a camera.

There's communication.

Planning.

Scheduling.

Possibly location scouting.

Travel arrangements.

Administrative work.

And the simple fact that you've taken a date off the market for everyone else.

That doesn't mean every photographer needs to charge the same amount or structure the payment the same way.

It means that when you're taking a date off the market for a client, they should have some skin in the game too.

You're committing calendar space to them.

They should be making a commitment to you.

Equine Photographers Have Another Problem: Weather

If you photograph horses outdoors, you already know where this is going.

Weather.

You can plan all you want, and then Tennessee decides we're having three seasons before lunch.

I had one spring when every single session I photographed had to be rescheduled at least once because of the weather.

Every. Single. One.

And I had one particularly unlucky client whose session we had to move five times because of storms.

That's the reality of photographing horses outdoors.

A session on your calendar isn't always occupying just the original date. When weather starts moving sessions around, one booking can affect multiple dates and potentially block space you could have offered to someone else.

And during the busiest parts of spring and fall, those dates are valuable.

That's why your booking and rescheduling policies need to reflect the way your business actually operates.

You can't control the weather.

You can control whether you've thought through what happens when it inevitably messes with your calendar.

What Should a Photography Booking Payment Cover?

There's no universal answer.

Before deciding your retainer should be $500 because another photographer charges $500, figure out what that money actually needs to accomplish in your business.

• Does it help compensate you for the time you've already committed?

• Does it account for planning and administrative work?

• Travel or gas?

• The calendar space you're reserving?

• Does some or all of it apply toward the session, a collection or a later product purchase?

There are different ways to structure it.

The important part is knowing why you've structured yours the way you have.

This is the same reason equine photography pricing needs to be based on your own business numbers rather than what another photographer charges.

For all you know, they pulled their retainer amount out of thin air too.

Is a Photography Retainer the Same as a Deposit?

No. A photography retainer and deposit should not automatically be treated as the same thing.

You'll hear photographers use words like retainer, deposit, reservation fee and session fee, sometimes as though they all mean exactly the same thing.

Don't assume they do.

The terminology you use can have legal implications, and those implications can vary depending on where you do business.

So don't choose a word simply because the photographer whose website you were looking at uses it.

Whatever you decide to call it, make sure your contract actually reflects how the payment works in your business and that what you're doing is appropriate where you do business. PPA also recommends having clear payment, cancellation and rescheduling terms in your photography contract.

This is one of those areas where getting advice from an attorney familiar with the laws where you do business is considerably more useful than asking a Facebook group what everybody else calls theirs.

Does a Retainer Have to Be Nonrefundable?

Don't assume that putting the word nonrefundable in front of a payment automatically answers every possible situation.

What happens if the client cancels?

What happens if they need to reschedule?

What happens if you can't perform the session?

What happens if a horse becomes ill or injured?

What happens when the weather makes the session impossible?

Your contract should clearly explain what happens in the situations that are reasonably likely to affect your business.

And because laws concerning retainers, deposits, cancellations and refunds can vary, this is another place where your contract needs to be appropriate for where you actually do business.

The point isn't to have a policy simply so you can say you have one. The point is to decide how your business will handle these situations before you're standing in the middle of one trying to figure it out.

How Much Should a Photography Retainer Be?

Enough to accomplish whatever you've decided that payment needs to do.

I know. That's annoyingly not a percentage.

But there isn't one magic number that makes sense for every photography business.

A photographer photographing 100 clients a year has a different business model from someone photographing 20.

A photographer traveling several hours to sessions may have different needs from someone working almost entirely in a studio.

An equine photographer potentially protecting two prime fall dates for one outdoor session may look at calendar commitment differently from someone who can move an indoor session from Tuesday to Wednesday without much trouble.

Your number should come from your business.

Not somebody else's.

We'll dig into how much an equine photography retainer should be separately because that question deserves more than me throwing a random percentage at you and pretending we've solved it.

Your Booking Payment Is Only One Part of the Process

Requiring money doesn't fix a confusing booking process.

Your client should understand what happens next.

When are they officially booked?

What have they paid for?

What still needs to be paid?

What happens if they need to reschedule?

What happens if weather interferes?

And, as we've already established, weather can interfere.

Repeatedly.

With enthusiasm.

What do they need to sign?

What happens between booking and session day?

If you can't answer those questions easily, the bigger problem may not be the retainer.

It may be the client workflow surrounding the booking.

Money, contract and communication need to work together.

Otherwise you've just collected a payment and moved the confusion farther down the road.

The Bottom Line

Yes. I believe photographers should require a financial commitment before reserving a session as officially booked.

A client's name written on your calendar isn't payment for the space they're occupying on it.

But don't choose a random amount, call it a nonrefundable retainer and assume you're finished.

Decide what you need that booking payment to do.

Make sure the amount makes sense for your business.

Have a clear booking process.

And make sure your contract explains what happens when plans change.

Because getting the money is only one part of booking a client.

The real goal is making sure both you and your client understand exactly what you've agreed to.