Stop Giving Away All Your Digitals: The Pricing Strategy Photographers Need

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If you’re still giving your clients every photo or stuffing your packages with 30, 40, 50 plus digitals, you’re working way harder than you need to and you’re leaving so much money on the table it actually hurts to watch.

And I say that with love.

But also with a little side eye because you deserve better than that.

One of the core things I teach inside my 1 on 1 mentorships is understanding what actually belongs inside a package. How to structure what is included in a way that supports your value and quietly sets you up for easy upgrades every single time.

Why Limiting Digitals Makes Your Packages Stronger

Your package is only as strong as the boundaries inside it.

And honestly, most photographers have none.

A lot of photographers build their packages around how many digitals are included instead of around the actual value of the session. When the focus is “how many photos do they get,” your time, energy, and art quietly move to the background, and your client is trained to measure everything by quantity. Plus, you're probably giving too many photos in your base package.

I want you to flip that completely.

Your session has value.

What you deliver after has value.

They are not competing.

They are just not the same thing.

You pour time, energy, and creativity into the session itself. You also pour time, energy, and creativity into everything that happens after, especially if you are like most photographers and you overshoot. That work should not be flattened into “one price that includes everything.” Especially when your session price is already low as it is.

That is where limiting digitals comes in.

Instead of building a package that promises a huge number of files, you build a package around the experience and include a small, clear amount of digitals as the base. This kind of structure also quietly sets you up for in person sales later, but that is a conversation for another day. Right now we are just focusing on digital upsells.

You are not taking value away.

You are separating it so both parts can actually be appreciated and paid for.

Recap: Offer x amount of digitals in your base package. Upsell the rest.

Implementing This Into Your Booking Workflow

The key to getting more upgrades is not a fancy sales pitch. It is how simple and clear your booking process is. For me, this starts the second someone inquires and sees my pricing.

When someone reaches out to book, I send my pricing and availability and I keep the language really direct. I let them know that their package includes a set number of digitals, and that I will fully edit the images from their session that meet my standard and deliver them in a watermarked online gallery. From there, they can choose their favorite x amount of images or upgrade if they want more.

So from day one they already understand

what they are investing in,

what is included,

and that there is an option to add on more later for an additional price.

No confusion. No over-explaining. Just a clear path to an easy yes.

And if they do not upgrade right away, it is still not a loss. You can circle back during slow season and offer those remaining images or the full gallery at a special rate, the same way I break it down in my slow season income guide for photographers, where I show you how to make extra money from past sessions without discounting your work.

Bringing It All Together

Stop treating your session and every digital as one big all inclusive thing. Especially if your prices are already low.

This is not about giving less.

It is about respecting your time, your energy, and your art, and giving your clients a structure that actually makes sense. When your offers are set up this way, upgrades feel natural, your work holds more weight, and you are not quietly giving away half your income in extra files.

How Many Photos Should My Packages Include

How many digitals you include is obviously up to you, but if you are building your packages around upsells, the number has to stay low on purpose.

Inside my 1 on 1 mentor sessions, I usually keep my students in a range of about 5 to 15 digitals per session. Most of the time, 10 or 15 feels like the sweet spot. It is enough that the client feels taken care of, but not so many that there is nothing left to upgrade.

The important part is this

the included digitals are the base, not the whole gallery.

You can still overshoot. You can still deliver a full, beautiful, watermarked gallery for them to view. You are just not promising every image as part of the package. The rest becomes room for extra income instead of something you feel guilty holding back.

If you are currently including 25, 40, 50, 60 digitals in a package for minis or regular one hour sessions, this is your sign to stop. I am not talking about weddings here, that is a completely different structure, but for standard sessions this many files makes it almost impossible to upsell. If you need help restructuring your pricing for weddings or any other genre, that is exactly what I walk through in my full pricing and package restructures during 1 on 1 mentor sessions.

There is no magic number, but there is a clear pattern.

The fewer digitals you include, the more space you create for your gallery to actually make money for you.

Quick Reminder

When I tell you to include fewer digitals, I am talking about what is included in the package, not what goes inside the gallery.

Think of it like this.

If someone books a full session with 15 digitals included, I am still going to edit and upload the full set of images that meet my standard. Most of my galleries land anywhere from 30 to 60 images, sometimes even more if the session has a lot going on.

They get to look through everything. They just do not automatically get every file.

Their package includes 15 digitals, so they choose their 15 favorites or they upgrade if they want more. That is it. Simple. Clean. No awkward explanations. And honestly, this is where the magic happens because your gallery can stay full and beautiful without you giving away your entire workload for free.

Just don't forget the watermark. Only remove it when they have finalized their favorites or paid the upgrade fee.

Where To Go Next

If this clicked for you, here is where I would go next

Read my other free blog

How Photographers Can Make Money During Slow Season

If you want more support and to be around other photographers who are obsessed with this kind of conversation, come hang out in my Facebook group for photographers. If you have any questions about the info you just read feel free to ask there. I'm active.

And if you are ready for someone to sit down with you and build this out for your exact pricing and niche, that is what my 1 on 1 mentor sessions are for. We take this baseline and turn it into a full system that feels like you, supports your creativity, and actually pays you for all the work you are already doing.