When to Charge?

[MMF]

You say that you enjoy the experience and improving your skills so why no tell people that the shoot is free however each photo they want will cost $etc that way you will obtain some compensation for your time but not feel like your ripping off your friends

[Christus86]

I think it would be worth sitting down and working out what you would charge and what it would include to start as base. I started charging when I realised all these people I half knew starting asking me to do photos because they heard I did something for free (I got lots of invitations to christenings etc lol). I still do things for free for my close friends - they offer to pay first though, they don't expect it. I found that having a pricing structure helped limit the expectations for the freebies as well e.g. I still don't give the unedited photos and people then start to understand the value of your time.