Invoice Koi

Invoicing for photographers

The shoot is the part everybody can see, and it is rarely half the work. There is the day itself, then the cull and the edit, then a license question nobody asked about until the picture turned up on a billboard. An invoice that says one number for all of it invites the client to think they bought everything.

An illustration of a camera body, a prime lens, a light meter, a roll of film and a stack of contact sheets with no images on them, with a koi swimming among them.
01On the document

What photographers
put on an invoice.

These go in your price book once, with your own prices against them. After that a line is one tap: the item, the description, the unit and the price fill themselves, and the totals resolve underneath.

LineUnit
Shoot daydays
Half day shooteach
Second photographerdays
Editing and deliveryjob
Usage license, twelve monthseach
Equipment rentaldays
Album or printseach

Prices are yours. Invoice Koi ships a handful of round placeholder lines to start from and never fills your book with figures you did not set.

A job, grouped Subtotals per section
ON THE DAY
Shoot day$1,200
Second photographer$350
Subtotal$1,550
POST
Editing and delivery$480
Subtotal$480
LICENSE AND PRINTS
Usage license, twelve months$300
Album, 30 spreads$420
Subtotal$720
Total$2,750
Grouped line items are free, on all nine templates.
A photograph of a photographer checking the back of a camera at the edge of a shoot, light stand and bag on the floor beside them.
Price book
Shoot daydays
Half day shooteach
Second photographerdays
One tap puts the line on the invoice.
This job, grouped
ON THE DAY$1,550
POST$480
LICENSE AND PRINTS$720
Total$2,750
No signal needed. It is written here.
02Why photographers use it

Three things that
save the evening.

A deposit that holds the date

Record what has been paid against the invoice as it comes in, and the balance, the status and the reports all follow from it. A date held on a part payment shows exactly what is still owed.

The day, the edit and the license as three things

Group them with their own subtotals. A client who can see that the license is its own line is a client who understands they are buying a use rather than the negatives.

Quoted first, invoiced after

Send the shoot as an estimate and convert it when it is agreed, with the lines, the client and your terms carried across. What changed on the day is edited before the invoice goes out.

03 · Questions

Asked by photographers.

How do I take a deposit to hold a date?

Raise the invoice and record the deposit as a payment against it. The document then shows the full price, what has been paid and the balance due after the shoot.

Can I show a usage license as its own charge?

Yes. Keep it in the price book as a line with its own price and its own wording, so it prints on the document rather than living in an email.

Can I bill a second photographer at cost?

Put their invoice in as an expense from its receipt and re-bill it as a line, or price the line yourself. Either way it appears as its own item.

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