Estimating Photo Projects

I had a new client call this morning who claimed to have “100-200 photos” they needed scanned so they could preserve them and share them with family members. When they brought their box to our studio, I lifted the heavy box realized their estimate was WAY off. The large plastic bin actually contained almost 4,000 printed photos, not 100-200 as they guessed. The price of the project was also more than they expected, but they decided to proceed because their family memories are so important to them.

Here are a few tips about estimating photo projects and their scope:

1. Everybody underestimates how many photos they have.

2. Stacked photo prints are about 100 per inch. You can read more about estimating printed photos on our blog.

3. Stacked slides are about 20 per inch. You can read more about estimating photo slides on our blog.

4. Albums and scrapbooks can be estimated by page. For example, if an album holds three photos per page and there are 100 pages, then there are about 300 photos in that album.

5. Not every photo needs to be scanned, but reviewing everything can be overwhelming and time-consuming. We don’t want people to spend money scanning photos they don’t care about, but we also don’t want them to get stalled for another 20 years and get nothing preserved.

These guidelines are what we use for estimating photo projects. If you need help getting started, please visit our studio and we’re happy to offer a free estimate on your project.