HOW MUCH IS A PICTURE ACTUALLY WORTH?

How Much?

I love photography and have been freelancing as a amateur/professional photographer for the past 5 year now. When I first started off doing photography I did it because I was curious, I wanted to know how to take the beautiful photos I seen in JET, EBONY, VIBE, and other media publications, and because of this curiosity, I was very humble about photography.

50 Bucks?

Photography was never about capitalizing our profiting off of others, nope, I just wanted to be compensated for my time and referred to by others, but I always ran into the question that I still do not seem to have a clear answer for; "what is fair"? 

100 Bucks?

"What is fair" in regards to pricing? I remember when my daughters were born, I did not have my fiances together enough to afford any maternity pictures for their mother and I, so when I made that initial investment into photography, I knew I wanted to provide clients with a services, a services that would not cost an arm and a leg like I had heard about from friends. 

How Much?

But now that I have achieved a degree in Graphic Design and have been shooting for 5 + years, I am a little bit confuse with how I should market my pricing, if I set it too high, I lose business to others, if I sell it too low, I gain more business but loose the income needed to further invest into equipment and replace damage goods. 

I am sure I am not the only photographer who has thought like this, but I wonder am I the first photographer to actually ask the question; "How much is a picture actually worth"?