How to write a photography invoice.
Learn more about creating a professional invoice for photography services for your business, including the necessary line items for every invoice.
What is a commercial photography invoice?
The next step after getting photography clients and planning a shoot is invoicing for your work. But what is a commercial photography invoice? An invoice is a business document that allows you to bill a client for your professional services, such as commercial photography. At a minimum, it consists of an itemized list of your services and lets the client know how much they owe and how they can pay.
Invoices also serve as a helpful tool for monitoring the flow of income in your business. This resource is especially true if you invoice often or if you ever need to follow up on unpaid balances.
How to write a photography invoice.
Creating an invoice for photography services helps ensure you get paid on time and maintain your brand image. Make your invoice look consistent by including your brand’s colors and logo, and don’t forget all the necessary details. We’ll discuss branding, information to include, and how to add payment terms and methods for smooth transactions.
1. Add branding to a photography invoice.
Maintaining a consistent and professional brand image is beneficial when sending invoices. To achieve this image, consider including:
- Brand colors for fonts, borders, or background elements
- Logo placement for brand recognition
- Font styles that match your brand’s identity
- Brand name and tagline for clear identification
- Relevant imagery or graphics reflecting your brand’s style
2. Include key items in a commercial photography invoice.
While the style and format of an invoice may vary between businesses, every photography invoice should include certain line items.
- Contact information for the parties involved, including names, addresses, and phone numbers
- Invoice number
- Date of the invoice
- A description of the photography services
- Photography invoice terms and conditions
- Pricing breakdown of services
- Deposits or other fees already paid by the client
- Any included discounts
- Sales tax appropriate to your state or region
- Brief instructions outlining payment options
- Date the payment is due
- Any possible recourse for late payment
- Any additional pertinent information
3. Add payment terms and methods.
When adding payment terms and methods to your photography invoice, be sure to clarify when payment is due and how clients can pay. For example, include:
- Due date. Specify when payment is expected, like “Payment due within 30 days.”
- Late fees. Mention extra charges for late payments.
- Deposit requirements. If needed, state how much is required upfront.
For payment methods, consider options such as bank transfer, credit card, PayPal, or check. Providing choices helps clients pay you more quickly and conveniently.
Create a photography invoice template to reuse.
Save time and include brand consistency in your photography invoicing process by creating a reusable template. Rather than crafting invoices from scratch for each client, create a ready-to-use template that you can fill in as needed. And by having a pre-designed template featuring your branding and preferred language, you can guarantee that every invoice has your professional image and contains all necessary details. A template is good practice for any type of invoice you may need to create.
Proper invoicing is an essential element of any business, whether you’re a freelancer or the owner of a company. Electronic signatures and online PDFs help keep your business flow moving, including invoicing.
Find out what else you can do with Adobe Acrobat for business.