Sample Pricing

Most people have no idea how big their collection is. They just know it feels overwhelming.

Here’s a peek at how pricing works. Think of these as a translation guide: your piles, boxes, and drives, turned into typical project sizes.

UNDERSTANDING HOURLY vs. PER-PIECE WORK

How Photo Projects Are Priced

Most Photo Projects Include Two Types of Work:

  • Professional organizing, curation, and decision-making, which we bill at $125 per hour
  • Per-piece services, such as scanning or digitizing individual photos, slides, or negatives

Nearly every project is priced using a hybrid approach, combining hourly work with select per-item services. The examples below illustrate how this could look for collections of different sizes. Most client projects don’t fit neatly into one category.

Most Projects Fall Between Sizes

Some begin as a small collection and grow as you uncover additional boxes, albums, or digital sources. These examples are meant to provide guidance, not limits.

Why Hourly Pricing Matters

Much of this work can’t be automated or priced per item. Hourly time reflects the expert decision-making, organization, and care required to create a meaningful, lasting photo collection.

See our Pricing Philosophy page for more detailed information on how we estimate and charge for our services.

Typical Investment: $1,000–$3,000

Per-piece pricing covers the technical scanning. Hourly time covers everything that can’t be automated, like sorting, decision-making, grouping, and creating order.

Collections of this size may include 500-1,000 total images.

What it often looks like:
  • 1 shoebox or small bin of loose photos
  • 1-2 albums

OR

  • A short stack of CDs or a single external drive
Common goals:
  • Preserve photos before they fade or deteriorate
  • Get images digitized and lightly organized
  • Create a clean starting point without image curation
What’s usually involved:
  • Light curation (duplicates, obvious discards)
  • High-resolution scanning
  • Simple file naming and folder structure

Typical Investment: $3,500–$6,000

As volume increases, so does the need for thoughtful sorting, duplicate removal, and overall structure.

Collections of this size may include 1,500-3,000 total images.

What it often looks like:
  • 2-3 boxes or bins of photos
  • A small stack of albums plus loose photos
  • Several CDs or USB drives
Common goals:
  • Bring order to a growing, mixed collection
  • Combine physical and digital photos into one system
  • Make photos easy to find and share
What’s usually involved:
  • Deeper curation and grouping by family or events
  • Scanning and digital organization
  • File naming and folder structure with additional metadata
  • Vintage-style travel photo prints with a nostalgic feel on a wooden surface.

Typical Investment: $6,500–$12,000

The process is the same for collections of this size. More photos and older analog media types means more time spent sorting, curating and creating a clear, usable structure.

Collections of this size may include 3,000-6,000 total images.

What it often looks like:
  • Multiple boxes or tubs of photos
  • Several albums and/or scrapbooks
  • Slides, negatives, and older media formats
  • 1 or more hard drives with thousands of digital images
Common goals:
  • Preserve decades of family history
  • Reduce visual clutter and overwhelm
  • Create an archive that includes books, slideshows, or legacy projects
What’s usually involved:
  • Detailed curation and decision-making
  • High-volume scanning
  • Digital archive or online platform with long-term usability in mind
  • A cluttered pile of CD cases showcasing a nostalgic collection in a dimly lit room.

Typical Investment: $12,500–$25,000+

Very large collections often including older formats and span generations. We take the same careful approach, in phases, so it never feels overwhelming.

Collections of this size may include 6,000-10,000 total images.

What it often looks like:
  • Many boxes, bins, or tubs
  • Decades of albums and loose photos
  • Slides, negatives, home media, and digital files
  • Photos spanning generations or multiple households
Common goals:
  • Preserve and pass down family history
  • Create a multi-generation archive
  • Document names, dates, relationships
  • Build legacy keepsakes (books, slideshows, family websites)
What’s usually involved:
  • Multi-phase project over several months
  • Deep curation and contextual organization
  • Scanning across multiple formats
  • Digital archiving
  • Keepsakes and custom creations that tell the family story
  • Brown cardboard box on white fabric with Kodak Gold film in a high angle view.
  • A colorful box filled with photographs, papers, and sentimental items, evoking nostalgia.

Factors That Influence The Price of your Project

You’ll always be in control of the direction your project will take. We work with you in phases based on your priorities and you’ll receive a detailed project proposal before any work begins. Here are just a few things that will determine your costs:

  • The size of your collection — how many boxes, albums, devices, drives, or cloud accounts we’re gathering from.
  • The level of organization needed — from heavy curation to detailed sorting, dating, naming, and custom categorization.
  • How you want to experience your photos — digital libraries, archival boxes, curated collections, slideshows, albums, or legacy website.
  • Specialty services — digitizing older formats, cleaning and restoring fragile prints, or creating one-of-a-kind creative pieces.
Let’s create a plan that fits your photos

Schedule a collection assessment today.

start your custom photo project

You May Be Wondering….

Frequently Asked Questions on Pricing

Most projects are priced using a hybrid approach. This means combining hourly professional organizing, curation, and project management with select per-item services when appropriate. This structure reflects the fact that every photo collection is unique in size, condition, and complexity.

Our professional organizing and curation work is billed at $125 per hour. This covers the hands-on time spent assessing, sorting, making decisions, creating structure, and ensuring your photo collection is usable and meaningful for the long term.

Yes. There is a project minimum of $375. Most projects exceed this amount depending on scope, volume, and goals.

Projects begin with a prepaid block of professional hours that covers the initial intake and assessment of your collection. This upfront time is used to understand what you have, identify any challenges, and put together a detailed project plan that becomes the foundation for next steps, based on your goals and preferences.

After the initial prepaid block of hours, invoicing continues based on the work performed. Larger projects are typically invoiced in phases as milestones are reached, so costs remain transparent and manageable throughout the process.

Because no two collections are the same. A flat rate would mean overcharging you or rushing the work, and I won’t do either.

Yes. After an initial assessment, I provide a realistic project range based on similar collections. While final costs depend on what’s uncovered during the work, this range helps set clear expectations from the start.

That’s common—especially as additional boxes, albums, or drives surface. If scope expands, I’ll discuss options with you before moving forward, so there are no surprises.

Not at all. Many clients choose a phased approach, starting with preservation and organization and adding storytelling or legacy projects later. Your collection can evolve over time.

Yes. Many clients find it helpful to think of this work the same way they would hiring a professional organizer, designer, or consultant. You’re investing in expertise, judgment, and care, not just labor.

Timelines depend on the size of your collection, how organized it is to begin with, and the level of curation you’re looking for. After an initial assessment, we’ll outline a timeline and next steps.