There are always three spheres to consider in any business.
(1) Cost to run the business - Supplies, Labor, & Utilitarian Requirements (Advertising, Marketing, Promotions, Equipment, Building Space, rent or purchase - Location and Timing and Start Up Cash Available). And watching the Inflation impact is an ongoing review process for adjusting prices.
(2) Qualifications - Training, Experience (Awards help - notable clients help), & Passion (This is a must, you much have a passion for this business).
(3) Learn as much as you can about your Competition, there pricing, there experience, there charisma vs. your charisma - this can be over came - I have a very low charisma rating, but I have over come this, I'll explain later.
Now with all this - making notes as detailed as possible is important and perhaps a little accounting knowledge will help - keeping a balance sheet is important, just to know where your business is at financially. This will help in making pricing adjustments.
Like a said Passion even for the boring part - the paper work.
Now back to the charisma - Determining your charisma level is easy - how many people are considered friends compaired to your competition. Believe it or not there are clients that will do business with one studio - just because they like the owner and that owner might will have a solid porfolio of tacky but quality on an average scale. But for whatever reason - people like the owner and year after year bring their children in for portrats, then weddings, then the grand children.
I once worked for a photographer who had a client who brought the daughter in every year since her birth - for a nude portrait. That's right - this is just how much charisma this guy had - the ladies loved him. And for 18 years this chlid got a nude photo made every year on or near her birthdate. Strange but True - not sure what the parent was thinking, or the philosophy behind this - but I am certain it was charisma and the trust there in. As well the studio displayed them with the parents permission in their up front gallery of their work. This owner was not only charismatic he was also a very very good photographer. Women flocked to his business and some wanted a nude portrait as well - they didn't want to be out done by some child.
As for me - I have never had much charisma - seems I made friends with people much older than myself - and so most of my close friends have passed away or moved far away for their retirement.
So in order to over come my low level of charisma - I took a more technical route - doing whatever would offer the client something that the competition did not offer. So I concentrated on high quality equipment, as well equipment geared more toward industrial, and scientific as well as high end engineering.
The film age was just getting more and more clumsy and costly - So I embraced the digital age in a hurry. Maxing out the Mega Pixels - well ahead of the competition. As well I advanced to larger print formats - assembly style photography.
So for me, and back to your main question of pricing - well my pricing has actually gone down over the years. I deal more in very technical specialized products - where the must see the details is critical for the client. And during this recession my pricing has actually dropped - I was charging $75 per product - now I am only charging $70 per product - and for some clients with a volume of work and a simple one view product $15.
So perhaps you want to see a web folio of what I have worked on in the past. Remember, this the web folio is more creative work from the past - and today more of my work is technical product work - not much of that in the web folio.
Also, Photography is not my only realm of income - I also do Graphic Design, as well as Illustrations. and in some projects I perform in all three markets. Diversity of skills in a one stop shop is also an angle that is rare but can work out as it has for me.
Anyway, now you know my price range - now see how I survive:
http://www.dandickensneunoizstudio.com
This one is better compare to what they have before