It's hard to raise prices on clients that you've had since day one. So the rest of this comment might be pointless.
Your client is running a business and should be aware that a bigger event will come with rising costs, his expenses won't stay the same so he should be expecting an increase from you.
The easiest way to justify a price increase in your situation is to tell him that you're taking your photography business more serious, you've added up your investments and operating costs and have determined that you were operating at a loss (at $60/shoot) and that you actually need to charge $X to make any profit.
To determine your new $X, most photographers will charge their time AND their equipment. We do this because wear and tear on a camera needs to be factored in, because one day it will need replacing, upgrading, repairs and that expense will feel like it came out of your pocket if you didn't build a reserve fund. You can choose to itemize your time+equipment it as one item on your invoices if you want to keep it simple but its nice to break it down to determine your actual take home pay.
In your scenario I'm guessing you're still paying off your full frame camera and probably have a monthly Lightroom subscription, right? So to calculate what you should be charging, take the purchase price of your gear and operating costs -add computer, camera, lenses, tripods, flashes, adobe, insurance, etc..., divide it by 40 and that = your operating cost per shoot. Then add your labour; photography is a trade, so definitely don't price your time with a number that works out lower than $30/hr (for someone starting out) and definitely don't use a number that's lower than your day job, if you have one. If it costs you something to get to the shoot, add a transportation fee, or charge the km on your car ($0.68/km is the suggested Canadian Government rate for 2023), + parking etc... -then finally, add your time for editing and delivering the photos the following day and that's your new $X rate with your client.
However, having said that, to be realistic you're shooting no-name stand ups? In small venues? That promoter isn't making much profit and the ideal rates people are suggesting to you in the comments or using the formula I've just described above will likely never fly for a gig like that. I had friends in the Montreal comic scene and unless you're Sugar Sammy, most of them don't make much money, they do it because they love it.
I would suggest you look for new clients and use a higher rate or try my formula above, and slowly phase out this stand up gig when you don't need it anymore. If the client wants to keep you around in the future, tell him how much you charge new clients and see if he can match it. If not, you can do like the stand ups, do it because you love it. Not for the money.
FYI, in Canada, most full time (event) photographers I've met are charging anywhere from $550-1,200 for their labour, plus extra for their gear. If they're charging less than that, I know they're super green or not doing it full time. That observation obviously doesn't include wedding photographers, most of whom have starting prices upwards of $2,500 per gig these days, and easily more if they're good photographers.
It's hard to raise prices on clients that you've had since day one. So the rest of this comment might be pointless.
Your client is running a business and should be aware that a bigger event will come with rising costs, his expenses won't stay the same so he should be expecting an increase from you.
The easiest way to justify a price increase in your situation is to tell him that you're taking your photography business more serious, you've added up your investments and operating costs and have determined that you were operating at a loss (at $60/shoot) and that you actually need to charge $X to make any profit.
To determine your new $X, most photographers will charge their time AND their equipment. We do this because wear and tear on a camera needs to be factored in, because one day it will need replacing, upgrading, repairs and that expense will feel like it came out of your pocket if you didn't build a reserve fund. You can choose to itemize your time+equipment it as one item on your invoices if you want to keep it simple but its nice to break it down to determine your actual take home pay.
In your scenario I'm guessing you're still paying off your full frame camera and probably have a monthly Lightroom subscription, right? So to calculate what you should be charging, take the purchase price of your gear and operating costs -add computer, camera, lenses, tripods, flashes, adobe, insurance, etc..., divide it by 40 and that = your operating cost per shoot. Then add your labour; photography is a trade, so definitely don't price your time with a number that works out lower than $30/hr (for someone starting out) and definitely don't use a number that's lower than your day job, if you have one. If it costs you something to get to the shoot, add a transportation fee, or charge the km on your car ($0.68/km is the suggested Canadian Government rate for 2023), + parking etc... -then finally, add your time for editing and delivering the photos the following day and that's your new $X rate with your client.
However, having said that, to be realistic you're shooting no-name stand ups? In small venues? That promoter isn't making much profit and the ideal rates people are suggesting to you in the comments or using the formula I've just described above will likely never fly for a gig like that. I had friends in the Montreal comic scene and unless you're Sugar Sammy, most of them don't make much money, they do it because they love it.
I would suggest you look for new clients and use a higher rate or try my formula above, and slowly phase out this stand up gig when you don't need it anymore. If the client wants to keep you around in the future, tell him how much you charge new clients and see if he can match it. If not, you can do like the stand ups, do it because you love it. Not for the money.
FYI, in Canada, most full time (event) photographers I've met are charging anywhere from $550-1,200 for their labour, plus extra for their gear. If they're charging less than that, I know they're super green or not doing it full time. That observation obviously doesn't include wedding photographers, most of whom have starting prices upwards of $2,500 per gig these days, and easily more if they're good photographers.