Putting a Price on it

[Tigger]

Ok I've started doing up some photos of birthday parties and few things like that

Come home with about 100ish shots, about 60 of them I would consider as best for prints/portfolio.

What sort of money do you guys ask for doing little jobs like this - I haven't a clue where to start making an official price-list for myself.

Obviously for bigger projects you have to count your work time, editing time and whatever materials you use for prints, CDs and albums/frames etc

When someone just wants a few photos (30-50) on a CD and calls it a day you obviously won't make much money out of the job if no prints are required... or do you?


Your advice & experiences would be fantastic

Cheers
Trev

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Charge for your time ?

Friend had some pics of his kid done by someone recently.. she was charging £15 for 15 minutes at her home, so outgoings were next to nil. She burnt the photos to a CD and posted them later and he got unedited pics of his kiddy. Apparently people were queuing up for this...

£60 an hour seems hunkydory to me haha !!

 

[Tigger]

That's unedited pics though haha! £60 an hour would be great if you had that everyday :star:

You know what it's like when you bring the camera home and start editing....then sometimes its like trying to get blood out of a stone asking people how they would like them finished - CD prints, album etc lol

 

[Andy.]

I don't do work for less than 50 an hour and that's mates rates.

Pros never used to give the full size images/ negatives away as they charged for the prints and made most of their money that way.

Times are changing a bit and everybody gets more use from digital than print so the price model need to adjust accordingly.

Depending on the job, I'd charge 50 per hour and then price up prints and SMALL jpegs on a disc for one price or come up with a compromise for the edited full size images on a CD.

Something worth considering is that a lot of people actually make a living from photography.

Every guy with a camera who offers his services for a huge amount less than the going professional rate is doing the rest of the profession a great disservice.

Just because you are happy to have a bit of extra cash in your pocket and don't need to pay bills doesn't meaning next guy doesn't.

There are forums full of pros who regularly complain about battling to compete with Joe Blogs and his kit who are happy to give photos to the papers, magazines or companies for free in return for recognition or somebody who'll shoot a wedding for a pittance.

People used to earn ££££££ for the right shot, used in a restaurant franchise or posters etc. Those days have almost disappeared with all of the stock photo sites with tens of thousands of people happy to give their work away for free.

It's a sad truth, but after looking into it a fair bit I decided that I would no longer do free work (aside from close mates and family) and have never had a client who was not prepared to pay what I wanted or that was not happy with why they got for the price. The tough competition in the market has put me off going full time with my venture as I quite like knowing what the paycheck will be at the end of the month.

Another lesson learned to share, always agree on the price and product before you do it. Your idea of a fair price and an uneducated client are two very separate things as I recently found out.

I did a job for my company that a pro would have charged a couple of grand for and I accepted the task on the basis that they would get me something for my time. I get on well with the boss and it was a fun assignment with a chance to try some new aspects of the business so I did it.

The "thank you" they gave me was a f**king insult but it's not over and done with yet.

My $0.02.

 

[Tigger]

Yeah, so much competition in it - I know what you mean - more ups & downs in it but that goes for everything in life I guess

Good ideas & advice though, thanks

 

[NickMelson]

I've just started doing portrait stuff recently and started charging people. £20 for an hour n half which includes all the pictures slightly edited [small imperfections and what not] and then the pictures on a disc and posted/given to them.
So far in the last 2 days that i've been charging i've had 3 shoots and have a few more this week.

Heres my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nick-Melson-Photography/127082464027797
Really would like some comments on what i could improve on etc.

Next month i'm looking into buying a studio kit, backdrops, lighting, soft boxes, wireless triggers etc there some pretty good deals on ebay atm.

 

[Revels]

Practice with what you have first.

Not being horrible, but I wouldn't be impressed if I'd paid for those shots. The focus is out on some of them, the exposure is all over the shop, the framing is out etc etc.

These are the basics. When you're just learning then you're going to get these things wrong, when you get to the stage where you're charging people, you certainly shouldn't be.

 

[DeeKay86]

Practice with what you have first.

Not being horrible, but I wouldn't be impressed if I'd paid for those shots. The focus is out on some of them, the exposure is all over the shop, the framing is out etc etc.

These are the basics. When you're just learning then you're going to get these things wrong, when you get to the stage where you're charging people, you certainly shouldn't be.

Sorry to say, but this hits the nail on the head.

Just perfect what you're doing now, then move on to more advanced stuff.

 

[capturedbyjames]

Sounds like quite a few of us have tried making a bit of money out of it. I've recently (previous two weeks) started getting some interest after doing some family shoots, so I've started charging.

I'm making a loss at the moment. My one paid gig was £40 for 1.5 hours shoot, then I spent about 4 hours going through workflow stuff, documenting processes and sorting stationary (invoices, CD covers, copyright letter) things out. Now I've got the editing workflow sorted, my next paying gig should end in a profit. For about 3 hours work, I will still take £40, take away losses (batteries, CD's, postage, fuel) I'll probably end up taking £10 an hour. Not big bucks, but on top of a full time job, it pays for a few little luxuries in life. At this rate I should have paid off all my kit in about 17 years. It's still a hobby after all!

Stuff I've done is in the portfolio section of my site: http://www.capturedbyjames.co.uk/ if anyone's interested.

 

[Andy.]

I'd rather be at home with the wife and kids (well, kids anyway) than be somebodies photo b**ch for £10 an hour.

Charged time should also include PP hours. You can sell on the price model of a 1.5 hour shoot for £40 but then you need to be making money on the prints/ CD's afterwards and charge for them separately. To do an entire package for £40 is either saying that your work isn't worth s**t, or it's letting the client take the piss out of you. I've had a quick glance through your site and you are underselling yourself by quite a mahoosive margin. To go back to my previous post "Just because you are happy to have a bit of extra cash in your pocket and don't need to pay bills doesn't meaning next guy doesn't." You're effectively killing the industry that you want to play in. IMHO

 

[mace¬]

The people who are doing it for a 'little extra cash' are you doing cash in hand or registered as a business?

 

[capturedbyjames]

The people who are doing it for a 'little extra cash' are you doing cash in hand or registered as a business?

Registered with HMRC a month ago - just waiting for the official to come through.

I totally agree with what you're saying Andy - I am purely doing it at the moment for referrals. I'll start incrementing the price after my next gig on Saturday. The first few, in my view are 'portfolio builders' too, so I could get some shots for my site, that aren't all friends and family. And thanks for the compliment (I think) about underselling.

 

[Tigger]

My intentions are to get into it full time, and have a registered business to keep everything right and all that - don't get that many requests at the moment to make that feasible unfortunately

 

[Andy.]

It was indeed meant as a compliment.

I also did some cheap work on that basis in order to expand my portfolio and get word around and it has worked pretty well. Just cover yourself and ask anybody who gets a special price not to inform others about how much they pay.

I've turned down a couple of shoots recently from people who wanted me to do some pictures of their kids after a mate took a guess at how much I would charge them. At the same time, there were some other referrals from him who were willing to pay a normal price for my work. I've decided that as I don't have to make a living from it, I'll charge what I want in order to justify time away from my kids. If it's not worth my while, I'm happy not earning the extra.

Good luck with it.

 

[DeeKay86]

I NEED a DSLR!

Looking at the Canon 450D (i know its discontinued etc). Would that be good enough for decent shots to sell?

 

[mace¬]

All depends if you are good enough to take pictures to sell.

 

[Revels]

I NEED a DSLR!

Looking at the Canon 450D (i know its discontinued etc). Would that be good enough for decent shots to sell?

Jesus.

Buy it and practice for a year. Then think about selling them.

 

[Tigger]

My photography has more or less started off years ago as being the official photographer for a local Scout unit I help out with - and word has got out via parents and friends that my work was good
Then I started to take on social events, birthdays and anniversaries and got roped into taking the camera to the local a few times for the "drunken candid shots" - the attention the camera can grab on a night out is unreal!

It's only now I'm starting to put some sort of a set price on my work, but how to structure that price for different projects is baffling me! lol

 

[capturedbyjames]

I NEED a DSLR!

Looking at the Canon 450D (i know its discontinued etc). Would that be good enough for decent shots to sell?

All depends if you are good enough to take pictures to sell.

Perfect question and answer combo!

It was indeed meant as a compliment.

I also did some cheap work on that basis in order to expand my portfolio and get word around and it has worked pretty well. Just cover yourself and ask anybody who gets a special price not to inform others about how much they pay.

I've turned down a couple of shoots recently from people who wanted me to do some pictures of their kids after a mate took a guess at how much I would charge them. At the same time, there were some other referrals from him who were willing to pay a normal price for my work. I've decided that as I don't have to make a living from it, I'll charge what I want in order to justify time away from my kids. If it's not worth my while, I'm happy not earning the extra.

Good luck with it.

Cheers dude - it seems to have worked for you, hopefully it will do the same for me. It must always be a nice feeling to justify turning work down...

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I NEED a DSLR!

Looking at the Canon 450D (i know its discontinued etc). Would that be good enough for decent shots to sell?

You'll need a 1D at least to get shots good enough to sell.



*facedesk*

 

[DeeKay86]

LOL, epic responses!!

Yes I know its more the person using the camera than the camera itself.

I will practice once I finally get one! Cheers for the replies! I love CS

 

[Andy.]

Cheers dude - it seems to have worked for you, hopefully it will do the same for me. It must always be a nice feeling to justify turning work down...

It just helps me justify the expense of the hobby tbh. It's a nice feeling when the client is really happy with your work, and that makes it all worthwhile for me.

Instead of turning down work, I'd rather that people saw that driving 30 minutes, setting up a full studio, taking photos for 30 minutes to an hour and then polishing the images, getting approval for prints and delivering the final product was worth a lot more than €100. Another person wanted the shoot and a CD with all the full size images for €50 as "it doesn't cost you anything when it's all digital".

I used to sell holidays a long time ago. The clients who were happy to pay a for a good holiday never complained, those that bartered and wanted the special offers were almost guaranteed to have a complaint about something. To a certain extent, I've found the same goes for photography. If you don't have to put up with difficult people to pay bills, why bother? They won't be the ones that recommend your services to others, no matter how special a deal they get.

That's $0.04 now.

[/rambling]

 

[micallef1990]

I have had an slr for around 3 years now. I have just got a 7d and have some nice glass. But I still wouldn't feel too comftable doing weddings. If I was having a wedding I wouldn't want somebody taking photo's with a cheap slr and a kit lens , who has had a camera for a few months. I would want to pay more and get stunning photo's

 

[SamP]

I wouldn't want somebody taking photo's with a cheap slr and a kit lens , who has had a camera for a few months. I would want to pay more and get stunning photo's

Happens... Also, the lulz that would ensue if the shutter broke.