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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> How much do you charge for taking 150 photos
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03/18/2004 01:17:50 PM · #26
$150 an hr! wow i charge £350 a day

03/18/2004 01:21:10 PM · #27
Originally posted by Bobster:

$150 an hr! wow i charge £350 a day

$150 an hour? I'm not sure if that was a joke or whatever. It seems outrageous to me. I would charge $35.00/hour for my services.
03/18/2004 01:21:41 PM · #28
I just picked up a commercial job for 40+ photos and we settled on $30/photo + tax, which includes unlimited print and electric licensing, post processing and knockout if required (against white only). I personally think it's a little low, but it's a good portfolio client.

I estimate it will take at least two 8 hours days to shoot (it's heavy equipment), plus 20 hours to process. That's about $33 per hour.

I'd figure about 1 hour per item, which averages in setup time, break down, processing and delivery. For a really good friend, I'd go $5/hour. So for 150 items...$750. Adjust up or down according to the difficulties of the shots. And like mcrael said, explain the work and the way you came up with the numbers.

Also if you can, test your lighting well and d/l a few test pictures to see which setup needs the least amount of post processing. You'll save time in the long run.
03/18/2004 02:01:22 PM · #29
I have taken a number of ebay type pics - once you have the softbox and such set up it goes pretty quickly, and you get good pics that need little editing. SInce all the items are similar in size/type etc, it won't be too bad. You'll spend as long tracking what item and what photo number each is.

What you need to know for sure is how this will be done - you get a box of items and go away is one thing, to do this at the client's with them watching (and talking, correcting, etc) takes tons more time.

If everything is set up and locked down (do not ove camera, focus, lights, etc), and the first few pics are verified as good, then shoot the rest, batch process them, and review the end results for any oddities.

You'll still spend 3 mintes per pic to take, then download time, open edit and save time, etc. One or 2 days should do it. If you have to edit each and every one, A)repetitious and boring b)will take a LONG time.

Printing of pics, even at walmart 4x6 is a cost of $.25 each, plus your time, so an hours labor and 50 cent each. If on CD, well a CD costs me 8 cents, not worth charging for! Burn time is 10 minutes, again not a big deal. Printing proof sheets may have value, so perhaps bundle it and call a CD of pics $50 or something.

As to per hour...a business charges much more than a person doing it on the side. Less overhead, cash so no taxes, etc. I'd say $10 for a friend, but i'd quote it as a total price, have a signed contract, ask for a deposit, that type of thing. For a friendly client (frined who will make money on it) then $25 an hour. For a real business, you and them, then $75 an hour. That may sound high, but figure in cost of equipment, office space (your living room if need be), software, etc and that it has to be paid for, and taxes (1/3?) utilities, wear and tear on your car, gas, lunches, etc and before you know it you are not actually making very much.

chris
03/18/2004 02:13:52 PM · #30
Originally posted by Gordon:

Originally posted by procyon:

To a good friend that would be free or a very minimal fee if he insist, like 50$ for the time.

To a client, that would be higher.


To a good friend, I'd offer to do one or two for free. I wouldn't expect a good friend to ask me to do a weeks worth of work for nothing.


I agree. There's nothing wrong with 'mates rates' but if he's using them for commercial purposes and you're a photographer then charge a decent price for it. Even at £40-£50 per hour (probably at least 25 hours work) he's going to have a lot of trouble finding another commercial product photographer anywhere near that price. Don't undersell your talent. A good friend wouldn't ask you to do such a massive job for free. I wouldn't dream of asking and also wouldn't do it for anything apart from a perhaps 25% discount from my normal charge.
03/18/2004 02:21:35 PM · #31
I just told a client ahead of time (a major company) that for photographing a press release (they want to end up with one photo min. 200 dpi at 8x10 emailed to them within an hour) that for anything less than an hour I charge $300 (CDN - currently about $220 US) for my services as a flat fee. I take as many photos as I can with and they use what they want. They got back to me and said this was acceptable.

You can charge more than you think , especially when the client is a large/profitable company and under a time crunch, as my client is. Don't undervalue yourselves...

Originally posted by mcrael:

Originally posted by Bobster:

$150 an hr! wow i charge £350 a day

$150 an hour? I'm not sure if that was a joke or whatever. It seems outrageous to me. I would charge $35.00/hour for my services.
03/18/2004 03:04:42 PM · #32
Originally posted by jimmythefish:

I just told a client ahead of time (a major company) that for photographing a press release (they want to end up with one photo min. 200 dpi at 8x10 emailed to them within an hour) that for anything less than an hour I charge $300 (CDN - currently about $220 US) for my services as a flat fee. I take as many photos as I can with and they use what they want. They got back to me and said this was acceptable.


Hmmm - thanks for that tidbit of information - definitely worth considering an approach like this. When I quoted my hourly rate of $35.00 per hour in my previous posting, that was based on an assumption that the job would take several days to complete - not just one day.

Message edited by author 2004-03-18 15:05:37.
03/18/2004 03:18:28 PM · #33
Originally posted by Gordon:

I think the various people posting about doing it for $50 or how it'll only take a few seconds have no idea of the time commitment this sort of work requires.


I think you misread Gordon - most people made the distinction between quick snaps and commercial photos.

Fayenet - if your friend intends to make money from these shots, and if you'll have to take days of your time to do it, you'd be crazy to charge much less than you earn for your time in a normal job.
Whoever it is isn't asking you to be their friend, they're asking you to help them make monetary profit.

I can't believe how much interest this has sparked - poor Fayenet having to trawl through this lot!
03/18/2004 03:25:11 PM · #34
Originally posted by budokan:

Originally posted by Gordon:

I think the various people posting about doing it for $50 or how it'll only take a few seconds have no idea of the time commitment this sort of work requires.


I think you misread Gordon - most people made the distinction between quick snaps and commercial photos.


I'd just argue that you can't do 150 'quick snaps' in a few hours. That's still a day or so's work. Yes it would take longer to do a commercial quality job, but even the quick snapshot approach is a significant amount of work to do anything beyond complete trash.
03/18/2004 03:35:55 PM · #35
Originally posted by mcrael:

Originally posted by Bobster:

$150 an hr! wow i charge £350 a day

$150 an hour? I'm not sure if that was a joke or whatever. It seems outrageous to me. I would charge $35.00/hour for my services.


No joke. It is a fairly common hourly rate. I make it on a regular basis with a variety of clients. Once you factor in the amount of time you spend on a project away from the camera that the client doesn't pay for, it makes sense.
03/18/2004 03:40:44 PM · #36
Another way to charge...

There are mills that do only products that charge around $45 per product. The client gets a press ready imagee (color correct, clipping path, etc).

I have a client that uses a mill for their 22,000 products. Do the math on that!
03/18/2004 03:44:25 PM · #37
WOW, I know there is a lot of various factors such as region, etc, but here in the Los Angeles area for goot commercial studio work it is not uncommon to be $1200 to $1500 a day and $250 an hour; thats not on the extreme side either. I guess its all relative, but man I don't konw a single pro in the area for 100 miles that is less than $75/hour for anything.
03/25/2004 08:45:55 PM · #38
I charge $1200 a day, with a half day minimum for commercial work. Plus expenses, Plus digital capture fees, Plus retouching fees.

The people who want to charge $20, will deliver a $20 photo. To shoot Jewlery correctly, and uniquely, you need to spend some time on it. 150 necklaces, I'd quote 3 days of shooting. plus all the other stuff.
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