how much do i charge for my first paid photo shoot??

[harper]

hi guys

well i am happy to say that yesterday afternoon and this morning i took my first photographs for a paying customer (a friend) who runs a designing business.

he is designing a brochure for a clients bed and breakfast and she wanted perfessional photographs taken to put into the brochure.

she also intends on keeping a disc with all the "good" photos i took after the job is complete.


so the question is how do i charge for this? being that it is for a friend but in the other hand my friends client want them also.

your help in this is appreciated

[mcmahong]

Hi there. Well done on your first paying job.

Are you asking about how much to charge, or how to go about asking your friend if there is a chance of some compensation?

First comment would be that perhaps this should have been established before the shoot. But that's in hindsight, and you are wondering now how to charge for a friend who is going to charge a client. Perhaps you should discuss with your friend - see how much the client is paying them and work out and appropriate cut. We can't give you a $ figure to charge, as it can depend on a lot of things.

I'd suggest you first take the "friend" element out of the question and simply work it out as though it was just a paying client. If you are treating this as a business, there are questions to ask yourself:

1. How many hours did it take you to complete the job?
2. What were your own costs (batteries, petrol, etc)?
3. What do you think is an appropriate rate of pay ($30, $50, $70 / hour... ???)?
4. What discount are you prepared to offer your friend, if any?
5. How much value do you put on the quality of the final product (that is, did you provide outstanding professional images, or just pretty good images)?
6. Are the images likely to be used again in a commercial sense?

I think you need to consider all of this to work out what the job was worth. Then work out how much of a discount you want to offer to your friend.

Having said all that, this is your first job and is a good start to your portfolio (your signature says you are new to photography). Many people would do a job like this for free just to get the experience, or at least only ask for their costs to be covered, maybe with a 6-pack thrown in.

Hope that helps in some way.

Ged

[harper]

thanks Ged

i was planning on just asking for maybe a carton for the work but he insists on paying me. he offered me $100 but i think i might just take $50 of that and tell him to get me more work lol.

i know the clients plans on using the images elsewhere. but that doesnt really bother me as she is quite wealthy (owns multiple hotel/b&bs) and if she is impressed with them i may get more work down the track.

[KeeFy]

Take what your frind is willing to pay you. You're not doing yourself a favor by setting your price low.

[MattNQ]

I assume your friend has now seen the shots and is happy enough with them to offer you the $100?
I'm with KeeFy. Take the sum offered.

[mcmahong]

One of my very first photoshoot jobs (a few simple headshots), I just asked for $50 and the bloke insisted on giving me $100. I guess that was partly because I had to return at a later date because one of his staff didn't show up. But stilll... like the others say, stick with what is offered (unless they aren't happy with the photos, then you would offer to re-shoot or take the discounted price).

[harper]

thanks again guys

i gave him 20 final images and showed him them on my computer. he was happy with the result and said he is going to charge the client $100 for my shots and give that money to me.

i was prety happy with the shot i gave him however i wished there was a little bit less noise in the interior shots.

all in all with this shoot i went to the house a total of 3 times and to a total of 130 shots so i think that giving them the 20 final images was well worth the $100

[mcmahong]

Good work. All a good learning experience. Now you have a better idea of how to approach future jobs - can only get better from here. Maybe the $100 could go towards another flash unit and a wireless trigger to improve those indoor shots!

[zankah]

Well done with your first paying job and I'm sure it's been a great learning experience! Agree with the suggestion of using the money towards more gear. Can anyone ever have enough???

[johndom]

take the $100- it means he sees you have provided a quality product. Do not undervalue yourself.

$100 is nothing for most businesses(despite what they tell us)

[auriestar]

Dont forget to get in writing agreement over the ownership of the photos - eg you retain copyright and they have unlimited usage of said images (licence?). Just covers you for usng them in portfolios or if they want to use them for something elsein the future.

[Jules8]

Congrats on your first paid job! I got a few good tips from this thread myself. Keep up the good work.

[harper]

thanks guys for the comments

i am already looking into getting another speed light and some wireless flash triggers

[Adrian Fischer]

Maybe its just me but I think you have undersold yourself. $100 for 3 visits to the house, and how many hours of editing etc. Lets for argument sake, say the house was in the same neighbourhood, your visit would still take the better part of an hour each time. Time to get there, time to set up, time to shoot and the go home. Maybe 45 minutes. Times three so thats 2.5 hours ball park. How long did it take to edit. Upload to PC review and get down to the 20 you kept then do any PP? One hour, two? So all up maybe 4-5 hours invested? How much did your friend charge the client for the brochure? Bet he got the going rate. Have a google for photographers who do real estate work. One house shot in daylight hours, one visit, around $250 and you can bet they dont take 130 images and spend much time in PP (night shots would be different but also different rate). Well done on first paying gig though.

[reaction]

yeh I was going to say way underpaid too
but then I don't know OP or OP's skill level

it's fine for a friend but don't charge like that for strangers...

[harper]

thanks guys

the experience was the main thing i got out of this shoot and i was happy with that

[Adrian Fischer]

It really is a tough situation to be in. You need the experience and the exposure so I understand doing it. I have done jobs for business friends before that I have undercharged on but I make sure that I write an invoice for the full amount (with as much detail as possible. ie time taken, number of visits to house blah blah...( and then apply a discount to get to the agreed price. This way they at least see how much of a good deal they got and also see what the real price would be. At least if they asked again they should know what the real price will be. So I would suggest you take the time to work out what the real cost would have been just in case the do ask again or for the next potential client.

[Tarryn]

im in the same boat, roughly. i have started out small and only charging small to get experience. but now with the costs of running a business and insurance yadda yadda yadda... prices go up to cover my expenses.... i have found people reccomending my services and also quoting prices that were done on their session earlier on. id say make sure your friend knows its a heavily discounted rate and every job is different price wise, otherwise he might start reccomending you for the $100 and then you have to tell perspective clients its a lot more in $. am i making sense? hope so lol its late at night....