Photoshoot pricing.

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Dal

Dal

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How much does everyone charge??

I've got some people interested in getting me to take some pictures of their cars after seeing what i've done with my own and others, and I can't figure out what costs I should charge them (they are not friends). I've spoken to a member on here about pricing but when I mentioned it to someone they never replied so I'm guessing it was too much.

Need to know the price of the photoshoot, prints (different sizes), electronic copies etc. just need rough prices really.

I've also been asked to do some photo's for a friends Wedding which I am dredding but he cant afford a photographer and seeing as it will be my first wedding I'm doing them for free, this has led to someone else being interested (not a friend) so I will be charging them. How much should I charge being a noob to wedding photography.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

:thumbs:
 
Well, looking on your website you've clearly got the skills - the NUJ site suggests £450 for a day so I guess you can work it out from there.

Am I totally off there?

On a seperate note, it really annoys me when you quote someone and they just don't bother to come back because the price is too high. Some feedback would be nice!
 
The simplest way is to work out what you think you're worth as an hourly rate and then price a job based on the number of hours it will take - not just to shoot but travel time, processing time, etc.

Print prices tend to hover around £5 for a 6x4 and go up from there but you could always check what some the local togs are charging as a guide.

Be wary of under charging for weddings or anything else for that matter. If you do a good job and word spreads you'll be stuck with those prices as it will be a factor in why people are calling you in the first place - "Call Joe Blogs, he did a great job and he's cheap!". There's a local guy here who's in the same boat - £199 for complete coverage and high res images on CD, he gets all the budget wedding work because he's known as the budget guy. If he puts his prices up someone else will step in at £199 and he'll lose his client base.
 
sambonebs said:
On a seperate note, it really annoys me when you quote someone and they just don't bother to come back because the price is too high. Some feedback would be nice!
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You need to start making a follow up call then, I leave it for 5 days after then call. No pressure or sales pitch, just a friendly hi, just making sure it arrived, any other questions, etc. approach.
 
pxl8 said:
You need to start making a follow up call then, I leave it for 5 days after then call. No pressure or sales pitch, just a friendly hi, just making sure it arrived, any other questions, etc. approach.
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That's a good plan. I guess I just don't want to appear as though I'm putting pressure on, I'll just have to improve my technique! :lol:
 
I agree with pricing yourself at an hourly rate, plus a commission rate.

I.e. I will do a portrait shoot for someone, charge them £100 right off the bat, which covers two hours and however many images are taken within that time (film or digital). I also charge directly for expenses (if a film costs a fiver, I charge a fiver etc) and then an hourly rate after the first two hours. Any photoshopping or dev & print work is charged at the hourly rate (although I usually include 4 or 5 prints/mastered jpegs/tiffs with the initial £100).

I recently worked with Andy Hollingworth & Rich Hardcastle (both celebrated comedy photographers), both of whom charge a flat rate - I think Andy charges £350 a day and Rich charges £500 for a couple of hours. Andy includes one shot photoshopped plus everything else on a disc, and Rich provides one Print (he works on medium format film so only takes about a dozen photos).

Andy definitely gets more work, so I'd have to say his pricing works best. And he's just been asked by Ricky Gervais to photograph the final episode of "Extras"...
 
I forgot to mention, including some prints in the price is a good way to encourage sales. My standard portrait/lifesytle package is £120 and includes a voucher for £50 of prints, most customers spend another £100 on top of that. Customers tend to think "Right I'll have these as my free ones and then I'll buy these ones as well." :D
 
I include free bacon sarnies and a running commentary on why Aston Villa are almost good now.

Beat that. :p
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.
It seems the pricing I've given the clients is about right then.
I was quoting £50 for me to do the shoot and process the pictures, this was based on 3 hour photoshoot (doing night photo's takes time). And roughly 3 hours processing, also included travelling time, petrol etc.
Then I quoted £10 for an A4 print (would try and get a frame for that aswell), then was advised to charge more for a digital copy of an image to avoid them printing their own copies so was £20 for a digital copy.
Do you think that’s fair??
I don't wanna be known as the budget tog as I wanna earn some money.
 
£8ish/hour sounds a little low to me...
 
Dal said:
Thanks for the advice everyone.
It seems the pricing I've given the clients is about right then.
I was quoting £50 for me to do the shoot and process the pictures, this was based on 3 hour photoshoot (doing night photo's takes time). And roughly 3 hours processing, also included travelling time, petrol etc.
Then I quoted £10 for an A4 print (would try and get a frame for that aswell), then was advised to charge more for a digital copy of an image to avoid them printing their own copies so was £20 for a digital copy.
Do you think that’s fair??
I don't wanna be known as the budget tog as I wanna earn some money.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, if I saw an advert for your services at those prices I'd assume you weren't any good.

For an A4 print I charge £20 B&W, £28 Colour. That's unframed. Let them sort their own frames out. I don't charge travelling or petrol, but then again I don't do jobs outside of a 15 mile radius.

And I'd charge at least £100 for the shoot. If you did one shoot a day at £50, for five days a week, you'd earn £12000 a year, which would get you a box at Aston Villa, but you'd have to live there and you wouldn't be able to afford a Balti Pie.
 
Frames - subjective, people have different taste, so the only way to get it right is to not include one, or just a simple cardboard frame to aid rigidity.

Travel time + 3 hours shooting + probably a couple of hours on the PC tweaking = hourly rate of about £ 6 per hour. Is this enough to cover your costs / insurance and so on?
 
I think i will revise my prices then, as when i add these to the Website i dont wanna up the price, i can always reduce the price.

I will post up on here a new set of prices to see what you all think. need to work it out a bit more i think.
 
Phone ten snappers from yellow pages and ask for a quote as if you're a punter. Add every quote up and divide by ten to give you an average price. then adjust according genius or rubbishness.
 
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