How Much To Charge? How Much To Kick Back?

[MikeFF]

I may have the chance to do team photos for my local Babe Ruth Baseball league. I am unable to do prints myself and would rather allow the parents to do the prints them self. I was thinking of putting the team photos along with 2 individual shots,( 1 w/bat 1 w/glove )
on a CD. Since these will be shot outside in good light editing should be minimal. The town is a lower middle class, blue collar type of town. I want to try and keep the price on the lower side of reasonable yet still be fair to myself.

I also want to pitch the people who run the league on allowing me to offer my services to parents for action/game shots. Again I want be doing any printing and editing will be relatively minimal. I thought it might be a good way to promote my service by telling the parents that part of what they pay me will go back to the league. I am not sure what to charge for this?

Any ideas on pricing?

Thanks Mike

[kathiemt]

What currency Mike?

I know a photographer who takes photos of mountain bike races and sells the chosen images to the racers on CD for $25 each, includes postage. CDs will often have up to around a dozen images of the racer, but often less. This is in Victoria, Australia.

[MikeFF]

Originally Posted by kathiemt

What currency Mike?

I know a photographer who takes photos of mountain bike races and sells the chosen images to the racers on CD for $25 each, includes postage. CDs will often have up to around a dozen images of the racer, but often less. This is in Victoria, Australia.

It would be USD. $25 was about what i was thinking for the game shots, maybe a little more to cover what I will kick back to the league. Maybe $15 per disc for the team pics. Those discs will have only 3 or 4 images. Is that too little? These are not rich people. I am doing this on short notice the league will start on 4-10. the parents are under no obligation to by the team shots. I would hate to do the work and not get paid.

[BCampbell]

Mike, I don't know who coined this phrase but it's extremely apt.

"Work for full price, or for free; never for cheap".

This isn't full price. The first thing I think when I hear your description -- a kid's baseball league in a somewhat economically depressed area -- is that there's a story there. This could be a documentary photo project.

Maybe that's not the kind of shooting you want to do, but if you are looking to start a career there are worse ways to do it than documentary shooting. If you offer a few prints in exchange for access -- being able to shoot from the heart of the game, possibly even follow some of the star players and/or coaches/organizers, -- you could end up with an impressive set of photos that depict a cornerstone of Americana within the broader frame of the current economic situation in the U.S.

That could be extremely powerful. You could easily leverage that into gallery exhibits, print and book sales (which you can then donate a portion to the league, and the money would be coming from outside the league itself), you might even be able to get a small grant once you get started. Moreover, you'd be bringing attention to the community which could have potentially long-ranging impact. Even if this project doesn't result in any "big break", it would be a solid notch in your portfolio and cv.

Or, you could make pocket change on a few hours over a couple weekends of shooting. Who knows, I've always been too much of an optimist anyway.

You might think about trying out Zenfolio. It costs $100/year for a commercial site, but might be the best idea for you in the long run.

Imagine this: You hand out business cards to parents with your web address telling them where they can download photos of their child. They go to your Zenfolio site and see the price list:

$2 per digital download (or whatever price you choose)
$5 for 4x6
$20 for 8x10...(and so on).

This is super-easy to set up and everything is fully automated. You get an e-mail everytime you make a sale. Also, if you have Lightroom, you can upload from there directly.

This eliminates your need for CDs and parents can order prints from you directly (it goes through mpix.com, so all you do is collect a check). Not only that, parents can e-mail this to other relatives, who will in-turn look at purchasing your prints or downoading digitals. It's all about convenience.

Try the free trial. I just started a couple weeks ago and am very happy.

Ryan Taylor Photography

[mandyatm]

I don't do sports photography so I have no idea what you should charge in your area, but I second the suggestion of Zenfolio. I only have the basic membership which is $25. I have to place the orders myself though. You could just try the basic membership and order some pics from them, I have been happy with their quality and how quick they are. I am considering upgrading in the future so clients can order directly from them at the prices I set.

[shphoto32]

I signed up so that Grandma and Grandpa in a far away place could buy the portraits of their kids. I bump up the price to make up for the cut they take. I'd rather bring my clients their portraits in person to establish a better relationship though.

[Jim Bryant]

Talk to the league president. The ones around here want at least a 20% kickback on profits (after expenses) to go back into the league, but that might vary from state to state. I've built in that towards my overall price. I charge $20.00 for digital downloads for sizes up to 8 x 10.

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Talk to the league president. The ones around here want at least a 20% kickback on profits (after expenses) to go back into the league, but that might vary from state to state. I've built in that towards my overall price. I charge $20.00 for digital downloads for sizes up to 8 x 10.

Do a lot of parents take you up on that for that price? I know every market is different, but do you think a person can make it worth his while to come down an photograph baseball for a couple hours?

[Jim Bryant]

This is what I do and it's starting to work out. I'm offering a first come, first serve signup at ballgames, where I charge $40.00 to cover their child throughout the game. I offer this to five parents at a time, but still focus on other action as well. That way those five parents who paid are assured top notch sports action photos. I put five on a Cd each and then offered the remaining for sale on my website. I've been booked for the upcoming five games. Will offer the same deal to soccer, fastpitch and track parents at the upcoming meets and matches that will start this week. Also I hand out a flyer to each parent offering my senior portrait services as well.