Can anyone give advice please.

[kgb224]

Someone inquired and asked for a quote for a Child's birthday party.
The lady send me an e-mail.
Hi Johannes

Plse send me a quotation for a party in Randpark ridge Randburg on Saturday 17 April 2010. Photos must be taken from 2pm-6pm(5 A4 size prints in colour 5 black and white about 50-60 standard photos as well.

Can anyone give me advice on how much i must charge.
The traveling distance to the area where the birthday party takes place is +/- 60 km from me .So i will have to travel 120 km both ways.
Thank you for your time and advice.
God Bless
Regards
Christo

[Swisstony10]

I don't know how much fuel is in your area, or how much printing costs.

As a fairly simple (and extremely basic) guide, you need to work out how much it's going to cost you to provide those prints, and how much it's going to cost you to get there and back, to at least cover your costs.

Then you need to think about your workflow - how long is the processing going to take you to come up with that many printable images?

If you want to start thinking about it in a professional way, you need to include a percentage of the cost of all your kit, insurance, membership of any professional bodies, ongoing training costs, etc.

Then you need to decide whether you're happy being out of pocket on the job, or whether you want to make a profit. Add a suitable profit margin onto the total cost of doing the job that you've arrived at with the above points, and then have a look at what other pros in the area are charging for the same kind of service (including prints), and make sure that you're not charging a massive amount above, or a massive amount under them.

There is no hard and fast rule about what you must charge - it depends on the area, and what the market can stand. There's no point quoting (as a vague example) £/$600 for a job that ever other pro in the area will qoute £/$300 for, and by the same token, if every pro is quoting £/$600, you're hurting everybody's business, including your own, by quoting £/$300.

If you search through threads from Jim Bryant, you'll be able to find a much more detailed and comprehensive guide to pricing your services - the points I outlined are exactly what I called them, a quick, simple and basic guide to some of the things you need to take into account.

Good luck!

Russ.

[imove]

I think it should be based on the criteria of the post above. And I also think that it should have to do with how much experience you have had with photographing people/children. If you feel like you have a ton of experience with it, then you can charge more. If you don't have very much experience, you should charge less- and possibly even ask a friend if you might be able to practice some shots with her kids in order to prepare. If it's your first party, I would probably go for a low price that will still cover your costs and printing and then a little bit for your time. Experience pays for it's self in the end

[kgb224]

Originally Posted by Swisstony10

I don't know how much fuel is in your area, or how much printing costs.

As a fairly simple (and extremely basic) guide, you need to work out how much it's going to cost you to provide those prints, and how much it's going to cost you to get there and back, to at least cover your costs.

Then you need to think about your workflow - how long is the processing going to take you to come up with that many printable images?

If you want to start thinking about it in a professional way, you need to include a percentage of the cost of all your kit, insurance, membership of any professional bodies, ongoing training costs, etc.

Then you need to decide whether you're happy being out of pocket on the job, or whether you want to make a profit. Add a suitable profit margin onto the total cost of doing the job that you've arrived at with the above points, and then have a look at what other pros in the area are charging for the same kind of service (including prints), and make sure that you're not charging a massive amount above, or a massive amount under them.

There is no hard and fast rule about what you must charge - it depends on the area, and what the market can stand. There's no point quoting (as a vague example) £/$600 for a job that ever other pro in the area will qoute £/$300 for, and by the same token, if every pro is quoting £/$600, you're hurting everybody's business, including your own, by quoting £/$300.

If you search through threads from Jim Bryant, you'll be able to find a much more detailed and comprehensive guide to pricing your services - the points I outlined are exactly what I called them, a quick, simple and basic guide to some of the things you need to take into account.

Good luck!

Russ.

Russ
Thank you for your advice.
I will have a look at Jim's threads.
Regards
Christo

[kgb224]

Originally Posted by imove

I think it should be based on the criteria of the post above. And I also think that it should have to do with how much experience you have had with photographing people/children. If you feel like you have a ton of experience with it, then you can charge more. If you don't have very much experience, you should charge less- and possibly even ask a friend if you might be able to practice some shots with her kids in order to prepare. If it's your first party, I would probably go for a low price that will still cover your costs and printing and then a little bit for your time. Experience pays for it's self in the end

Thank you for your advice.
Regards
Christo