Average rate for calender project.

[rdfleuryjr]

19 models, post cards, calenders, posters...

It will take about 1-1 1/2 months. 15-20 shoots.

How much would you charge?

[Swisstony10]

It depends on SO many factors - could you possibly be more specific?

For example - where are you for a start? This is an international website, and the rates that photographers can/do charge will vary wildly around the world. A photographer in Lhasa will likely have a different rate to a photographer in Manchester (UK) who will have a different rate to a photographer in Riyadh who will have a different rate to etc etc... Your local market will affect how much you should/can charge for any work.

Who's commissioning you to do the work? Is it a small local company, a medium-sized national charity, a magazine, a calendar company, or a massive multinational globe-spanning monster?

How many calendars/posters/postcards/etc are they expecting to sell, and for how much?

Russ.

[rdfleuryjr]

Post cards 4.99, Posters, 9.99, and Calenders 14.99. Small local company in Southeast Michigan USA. Lot of outdoor shooting.

I was thinking $1500 would be fair. Its my first "big gig" so to speak.

[Gobae]

You indicated that it would take you 1 to 1-1/2 months (4-6 weeks) to do the shoot. For a total fee of $1500 that means you're working for $9.38 - $6.25 an hour (assuming you're working a 40 hour week).

[Swisstony10]

Well, I'm guessing those shoots would be a couple of hours apiece, and a fee of $1500 means that you're charging between $75 and $100 per shoot, to include travelling expenses and processing time. I would think you'll end up having to do an initial proces on a whole bunch of the images, and present them as proofs to the company so they can pick the "final" shots, which will then have the Full Works - it's not worth going all the way with processing a couple of hundred shots when they're only going to want to use 20 or 30 of them unless you have a really good workflow that involves pretty much nailing every single shot in-camera with only minor sharpening and conversion to Jpeg in post

If that's a reasonably good rate for your area, then I'd say go with it. It could also be good if you can get a credit on the merchandise, especially on the calendars (and you want your company name on every page). I've yet to pull of a "big" gig like this though - doubtless there are a number of people with loads more experience of this kind of thing, who can either support the idea of offering a slightly lower session fee on the grounds that it's a kind of bulk discount, or will rubbish the idea, and say that for the extra hassle of it being a big project you should be charging more.

From my point of view, I'd go with the former option, but that's just me.

Oh, and good luck with it, and congratulations for scoring!

Russ.

[zephod]

Ok, let me get this straight. You're going to bust ass with multiple shoots for this client prep and personalize a full calendar then turn it over to the client so they can profit off it? I think you really need to give this more consideration. I just finished contracting a big calender run this week that will take me about 2 months total. The down payment for this shoot is 3500.00 with the remaining 18,500 due on delivery. I plan on 12-15 shoots (less if I can consolidate a few of the summer and spring themes) each scheduled for 2 hours. That breaks down like this just for the photography:

1. 30 hours @ 75= 2250
2. 15 hours post @ 75.00 =1250

That's the down payment and just the photography. Once that is done I've got the toughest part, which is building the calendar for print. Not only the hours working on the design but the outlay of cash for a proof that can be taken to the client before the full run (at a 50.00 per proof copy rate) that is all on my. Now, I'm confident enough, and count on calendars for a chunk of my operating profit, that I'll usually get it right on the first proof. I also charge for changes a client makes after I've gone to print (that includes the proof).

Once everything is ok'd then it's off to the print run where the 5000 calendars will be packaged and shrink wrapped 50 at a time. That means from beginning to end I've spent 6 weeks and 60-100 hours to deliver a finished product, including printing, for a gross of $35,000. Then I have taxes on my end, social security etc plus one 1099 contract employee that I pay out of the job. That leaves me a decent profit but by no means a piddly 1500 for that much work. I'd also note that if you are doing the work for them to do the printing you should schedule and charge accordingly.

Here's an example: I can print 500 (I won't contract under that) full color aqueous coated 9x6 calendar's for about a grand. If I sell them to a client for 2500 then I'm going to adjust my schedule accordingly and that means 1 shoot and a very basic layout. I wouldn't even schedule more than a week for this project because it is just not worth the time and effort.

So after all that here's how I'd break it down and then price it

1. How many calendars (just that how many calendars does the client want. I suggest you up sell them to double their estimate for anything under a thousand.
2. how detailed does the client want each month (this is a biggie as it dictates your shoots)
3. what's my hourly cost for the shoot (this is all you, what are you worth)
4. what's my total projected time
5. where is my profit point
6. what's my price per unit (again, simple. Just take what you pay per unit then add your hourly estimate/the number of units.

If you really break it down you will see that 1500 is extremely low on this project with the time you are planning on. Like a lot of people that ask questions like these you need to find your value and then stick to it this undervaluation of your skill and time just hurts you. While you may think it will get you more work you need to think of what kind of work it means. So, for your project, I'd rethink that whole thing and actually come up with a price plan and not just willy nilly, half-ass it.

FWIW, I don't get a lot of 5k calendar sales, as a matter of fact this is the second, but I get a ton of 1k orders and those are usually fund raisers. Calendars are a great income source which your clients will sell for 10-20 dollars a piece. That's 10-20 thousand dollars they will raise and if you charge 1500 for all that work it really does put you firmly in the category "sucker" and yes that's exactly what happens when you produce something like this.

D