Sitting fee dilemma

[Gonska]

Hello all,

Love taking pictures of children and hope to take my passion to the next step and make it at some point in the future a little part-time project. I've been practising by taking lots of pictures of my own kids and occasionally photograph very few of my close friends children as well (with a model release form). I recently took some pics of a child of an acquaintance which turned out great. Did this as a favor without charging for it (I know - debatable). Mom loved the pictures so much that she know asked me to take pictures of the whole family. I would not do a photoshoot for free this time anymore so my question is how to best approach this and explain that I would charge her a sitting fee and they e.g. get a CD with x amounts of pics?

As always any input would be very much appreciated from this great group.

Thank you,
Gonska

[Photogger]

This is basically how I got my start doing portraits as well. Started doing a few of my closest friends for free until I learned the art, then I started charging.

For a sitting fee, this is the way I go about it: I made a list of all the equipment I would used to do a typical five-person portrait shoot. I added the cost to replace all this equipment brand-new, divided by 100, and that was my base sitting fee. Basically, I'm estimating that it would take 100 portrait sessions for me to begin making a profit over expenses. I shoot an average 8 portrait sessions a week, which means it took twelve weeks for me to break even.

Also, consider your camera insurance and liability insurance. I get these for each photo shoot and add that to the cost of the sitting fee.

When the family asks you why you are charging now and not before, simply explain to them that now you are running a business and that business has expenses. They may be close friends, but think of it this way: you won't lose anything by not shooting their portraits for free. However, if you choose to shoot for free and break a lens, you are now out a couple hundred dollars to replace.

Hope this helps.

[prince]

Yep patiently explain what a sitting fee is. You don't what them to confuse the sitting fee with print cost.. Patiently educate them that sitting fee is the cost of your time, skills, equipment, travel, etc.

[SuperDan]

wow.. thats alot of math involved on that one.. but...

it is a tough situation, and honestly... everyone has the same dilemma and i bet that there are about 36 or more threads already started with the same basic idea...

my thoughts...
you did the first ones for free as you wanted to...
the second one is a little different..
if you already have a pricing structure in place.. go ahead and give em a F&F discount...
if you dont have a pricing structure in place... tell em $50 and take the money and the opportunity as a learning situation and explain that this is a one time fee for that low as they are too helping you out getting started

it is a tough dilemma.

[Jim Bryant]

Don't forget time spent editing and post processing and CD burning.

[Gonska]

Great. This is very helpful. Thank you all for your time getting back to me.

Gonska

[Xposurepro]

Giving out CDs is a full blown amateur move. Unless you are charging something like $400 per image .. I would tell even a total newbie who is looking into CD pricing to start at close to a grand for a CD of say 50 processed images. We watch new shooters come and go every year who are offering CDs for cheap. They don't get respect, they lower the value of the art form, they don't get real clients only penny pinchers and they go out of business within 12-18 months .. if you want to consider what they do in that time actually business.
There is always that excuse you got to start somewhere but after 20 yrs all I can say is not a single photo business I have ever seen start that way ever amounted to anything. So if your serious about this dont jump in without thinking and start offering CDs with a session fee. Offer prints. Evaluate every little thing to come to with your pricing. Have a minimum purchase amount. Respect the art form and maintain it's value. These photographers who think an averaged out $10-20 an hour from shoot to delivery is a good deal are ridiculous. I'm not saying you start out going for a $500 / hr average right from the beginning but at least try to get it up to a hundred.

[studioryan]

I am struggling with the same issue. I am a part time photographer and still have a lot to learn. Although I am at the point I have a client base, I still have a problem with charging hundreds of dollars. My solution has been this...I have a $60 sitting fee which consist of approximately 1 hour of photography and a webshow of the shoot. At that point the client can purchase the photos on line. If they want all of the photos I charge $200.

I realize it is still very cheap compared to experienced photographers, but I am slowly adjusting my fee. This time last year I charged $100 for the CD. When I increased it to $200, I worried I would not get a good response...I have!

By the way with the online posting of the photos, I still sell a fair amount of prints to out of town family.

[Gonska]

Good point - I understand where you are coming from. Thanks for your input!

[Xposurepro]

I'm hardcore anti-online shopping in our studio so here's what we do when the question pops up on long distance family orders. When asked we say "Since we're a professional portrait studio where the entire experience is done one on one and in-person, what most clients do is they just mail the DVD slideshow then their family can be apart of the experience. Then they can mail it back to you with money and what images they want you to order for them."
Ok so basically what this strategy is doing is #1 it's keeping everything offline. #2 It's an additional up-sell technique for our DVD Slideshows which are $75. If sitting there crying at the slideshow didn't sell them on it then this is another tactic that might. #3 they already said they were buying the DVD but they pop off with "Well there's no way I'm giving up my DVD they might see it and not send it back LOL .. can we order 2 copies?" Yes You Can. and in cases where they might buy 2 copies but kinda debating back n forth over it I will consider what they have already spent. If they've only spent $500 then yeah they can just keep debating on it but if I've already made at least a grand off them I will say "tell you what I'll give you the second DVD for 50% off." ... good customer relations and I'm still profiting.