Could use some advice

[bigrobo89]

Hi all,

A web developer friend of mine recently visited our house and happened to notice a few shots I'd taken. To cut a long story short he asked could I help him out on assisting clients who would come to him for website design but didn't have any photos to use for the website. (He doesn't supply images for use on sites as he's had a few issues with getty etc regarding expired copyrights).

Anyway, so the idea would be that the client comes to see him, asks for a particular website to be designed and then Jamie offers them use of me as a photographer to get the images they want to put on their site, be it shots of their workplace, staff, products etc.

This all happened about a week ago and I honestly hadn't expected anything to come of it without another formal chat, until tonight when the phone went and he rang with his first customer for me.

The shoot will be a "mock gig" to get some shots for a young musicians website. According to the designer this will entail probably 5-6 shots being actually used on the website and around 30mins-1hr of shooting time on location.

Whilst I have never done "gig" photography I have been shooting for a little while now, and as the shoot won't be until March 4th I have a while to hone technique in this area. I've got a 50mm F1.4 and a Speedlight or two to be practicing with.

Now this is where I'm particularly stuck - what to charge for this? As she is a young upstart with music, coupled with this being my first paid for shoot I'm unsure where to pitch my pricing. I've contacted the web developer by email just now to ask what the overall charge is on her website which will hopefully give me a better indication of her financial commitment to this.

The images will be to my mind only for use on her website so would only require low res copies.

Any quick responses would be greatly appreciated as I need to come back to them both with pricing etc.

Sorry for the rambling and thanks for any help

Paul

[Biomech]

If I were asked I'd charge £80/hour for time and ability and then the images as products either a set fee or licence. To be honest, my attitude these days is "what will I do with them after?". If you don't plan on using them for much else, I don't see a problem with just selling a CD with the images on.

[jml79]

In this situation I would include the low-res usage rights in the price. Optionally you can sell the family or label the high res pics later at a different price. Get a model release form so you can use the images on your website and in your portfolio. Also make sure you specify how the clients can use the images you give them.

As for pricing... I struggle with that myself.

[Naois]

I'm not a pro photographer, I just play with it as a hobby, so this is my opinion as I would look at it from a clients perspective.

Doing an hourly rate is a great idea if you are a pro at the photo style required, and can guarantee 5 of 6 good images in a relatively short period of time, but I don't think it's fair to charge a client extra because you are learning something, or not experienced enough to get the right shots in as fast as a pro would.

It's similar to my industry (custom software development) - if we provide a quote to someone, and the request calls for a language we don't normally use, we don't include our learning curve in the quote.

I would set a cost per image and work as long as needed to get it right.

You do need to check with your friend on what he plans to charge them, and maybe decide on a fair price between the two of you first. If you come back with a number that's outrageous compared to the cost of the website, then the client might decided to walk away from both of you.

[jml79]

My only concern with this is not getting anything for your work due to a super anal perfectionist client. It has happened. I charge hourly and if the client is justifiably dis-satisfied I either a) re-shoot for free or b) pro-rate the hourly price based on how many good and usable pictures did turn out. I set a minimum of 6 good shots per hour. Less and I consider pro-rating - $hr/6 per usable picture or re-shooting.

If the client is unreasonable then oh well. You can't win them all, but at least I get something for my time.

My business model and pricing are centred around websites because my main business is as a web developer. I got into photography as an extension of web development for the exact reason your friend is sending business your way. I charge my hourly development rate X 2.5 for an hour of photography with usage rights to low-res pictures. It works for me because all of my clients also are web development, maintenance and hosting clients as well. I have been asked by some clients to start doing portrait work and by a local spe******t photographer to assist with her client list so she can concentrate on fine art but still not big enough or skilled enough for full time yet.

[Biomech]

Oh yeah sorry, I'm an idiot, £80/hour then low res on a disc for X amount. Prints available on demand from you at £Y if they want some for themselves. For other promo work - posters, etc. Price them seperately at a later date if they need them.

If you do that you build up the costing as they need things. If you hit them for a total sum and they are not sure they will use some of it they will probably decline.

So £80/hour + £X for low res on a disc.
Potential to order large prints and high res on demand.

[bigrobo89]

Biomech, jml79 and Naois thanks for the quick replies.

@Biomech - If there is only going to be say 20 photos on this low res disc how much would you expect to charge fo something like this?

I agree with the staggered pricing of higher resolution copies, particularly as it sounds like she has a small budget and I certainly don't want to be scaring off my first customer!

Still haven't heard back from the developer yet, so I'll update when I know more from him.

Thanks again for the help everyone

Paul