Help! Pricing

[Cady D]

I am a teenager who has never been paid for my photographs before. However, a family has offered to pay me for outdoor family portraits. While I am really excited, I have no idea what to charge. Should I let them offer me a price, or should I have a set price. If I should have a set price, what should it be??????

[digirebelva]

I looked at your website, what I didnt see were any examples that you know how to do formal portraits...while you are excited to get paid (understandable) what happens if the weather sucks and you have to do it inside...do you have the equipment (and knowledge)to pull it off. Not trying to rain on your parade...just make sure client understands your experience level and they are comfortable with it...

[Izzy]

My first family port gig. I charged based on my time shooting, editing, etc. I provided them all the finished files and prints (4x6) and open copyright because I HATE being bugged about printing yet another 8x10 of Suzie and her dad. And I did not want to be responsible for pack ratting their images. I usually kept images 1 year. Some I still have on CD.

I charged them $75 (I know way cheap - but I had a folio to build) Dinner for 2 and breaking even was good enough for me at this time.

I kept it to about 50 exposures to work with. You have to know your end selection pool target. Are you hoping for 5-6 real good ones? Remember that outdoor portraits have a totally different set of demands and the skill level must be high if you are going to fore go using reflectors etc. Know that your success ratio will be 25% at absolute best. I have fought hard to hit 45% in the outdoors. And no I did not lower my bar.

I am not saying you can't get this done because I built an entire business on this idea and have never used a reflector to this day.

Today I get $175 for the same package with 15 finished images and prints.

Know your limitations. Get a friend to go out with you and shoot portraits of them and watch the light change as you work. If you can help it make it same time same location. NEVER shoot between 10:30 and 2:30-3:00. The harsh lighting will destroy all your efforts. There really are hundreds if not thousands of pointers I could give you for shooting in the environment you intend to. I did it for almost 10 years before the biz end and stress ate me. Maybe I should write a book??

By doing this test run you can make your light predictable as long as the weather is similar to your practice run. This will also keep you from going at it cold. Going at it cold will kill your confidence level and your customer will detect this.

There are those on here that say I am crazy for giving the finished file and open copyright to the customer. I don't care. I would have to have a file server bigger than the one I already have to maintain all of those images for all those years. Right now I am working from 15TB storage sever; and I have that about 1/4 full after just 2 years and my shooting is increasing each month this year.

Outdoors - there is no such thing as a "formal" portrait IMHO. AT least not in the traditional sense.

[funcrunch]

Originally Posted by Izzy

There are those on here that say I am crazy for giving the finished file and open copyright to the customer. I don't care. I would have to have a file server bigger than the one I already have to maintain all of those images for all those years. Right now I am working from 15TB storage sever; and I have that about 1/4 full after just 2 years and my shooting is increasing each month this year.

What do you mean by "open copyright"? You can license a hi-res image to a client for unlimited personal use and still keep the copyright so that you can use it in your portfolio and potentially license it for other purposes (commercial use would require a model release).

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by funcrunch

What do you mean by "open copyright"? You can license a hi-res image to a client for unlimited personal use and still keep the copyright so that you can use it in your portfolio and potentially license it for other purposes (commercial use would require a model release).

What you describe is basically what I mean. I suppose I was not clear in that detail. I allow them to print as much as they like with no commercial printing and I can then use the image anyway I see fit (flattering naturally). For commercial printing they have to come back for more red tape. I have never had one come back for this but I am always ready.

I always get a model release at the time of the shoot. To date only 1 or 2 have declined.

[funcrunch]

Originally Posted by Izzy

What you describe is basically what I mean. I suppose I was not clear in that detail. I allow them to print as much as they like with no commercial printing and I can then use the image anyway I see fit (flattering naturally). For commercial printing they have to come back for more red tape. I have never had one come back for this but I am always ready.

I always get a model release at the time of the shoot. To date only 1 or 2 have declined.

OK, so that's a standard personal use license with printing allowed. Your term "open copyright" was confusing; there's a lot of confusion about copyright in this forum.

[JayBud]

First off I wish you luck. Making that first step is quite exciting. But are you sure you're completely ready to step into a paid for shoot? I personally recommend you go about it as an opportunity to thank a beautiful family for their time and patience in letting you build your experience doing something you want to pursue as a career. And that if they feel you just have to be paid then a small donation towards your education and base cost of performing the shoot would be greatly appreciated.

What I'm mostly trying to say is that if they PAY you for a SHOOT. People almost ALWAYS expect results. Regardless of whether or not they know you're inexperienced.

But if they feel like they did you a favor allowing you to shoot them then there is allot more leeway in taking your time during the shoot and possibly botching the whole job. And if they love what you did then you almost always get paid something.

I also recommend that you don’t start CHARGING officially until you can get consistent repeatable results.

So to answer your question, don't CHARGE anything. If you stink... you might not get paid. But as you get better, so will the checks.