What should I charge?!?!?!?

[Liz Caldwell]

Fairy parties?!?

Ok, what should I charge for shooting a fairy party? This is a "test party" for some friends of mine who are starting a new business, so I don't think they're getting paid to do the party themselves. It be a few hours of shooting, then, as my friend called it, a bit of fun and a few beers after the kids leave.

I was thinking of saying $20 for gas, and $45 for time (thus covering the $65 I just spent on a Bowen TTL slave flash today [but OMG, I can't wait! Hurry UPS!])

Does that seem fair, or am I selling myself short?

[ditch_azeroth]

nah liz, i think that is hitting the nail right on the head. you are going to burn them a copy of the pictures, right? ^_^ and the bowen is an excellent addition to your setup. i think your next one would probably be a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4, if finances permit

[waffles]

I'd say the more specific stuff they ask for, the more you charge. So if they ask for a bunch of specific shots, then you might want to go for more. Otherwise, that seems like a good price.

[Liz Caldwell]

Ok, that's what I'm gonna say... I also added "that'll give us a change to see what's involved for the next one"... that way I'm open to charge more for future events.

[Zane]

What's a fairy party?

This might be counterproductive to your "what should I charge?" question, but maybe you should charge nothing and work out a deal where they can help promote your services with their new business. I only say that because you mentioned they were friends.

[jsanders]

Well you could also sell a package like:
80 pictures on CD for a fixed price.

[Liz Caldwell]

For this one I'm including the CD with the $65.... I decided rather than charging for the images she'll likely use for the advertisement's, do them for free, so EVERY customer sees "what cute photo's and props that photographer has", and thereby will want me at their kid's fairy party...

I hope that how it ends up working...

[jsanders]

Originally Posted by Liz Caldwell

For this one I'm including the CD with the $65.... I decided rather than charging for the images she'll likely use for the advertisement's, do them for free, so EVERY customer sees "what cute photo's and props that photographer has", and thereby will want me at their kid's fairy party...

I hope that how it ends up working...

And how many shot's did you promise them?

[bagofscraps]

If it were me, and I were doing it for friends, I'd do it for free, but ask them to tell their clients about who did the photography. You could get more work that way, which would make you more money, and you get to keep an excellent relationship with your friends.

[Liz Caldwell]

I didn't specify a number, but these guys know me, I get trigger happy, especially now that I have the bottomless memory card. If I were to guess, I'd say I'd have 50 images on the DVD (after dropping 250 images that I don't think of the quality I require), which will give them both posed shots and candids.

Zane: I definitely thought about not charging, but I have to think about gas, food, the huge amount of hours I'm going to spend on editing the images afterward, AND the $115.93 I spent replacing/upgrading equipment... Most of those replacement's wouldn't have been needed if I hadn't had done that last "no charge" portrait session.

Oh, and a fairy party is 10-25 five year old girls, dressed as fairies. It's the new trend in OC (The OC) birthday parties.