What to charge for catalog shots??

[kayten]

Hey there,

I'm doing photography for a friend with a women's clothing boutique and e-commerce site. Neither of us knows what to pay/charge and it complicates things being friends. I did a catalog shoot (some shots were clothing on mannequins, others were of her in the clothes) for her the other day at her shop with a diy lighting setup and the images turned out great! There were 28 images total and it took some time editing because I had to edit out the power cord. The shoot itself was 2.5 hours and editing took about 3.5 hours (I had to clone out the cord because content-aware fill wasn't working). Next time I will definitely figure out a way to hide the cord. My friend will have full licensing to the images and will use them on her website to sell garments and in marketing materials, which I'm also creating for her.

Any suggestions on what would normally be charged for a service like this? I'm in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Thank you!

[Biomech]

You can charge for your time and licence or you could charge a fee per item. Best bet is to google what other people are charging, I know some places charge like £140 per item others less. Personally, I'd quote a total that was per item / licence + expenses

[andyw]

Originally Posted by kayten

Hey there,

I'm doing photography for a friend with a women's clothing boutique and e-commerce site. Neither of us knows what to pay/charge and it complicates things being friends. I did a catalog shoot (some shots were clothing on mannequins, others were of her in the clothes) for her the other day at her shop with a diy lighting setup and the images turned out great! There were 28 images total and it took some time editing because I had to edit out the power cord. The shoot itself was 2.5 hours and editing took about 3.5 hours (I had to clone out the cord because content-aware fill wasn't working). Next time I will definitely figure out a way to hide the cord. My friend will have full licensing to the images and will use them on her website to sell garments and in marketing materials, which I'm also creating for her.

Any suggestions on what would normally be charged for a service like this? I'm in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Thank you!

As with everything else, there is no "normal" charge. There is your rate for a job/licensing and there is what the customer is willing to pay.

I would charge a standard day rate for that and any licensing on top.
So it could range from £850 (standard basic day rate with license for internal use only) through to 8500 or more depending on the usage.

Don't charge the whole thing on the amount of images or you could get burnt if they only end up using a couple.


Reading through again it seems you have already done the job!!!! Big mistake.
ALWAYS have the pricing sorted out before snapping a single shot in future.

For a local SME with national sales for that job I would be charging around £3-5k and another couple of K if I was doing all the marketing material.
But it does depend on the size of the company and their overall marketing spend.

[Biomech]

Don't charge the whole thing on the amount of images or you could get burnt if they only end up using a couple.

Just to be clear, I didn't mean charge per image

[CarlyRocksPhotos]

Charge for your time.... but remember that's the most expensive factor in the equation. . .

Also remember that she will be using the images TO MAKE MONEY. Make no mistake about this.

Catalog work is the bread and butter of professional fashion photographers.... So charge appropriately not to undercut your market.

Cheers!

[andyw]

Originally Posted by Biomech

Just to be clear, I didn't mean charge per image

I think our posts crossed mate, I was not referring to yours at all.
Sorry if it seemed that way.

[kayten]

Thanks for all the input!

[MindyRaeL]

I'd be careful about charging based on time. My logic behind this:
So this year she asks you to take photos for the catalog, and you estimate it will take 6 hours and charge an hourly rate. Next year, she wants to do the same thing for the new catalog. But, now you're a better photographer and know your stuff. You're going to remember to hide cord so less editing time, you know lighting so set-up takes half the time. So now the job is only going to take 3 hours instead of 6. So, should you get paid less next year because you got better at your job?

Instead of a day/half-day rate, charge a creative fee, which includes your knowledge and creativity. That way, when she comes back next year, you can get the same money for half the amount of time because you're better. And charge a licensing fee for any images she chooses to use on top of the creative fee.

Disclaimer: I am not a product/commercial photographer and I don't know what's standard for that industry. Andy and Bio are both brilliant and know their stuff. I'm just offering food for thought. If you want to, check out Best Business Practices for Photographers. He's got lots of info about charging for time vs. a creative fee, and a ton of other helpful information.

[Jim Bryant]

Always charge a creative fee. If you charge by the time, the owner will pile too much on your plate at one time and you'll end spending too much time on photo processing.

[kayten]

The creative fee is definitely the way to go. I will be sure to check out that book.
Thank you!