Advice for nightclub gigs...

[CHOSEN]

Hello All,
I just started shooting at nightclubs and I was hoping to get some advice from some of you seasoned photographers who have done this before. I'm trying to learn the ropes. My first question is ...What is a "reasonable fee" for, say a 9pm - 1am gig? I'm sure it depends on how many pictures you are obligated to produce, but in my case, I dictate how many "they" get. I'm deciding to give "them" about 100-150 pictures. I know how much I'd want to get paid, but I don't want to price myself out of the market.
How do you decide what pics get sent to the person who booked you? Do you allow them to choose out of the ones you approve of or do you make the call?

Are there any rules that you follow?
I've already heard:
....Please correct me if any of these are retarded

1) Never sit there and show patrons the pics you took that night simply because they walk up and ask to see them.
2) Make it clear to the customer that there is more involved in producing the images for them then taking it off of the camera and burning it onto a CD....like editing....(It's amazing how many people are confused when I say "editing")

What do you say to patrons that give you their card and ask you to send them pics?

Any advice that you could give me, regarding this, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

 

[mdtusz]

Charge the club or promoter whatever you feel you are worth plus some. If you charge too little, you are just devaluing the entire photography community.

As for handing over photos, most of the time, nightclub photos aren't as well composed and thought out as other types of photography (please don't jump on me for this, just think about it for a while and you might realize it's entirely true). Because of this, anytime I have done nightclub shooting, I just sort through my shots with some quick batch edits and give them all to the club or promoter. Charge on a time basis because the number of shots you take are going to vary greeeeaaaaatly.

The 'rules' you've laid out are partially true. I disagree with the first one on some level though. After taking a shot of a group of girls or whatever, if they want to see the shot, I will show them after, but that's it. If they want to have a copy of it it, I'll give them a card and tell them to contact the club. Rule two hit the nail on the head, but you don't need to make it clear to them, you need to prove to them and impress them. They should be coming back to you, not the other way around. First impressions/results are key, so don't charge them anything or expect it to be a "job" if you aren't up to snuff.

 

[mdtusz]

Also, check out the forum at nightclubphotographytv.com

 

[CHOSEN]

Thank You mdtusz, for your response. I'd love to charge what I feel I'm worth, but I'd also like to remain competitive price-wise. That's why I'm curious as to what others are charging. With regards to the first "rule", I completely agree with you. If a lady or a group of ladies would like to see the shot that I just took of her or them, I ALWAYS let them see. I'm talking about those instances when you have someone come up to you and ask "Can I see all the pics that you took with me in it?" I've had that happen on numerous occasions.
You stated that you hand over all of the pics that you take...I normally take about 500-600 pics (I often shoot in a burst mode). Even with minor edits, it's hard to hand over that amount of pics in a few days. Should I take less pics? That's why I thought that giving the club or promoter 100-150 pics would be sufficient. Is that wrong?

 

[mdtusz]

150 pictures is plenty in my mind. If you're shooting 500-600, I hope you aren't individually editing those. I just do batch edits on groups of photos that look the same as small thumbnails, then do a quick lookthrough when I'm all done. Takes about 30 minutes all up. As far as competition goes, don't worry about it. If you take good pictures and develop a good rapport with the club/promoter, they will keep coming back.

 

[Formatted]

What do you say to patrons that give you their card and ask you to send them pics?

Send them proofs and then charge em. $13 a print sounds good to me!

Well how much have you spent on your equipment? Do they give you a camera? It all depends on you. What do they do with the images? Do they reproduce them? Do they put them on a gallery?

Factor in:

Time spent at the gig + Time editing + travel + Cost to for your equipment = What you charge

It really depends on what they are using them for!

P.S Don't sell them your images. License them so they pay per year or month or something!

 

[CHOSEN]

mdtusz: In all actuality if I shoot 500-600 pics, I'm now embarrassed to say, that I DO edit each pic individually. I had no idea that one can do a batch edit. I have to figure out how that can be done with Photoshop CS4. I definitely understand when you say don't worry about competition. So, I'll stick with $250 (I thought that may have been too much) for 9pm-1am gig and producing 150 pics.

Formatted: The patrons normally want me to email them the pics. Would $13/pic still be appropriate?
To answer your questions:
I've spent well over $8K on my equipment
I bring my own camera
The promoters place the pics on their websites to advertise their services.

How do I go about licensing the pics?

 

[Formatted]

Err... Let me get back to you on that one I'm about to go to bed. Will reply tomorrow!

I would send them a image with a massive watermark, and then just charge them. And yes $13 is what I would charge! But I would print it and send it to them. I'm not a expert someone who does can give you some more information