Contracts and Pricing

[CardonaImaging]

this is my first thread here. i've only done "Lost" forums. But what i want to say is i finally got enough camera equipment to go on my own and i've had some potential clients i pass on because of lack of profesionallism. My main problem is Pricing. I can figure out weddings. but what about a top pharmaceutical company that wants me to shoot a few pics of there lab? How bout a couple that wants to go to a nice park and have some shots taken of them? Or a new resturant that needs some shots of the interior for their website? How much do i charge? Is there a universal pricing system in photography that i can learn? What i do now is charge $50 p/hour plus prints.

Secondly can someone tell me about contracts and if i need different contracts for different jobs? You're input would be greatly appreciated.

thanks. Jon cardona

 

[JerryPH]

Prices differ vastly from location to location. You may want to call a few local photographers posing as a potential wedding client and ask what they charge. Call another and pose as a restaurant needing some pictures for their website. And on and on.

This will give you a more realistic value than asking people from potentially the other side of the world to give you pricing.

Do you need different contracts for different kinds of jobs? That depends on how tight of a contract you use.

Logically, the contractual needs of a wedding are way different from a studio shoot on your location to a 2 hour on-location shoot for a restaurant who's sole purpose is to get 10-20 shots for their website. I would make a couple general contracts for various different kinds of events that I could modify to match the needs of this one specific client.

Please forgive me, but these are the kinds of questions that should be answered WAY in advance before you get your first client or before you even open your doors for business... not when you have already started a business and already have a few clients waiting in the wings. Also, I get the impression that you just got your equipment... good equipment doesn't a good photographer make. I can site a few horror stories of people who thought they were ready, went to do a wedding and came back with an "OMG, what did I get myself into???" look about things.

A final point... it won't ruin you, but making a client wait for pricing as you research it is... not professional.

Please accept this as advice, not criticism.