First "paid" photography job! (any advice)

[natural.disaster]

I just signed on to be the photographer for my boys football team. (3rd & 4th graders)
I will be doing one individual of each player, one of the entire team, and various pics during practice and games to put on discs.
Each parent will be offered an 8x10 of their player, an 8x10 of the team, and a disc with as many pictures as it will hold from practices and games (with no copyright).
To help raise money for the team, i will be splitting the money with them.
Is $24 for this package too much, or too little? I get to set the price. I will be splitting it 50/50.
I was thinking of taking the shoots on the football field, with players in full gear excpet helmet....maybe have them hold the helmet or have it on the ground beside them, as well as a football.
Should i take example photos and offer different poses for the parents to choose from, or do them all the same pose?

Any other suggestions?

 

[Morpheuss]

seems like the usual football photos that I have seen is the player on one knee with their helmet next to their foot or standing with their helmet under one arm and a football in the other hand. For the team photo it seems like the one I have usually seen is them just in a group taller people in the back obviously and shorter people in the front with them holding their hand

 

[arios23]

Is $24 for this package too much, or too little? I get to set the price. I will be splitting it 50/50.
Should i take example photos and offer different poses for the parents to choose from, or do them all the same pose?

Two 8x10 and a disc with all the pictures, you just gave away yourself, I took pictures in first holy communion and I do not recommend you to take different poses it´s a whole riot with the parents at least from my experience

 

[tirediron]

Are you doing this as a photographer who is helping out the team, or as a parent with a camera? If you're doing this as a parent with a camera, sure it's fine (although I suspect you're letting yourself in for trouble with too many options). If you're doing it as a photographer helping out the team, there here's what I would do:

Come up with a standard pose (I know NOTHING about feetsball, so I can't much help there), and each child gets shot in that pose and that pose only.

For $50 (splitting 50/50 with the team) I would give them a disc with their child's image cropped for 8x10, 5x7, 4x6 and wallet (since cropping the same image to different sizes is a quick and easy process you don't lose anything here and they'll feel they're getting a lot more for their money), the team photo cropped 8x10 and 5x7 and a selection of at most ten 4x6s of various games and events with every disc having the SAME selected prints.

I would then offer them the opportunity to purchase additional processed images for the discounted rate of 'X' (I'm thinking $20).

 

[natural.disaster]

Well the individual pics and the team pic will not be on the disc...So if they want more than one of those it will be extra. The pics on the disc will be action shots from practice and games and im not sure how they will turn out so i dont want to charge a lot of money and only a few be "printable".
Ill make $288 (my part of the money) if all parents buy. It will cost about $85 for the prints and disc. So ill still make a little. I dont want to charge too much and not be able to sell many.
The team only gets $20 fee for each player and they provide full game uniform, gear, practice uniforms, etc....So i know they could use the money to help out. The coach used his own money last year to buy trophies for every player. So i want to sell enough to help raise money for them more than i want to make money for myself.

What price would you suggest?

 

[natural.disaster]

So $24 for the package is too little?

I like the idea of putting the croped images on the disc so they are printable for different sizes. I just dont know if they will like that because not only are they paying for the pictures, but they then have to pay to have them printed.

What tirediron suggest boils down to 12 poses, 10 only being printable for 4x6s...for $50...and then they pay to print themselves...That could cost a parent
around $80 to buy the disc then print one of each.....Thats not too much?

 

[tirediron]

In these days of Wal-mart and other such bargain photo-centres, even if the parent wanted to print two of each print on the disc, it could be done for as little as $15.00.

 

[natural.disaster]

I just had two 8x10s printed at walmart two days ago and it was $6.12

 

[tirediron]

2 8x10s at $2.97, 2 5x7s at $.97, and 22 4x6s at $.19 each, plus taxes comes to $13.48 here in BC. As I said, to me there's a BIG difference between doint this as a photographer and as a parent.

Edited to add: Oops, forgot the team photo, so including two of both sizes of that one, it would bring the total up to about $23.12

 

[natural.disaster]

Plus the $50 for the disc??
Thats $73.12

Or if i charge $24 which was my original thought..thats still $47.12

I just think $73 is a little steep...but of course i havent done this before...which is why i ask here..I dont want to charge too much..but like others have said..i dont want to charge too little either....

I am doing it as a parent helping the team...but if all goes well ill be contracted to do it every season....And im also speaking with the cheerleading team tomorrow to see about doing theirs. So i want to do it right and i want to do it fair. I dont want other parents thinking they are getting suckered into making ME a lot of money. I want them to feel like they are helping the team AND getting their moneys worth.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

Have thought about offering the options without the disc? What if you printed 8x10 of player and 8x10 of team and offered that for x amount (Say $20) and then offered a disc of printable team shots for an additional $10? Then you could also say if they wanted to purchase additional player or team pics they would be $10 each. With 24 players you could still potentially raise a good amount of money for the team, but you wouldn't be putting yourself out either.

Also, I have to say this is a great way to advertise, (I think) because a lot of people will be seeing the pictures.

 

[JamesMason]

im confused $24 per image ?

 

[arios23]

I am doing it as a parent helping the team...but if all goes well ill be contracted to do it every season....And im also speaking with the cheerleading team tomorrow to see about doing theirs. So i want to do it right and i want to do it fair. I dont want other parents thinking they are getting suckered into making ME a lot of money. I want them to feel like they are helping the team AND getting their moneys worth.

It does not matter how much you charge the parents will always think they are making you rich, what you can do it´s distract their attention on you to the very well taken pictures, if you take quality pictures they will not hesitate in pay whatever you want to charge them, for the package you are trying to sell, you could easily charge them $40, and if you want to invest a little bit you can buy a button machine and make buttons for the parents with their child

 

[doziergraphic]

I hope you're taking into account the number of HOURS you're going to spend on this project. I'd say, after just briefly scanning the posts above, you offer one pose for a nominal fee - $25 or $30, and then parents would expect to pay more for the add-ons. If you provide the disk, but not make it mandatory to purchase it, you'll find many people will pay the high fee. But there's always a few parents that just don't have the cash or interest to go all out, but can still afford the 'basic' photo.

but if you're opening every image, you're talking a LOT of time spent for very little return if you don't price it right.

If you're really into the charity side of it, like above post said, Wal-Mart is less than $2 for an 8x10 - charge $5 or $6 per AFTER the initial package and let the parents decide if they just want a couple or the whole bunch. That way you could make some cash on volume, but still offer a good price. NO ONE can complain about a $6 to $10 8x10.

 

[mrmacedonian]

Ill make $288 (my part of the money) if all parents buy. It will cost about $85 for the prints and disc. So ill still make a little.

You're saying your gross profit will be ~575$?

I would say your 85$ costs would be taken from that, bringing the net profits to 490$. This net profit should then be split 50:50, NETing each of you 245$.

I just don't see why you'd eat the costs from your share.

As far as setting the package price, that also depends on the socioeconomic situation in the league. Consider the affluence of the parents' in your decision. There are certain areas around Columbus where I would be perfectly comfortable with 45-75$ packages while other areas where parents wouldn't pay over 10-15$; due simply to their individual fiscal circumstances.

Lastly, call a Photographer in your area (or 5) and ask them what they would charge for the package you settle on. Consider into that your skill level, quality of product you produce, and gear you're using and decide what fraction of their cost is comparable to your product.

Best of Luck in your endeavor!