Help! What should I charge?

AprilRamone · Feb 2, 2006

Hi Everyone,
I got a call today and talked to this lady who says she saw my website and liked what she saw. Which made me think she was wanting to set up a session with me. Nope, she really is looking for someone who can print her wedding pictures from the negatives. And, then to top it off she wants a variety of sizes and for them to be put in an album. I'm meeting her on Monday to talk more about this and I already told her I'd have to do a bit of research to figure out what to charge since I hadn't done a job like that one before.
As far as printing the pictures, I don't do my own printing anymore since I don't have access to a lab. Should I take the negatives to my lab and just have them print them? Or should I have them put them all on a cd and then tweak them myself in photoshop just to make sure they all look ok before I go back in and have them printed? What would you charge for this sort of service??
As far as the album goes, I do my own handmade scrapbooks (well I don't make the actual book, but I make all of the pages by hand) so I'm going to show her and see if she likes that style. If she's not into the handmade style, what do you suggest I do? I'm not used to any other types of albums and how other wedding photographers do it.
Any advice on this would be really helpful!
Thank you,
April

markc · Feb 2, 2006

That seems kind of weird to me. If she just wants them printed, she should take them to a good lab. Custom hand printing is expensive, even if you did have access to a darkroom.

At any rate, you should charge a fair amount for your time, whatever you do. Don't shortchange yourself just to do the work, even if she balks. Find out what she wants, figure out how long it will take you and what supplies you need, and then give yourself a $/hr rate that makes it worth your time.

JonK · Feb 2, 2006

markc said:
That seems kind of weird to me. If she just wants them printed, she should take them to a good lab. Custom hand printing is expensive, even if you did have access to a darkroom.

At any rate, you should charge a fair amount for your time, whatever you do. Don't shortchange yourself just to do the work, even if she balks. Find out what she wants, figure out how long it will take you and what supplies you need, and then give yourself a $/hr rate that makes it worth your time.

ditto what mark said...so much easier for her to take them to a lab...personally I wouldn't even bother unless she is prepared to pay $$$

If I were to do it...I'd go the scanning route so you could have a say in how they're printed...at least then it seems like you're actually doing something other than dropping them at a lab for her.

Christie Photo · Feb 2, 2006

Well.... do you know what format she has? It might be that she has 2 1/4 negs, and doesn't have access to a lab.

Ordering prints from a large number of negatives can be a daunting task if you've never done it before. Some folks have trouble just matching negs to prints.

I don't know about the scanning route. It sound like it could be a bunch of work, especially if she's ordering from dozens of negs.

As for how to charge, remember what you're charging for... your time and expertise. Every one in a blue moon, someone will wander in here with negs wanting prints. They believe than can get better results from me than a quick lab. And they're right. I use a better lab and know how to communicate with them. I charge 3x my lab bill for prints and double the price of any merchandise like frames and albums.

I hope this helps.

Pete