How much should I charge (if at all) for a family shoot?

kiso

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Hey, so I'm a pretty amateur/intermediate photographer. I've been shooting for years but only recently have started to take it more seriously. Anyway for the past few weeks I've actually started shooting TFP with models and today one of them asked me if I would shoot her and her fam. I'm wondering if I should charge her anything? I feel like I should, just a small fee like $10 -- really it's my opportunity to make a little bit of cash here. So if I do charge, how much should it be?
 
What is $10 in Canadian money in Amuuuurican money??? Is that like $3.99 US?

What will $10 buy in Vancouver? A couple of cups of Hockey player coffee and a doughnut or two? Not sure what the economy is like up there in Vancouver BC, but $10 seems like very little money.

I don;t know you, and I've been kidding around here with ya'...no offense to Canada's economy, or its monetary strength, nor to Tim Horton's coffee OR to the doughnuts they sell....but I think you might want to shoot for at LEAST 10x ten dollars, to START. Any less that $100 and it'll just seem to them like,well, like you're no good, and the shoot's not important, and at the SLIGHTEST hitch, or the SLIGHTEST whiff of a hint of an excuse, the "shoot" will vanish and they will try and call you last-second and cancel or re-schedule. So, take a $100 NON-refundable retainer--not a deposit, but a retainer, and then take the remainder after _______________ or after ______________.
 
Ask her to make a $100 donation to the charity of your choice. After that, going forward, learn what it will take to be legit.
 
Ask her to make a $100 donation to the charity of your choice. After that, going forward, learn what it will take to be legit.

A great suggestion in my opinion. If you do it more than once or twice I would definitely check what you have to do to become a business.
 
You have to think about the efforts you put in and the cost of the equipment. Are you going to take a lot of pictures? You need to take the times to sort these out and processing each photos. What about the cost for printing photos, and making sure these are high quality? What if you camera breaks down? You need the money to replace it. Getting paid $10 Canadian money or $3.99 us currency is like I get paid for one Starbucks coffee. All the hard work just to get a grande iced hazelnut macchiato?
 
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Ten dollars these days isn't even worth discussing. As Derrel mentioned that will get you a couple of cups of coffee at Tim's, a couple of doughnuts, with maybe enough left over to make a 'phone call, IF you can actually find a pay 'phone!

My recommendation would be to either go with the "make a donation to charity" or what I commonly recommend, do the shoot and suggest that once the deliverables are turned over (digital files, I assume) they can give you a gift certificate to a restaurant for a value they feel is commensurate with quality of the product.

Expectations change GREATLY when someome is paying for a service, and regardless of how you explain your experience/ability, there's always the chance that you could wind up with problems. The last thing you need is someone who expectd a Karsh-quality image calling Revenue Canada to say they didn't get a receipt from you, or Vancouver City Hall asking about your business license. Sure, 99.999% chance that it would get ignored, but... IMO, it's NOT worth the hassle.
 
What is $10 in Canadian money in Amuuuurican money??? Is that like $3.99 US?

I don;t know you, and I've been kidding around here with ya'...no offense to Canada's economy, or its monetary strength . . .

Derrel, I realize you are joking around, but you should know that the Canadian dollar is not the Great White North's version of the peso. The Canadian dollar has been at or near parity with the US dollar for years, and has spent more than a few days valued higher than the Yankee buck.:)

Tedski

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."-- G. Marx
 
The US dollar is worth roughly $1.04 CDN this morning.

I like the idea of a donation. As much as I like Tim Horton's coffee, I wouldn't do it for ten bucks. In all honesty, I'd do it for free before I did it for ten bucks...
 
How good is your photography?

If you think your photography is worth only $10, then you might as well do it for free.

Consider it experience and good will.

When your work starts to look like money, then you can charge accordingly.
 
The donation to charity is an excellent idea for everyone concerned. I released some software back in the 90's as "Freeware" with the caveat that if the user found it useful to make a donation to their local Humane Society. I never received a dime for it, and last I heard it was downloaded over 100,000 times, but the notes and certificates and emails I received from Humane Societies around the country were worth a fortune to me.
 
The donation to charity is an excellent idea for everyone concerned. I released some software back in the 90's as "Freeware" with the caveat that if the user found it useful to make a donation to their local Humane Society. I never received a dime for it, and last I heard it was downloaded over 100,000 times, but the notes and certificates and emails I received from Humane Societies around the country were worth a fortune to me.

That's freakin' awesome.

Good on ya', dude...
 
Charity begins at home...charge her $100 and report what you have to and use the photos for your portfolio.
 
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they can give you a gift certificate to a restaurant for a value they feel is commensurate with quality of the product.
With the charity option, YOU are the one placing value on yor work, not them. This establishes for them and potentially for everyone else, the value of your work.
 
Thank you guys. Perhaps $10 was a little low, but I am not basing my fee off of how much the currency is worth in USD (it's more like I have never done anything like this before so I'm lacking confidence) -- and by the way, they're worth virtually the same.

A gift card is good idea! So I might go with that, otherwise I'll probably just ask for $100. Thanks again :)
 

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