How much to charge for area photos for real estate developments?

dao764 · Sep 2, 2016

Hello everyone,

I had an inquiry from a real estate development company asking me to take some area photos of their development area in downtown, which would include restaurant, park, cafe. And they want to get the images with no further royalty cost. They are asking me if I have an hourly or full day rate.
I've bee doing a lot of rel estate photos for realtors but I'm not sure how much to charge for pictures to be used by this commercial company.
Please help.
Thanks in advance.

astroNikon · Sep 2, 2016

the kicker is the

dao764 said:
And they want to get the images with no further royalty cost.

The pros should be able to answer this better as it's all about how much you value your photography images to be used "at will" by the customer. And whether they have the right to fully control the use of it in the future, whether by them or by other organizations. And how this is all spelled out in your contract with them (yours with them, not, theirs with you).

tirediron · Sep 2, 2016

I've learned the hard way that the best approach now is to ask them what their budget is for the project. You can probably push that 10-15% over what they initially offer, but chances are that's all. The days of creating images and being able to license them to generate ongoing revenue are pretty much gone. Look at the figure they offer, and if you can live with it, great. If not... walk.

dao764 · Sep 2, 2016

I just replied asking what their budget is and how many images they are wanting to get.
Any other advice on how much to charge per image?

vintagesnaps · Sep 2, 2016

I caught the same comment as AstroNikon - 'no further royalty cost'. That makes me wonder if they're trying to find an amateur or inexperienced photographer who won't know better than to agree to that. The fact that they're even saying that tells me they most likely know what they're doing and that it's unacceptable for commercial work. They ought to know better.

I usually suggest taking a look at http://asmp.org and it's geared to the US market so I don't know if their information would be relevant; however it might give you some idea what is done as far as contracts, licensing, etc. for commercial work. They should be licensing usage and it should be for a specific time period, etc. not unlimited from now til doomsday (or til they go out of business or whichever comes first!).

If you're going to do paid work as a photographer you need to start learning the standard practices and procedures and how to price your work, etc. You don't want to let someone take advantage of you. If it was any other type of work they were contracting, such as home improvements/remodeling, wouldn't they expect to hire and pay based on the going rate? I think they probably would, so why would this be any different? They're paying for a photographer's ability and know-how and quality of work.

You should at least be in range of the going rate for pricing photography work, even if you're new at paid work and might price at the lower end of the range. If they want cheap they can find plenty of people with cameras listing on places like craigslist.

And that sounds like a big job they want done... $$$

dao764 · Sep 2, 2016

Thanks for your replies. I heard back and they indicated that they will use the images for advertising, making brochures, on website. So I can include those in the contract. I think I will charge $50x30 images + tax. Do you think it's too cheap?

vintagesnaps · Sep 2, 2016

I don't know the exchange rate (although being a hockey fan I should in case I need to buy something...) but that seems low.

I don't think photographers bill per photo for commercial work. Why that number? how do you know how many photos they'll need for their purposes?

That's a lot of usage... you need to contract for usage for their website for ___ amount of time, and for ___ number of brochures (for one print run??) etc. and what ads? where? how often? - needs to be specific. Then contract for further usage if they want to continue to use the photos beyond that (usually it would be at a lower rate, for example say $500 for one photo for one print run, then 300 the second year, then less the third year - and that's an offhand amount based on a few years ago, I'm now doing fine art prints which is a different way of pricing and don't know offhand the going rates for commercial).

tirediron · Sep 2, 2016

Unfortunately, and I don't like this any more than anyone, but it seems to be the way things are going, companies know that there are lots of people out there who will work for next to free, so if the first person doesn't take the job, someone else will. I agree with (the other) Sharon that is a LOT of usage, and $50 for an image is peanuts. By rights, it should be more like $500-700 per image, per year at a MINIMUM, but... the market doesn't permit that any more. I would think a minimum of $100/image for non-exclusive use is where you should be.

dao764 · Sep 2, 2016

Yeah, that was my assumption as well. I'm trying to reach the deal that will get us win/win situation so I think I should follow for your advice. I will quote $150/image and see what happens.

astroNikon · Sep 3, 2016

At least they know the difference between a cell phone snapshot/ the owners wife with a DSLR And someone who knows what they are doing.

KmH · Sep 3, 2016

dao764 said:
Yeah, that was my assumption as well. I'm trying to reach the deal that will get us win/win situation so I think I should follow for your advice. I will quote $150/image and see what happens.

What an amazing way to determine what your work product is worth.
To price your work you need to know: your production costs, the value of your photography skill/talent, and most importantly the value of the usage (licensing) of your copyrighted property your client wants.
Licensing Guide Introduction - ASMP

tirediron · Sep 3, 2016

KmH said:
dao764 said:

Yeah, that was my assumption as well. I'm trying to reach the deal that will get us win/win situation so I think I should follow for your advice. I will quote $150/image and see what happens.

Click to expand...

What an amazing way to determine what your work product is worth.
To price your work you need to know: your production costs, the value of your photography skill/talent, and most importantly the value of the usage (licensing) of your copyrighted property your client wants.
Licensing Guide Introduction - ASMP

As much as I agree that's the way it should be, that's the not reality of today for most commercial clients. In the age of, "There's another photographer just around the corner who will do it cheaper and almost as well..." clients no longer expect to pay licensing fees. They are prepared to pay $X for an image, and if you won't offer that, someone else will. The photographer can either accept the job, or walk away, but our power to bargain* has pretty much vanished.

*For most of us; if you're a big name NYC commercial shooting working for P&G, different story. Joe Q. Shutterbug shooting for a small real estate outfit? Good luck with those licensing fees.

dennybeall · Sep 3, 2016

To price your work you need to know 1-What the market will pay, 2- What your costs are. and 3-What will your competition charge?.
Then you can decide if the net is worth it to you.
Knowing what a celebrity photographer in New York would charge is not really going to help you.