Need adice. I'm a family photographer. Getting fashion shoot inquiries..

[RowmyF]

Hello there..

So I'm a family & children's photographer and have my pricing geared towards that. There is a session fee and then prices per prints al carte, photo albums, gallery mounts, etc.

I do not offer full res digital files to clients.

I've been recently getting calls to do "small" fashion shoots. I.E. A new designer creating headbands. A new designer starting a bikini line and also a couple of DJ's who need pictures for their CD cover.

I am comfortable charging my standard session fee for the shoot but don't know how to handle the digital files.

Any input on how a standard fashion photographer would charge or how it all works would be awesome.

 

[PhilGarber]

Hey man,

First off, take what I say with a load of salt, 'cause I really don't know much about photography businesses, specifically speaking.:neutral:

Anyway..

IMO, wouldn't it look kinda bad to shoot bikini models if your a FAMILY and CHILDREN'S photographer?:shock:

 

[craig]

Making the move to advertising as opposed to retail clients is always a good thing. Personally I charge a one time fee for a high res cd. Check out this blog to figure out how to charge for advertising clients.
http://blog.charlesbeckwith.com/2008/02/how-to-charge-for-commercial.html

Love & Bass

 

[Flash Harry]

Take everything you can get, as above per pricing or find out what others in the area charge and have similar pricing. H

 

[craig]

Actually calling around is a bad idea. Base the price on YOUR Cost of Doing Business.

Love & Bass

 

[IvyJade]

Hey man,

First off, take what I say with a load of salt, 'cause I really don't know much about photography businesses, specifically speaking.:neutral:

Anyway..

IMO, wouldn't it look kinda bad to shoot bikini models if your a FAMILY and CHILDREN'S photographer?:shock:

I kinda agree with that in the sense of the two combined, but if you keep it seperate in some way or just do bikini on one day and family on others, then you should be fine.....

 

[Lyncca]

LOL, or combine it and shoot families wearing their bikinis?

I don't think it is that big deal to have more than one avenue. I think it is good to continue learning all types of photography. You could maybe have different subdomains or something.

 

[SpeedTrap]

Depending on the style of pictures they are looking for you may not have enough equipment to do this type of work. This is not meant to discourage you, as I do not know what you have for lighting, but fashion work is very exact. Your colors must be right, your exposure must be right and you need to be able to adapt to changes very quickly even in a studio shoot. On a typical fashion shoot it is not unusual to have 5 or more strobes and more light modifiers than you can imagine.

The fact that you shoot family and children most of the time should make no difference. It is good to step outside your comfort zone every now and again. The things you learn shooting this can help improve what you are already doing and the fact that you work with children makes you qualified to deal with most models.

There are plenty of resources out there on the net to help you, but I would also suggest picking up some fashion magazine and study the lighting in them.

 

[cwrivera]

Hi There,

I am a fashion photographer, haven't really gotten into the business side of things too much, but have done a couple of jobs for people like you mention, for example a beginning fashion designer doing a small look book, or models starting their books, etc. What I would do is put together a package deal. The sitting fee should be based on how many hours you're working on this, because fashion will undoubtedly take longer than a regular portrait session, so the fee should be at least double. Then I usually include one high res jpeg/tiff image per "look" we have shot, which they choose, that includes retouching. I wouldnt ever give them all of the digital files unless you're charging a ton. If they want more than one image per shot, then you make it a la carte, and you charge based on the price for the full resolution digital file, so they can use it for their promotions, etc. Most likely they will not be asking for prints, unless its for a portfolio, so you should price your images accordingly.

Hope that helped!

Carolina

 

[visualpoetry]

I dont think there is anything wrong with being a family photographer that has done bikini sessions. I think that only makes you more well rounded as a photographer. Go for it! Tack on an extra fee for that disk.. give them the option to purchase it. Dont cut yourself short because you (probably) wont be bringing in the income from print sales, like you normally do.

 

[PhotosByAndy]

I have a family portrait business and also shoot some fashion/commercial images. If you want to advertise the commercial side, keep that side of the business separate including separate websites if you go that far.

Get used to figuring out what your "day rate" is and that's what you charge a client for the shoot. When done, hand over a disk of images and let their production team have at it. If you don't want to let your images out without your edits then you also need to include your editing costs in the price of the shoot.

When I shoot a model for her portfolio I'll charge a flat $100 per hour for studio time. If you don't, changes in looks can take forever and you will end up spending the entire day with the model (not that it is all bad - most are quite attractive). The model provides for the makeup artist. The model gets to see the proofs and select one shot from each look for editing (blemish removed, stray hair, etc.).