Ok whats a decent price for work?

[zamanakhan]

Usually when a client asks me how much i charge i ask them how much they would pay and go a bit over that, i also tell them that i dont have to be paid if they arent happy. Its been great for me because for certain things i would of charged very little and have been surprised by how much they would pay and both of us have been pretty happy.
I am currently doing a job for a client that wants pictures of his products taken and i offered to do two products for $50. He's happy so far and i think its actually a fair price, too me about 10mins to light it a min to shoot and about 2min to remove all the background (he needed a transparent background for his website.) I've also done a few other jobs and so far i think they are fairly priced but, how much would you charge for the job stated above, and how much would u charge for lets say something like stage performers, a 4hr job?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Depends.

 

[zamanakhan]

Depends.

lol
for what iam currently doing, just a large aerosol can (its a biatch to light tho) its cylindrical obviously and has a holographic metalic label so it was kinda difficult to get rid of of black lines and glares on it. I finally got it by encompassing the entire thing in white and having the camera barely showing (it would show as a black spot due to mirror reflection) Then i just removed the completely white background through photoshop which was relatively easy. A copy of the picture in .Tiff and PSD format and thats it! how much would u charge for that?

 

[KmH]

Usually when a client asks me how much i charge i ask them how much they would pay and go a bit over that, i also tell them that i dont have to be paid if they arent happy. Its been great for me because for certain things i would of charged very little and have been surprised by how much they would pay and both of us have been pretty happy.
I am currently doing a job for a client that wants pictures of his products taken and i offered to do two products for $50. He's happy so far and i think its actually a fair price, too me about 10mins to light it a min to shoot and about 2min to remove all the background (he needed a transparent background for his website.) I've also done a few other jobs and so far i think they are fairly priced but, how much would you charge for the job stated above, and how much would u charge for lets say something like stage performers, a 4hr job?

How do you decide what to charge for the use licensing?

What market area are you in?

 

[zamanakhan]

Usually when a client asks me how much i charge i ask them how much they would pay and go a bit over that, i also tell them that i dont have to be paid if they arent happy. Its been great for me because for certain things i would of charged very little and have been surprised by how much they would pay and both of us have been pretty happy.
I am currently doing a job for a client that wants pictures of his products taken and i offered to do two products for $50. He's happy so far and i think its actually a fair price, too me about 10mins to light it a min to shoot and about 2min to remove all the background (he needed a transparent background for his website.) I've also done a few other jobs and so far i think they are fairly priced but, how much would you charge for the job stated above, and how much would u charge for lets say something like stage performers, a 4hr job?

How do you decide what to charge for the use licensing?

What market area are you in?

i am in the niagara region of Ontario Canada. I usually just ask the client how much they are willing to pay and just go a bit over that, so far i dont feel like i have been swindled in any way, infact i've been surprised quite a few times on what people are willing to pay. Generally going off of that i've started coming up with quotes. I've started thinking as "hmm its going to take me probably 1/2 hr to figure out how to light it... prob another 1/2 hour cause iam lighting it wrong in the first 1/2hr then prob 15min to actually shoot it, and another hour to do some post processing" and if i simply multiply the entire time frame in my head by $20, so this job would take me 2.25hrs x $20 i got $45 out of that If prints are involved than the client just pays me an extra $5-10 and takes on the cost of what ever the printing place near me is charging.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

i am in the niagara region of Ontario Canada. I usually just ask the client how much they are willing to pay and just go a bit over that, so far i dont feel like i have been swindled in any way, infact i've been surprised quite a few times on what people are willing to pay. Generally going off of that i've started coming up with quotes. I've started thinking as "hmm its going to take me probably 1/2 hr to figure out how to light it... prob another 1/2 hour cause iam lighting it wrong in the first 1/2hr then prob 15min to actually shoot it, and another hour to do some post processing" and if i simply multiply the entire time frame in my head by $20, so this job would take me 2.25hrs x $20 i got $45 out of that If prints are involved than the client just pays me an extra $5-10 and takes on the cost of what ever the printing place near me is charging.

Your clients don't need to swindle you, you are doing a fine job of doing it yourself...

Do you have any inkling what it costs you to shoot one delivered image? And do you understand use licensing?

 

[bennielou]

i am in the niagara region of Ontario Canada. I usually just ask the client how much they are willing to pay and just go a bit over that, so far i dont feel like i have been swindled in any way, infact i've been surprised quite a few times on what people are willing to pay. Generally going off of that i've started coming up with quotes. I've started thinking as "hmm its going to take me probably 1/2 hr to figure out how to light it... prob another 1/2 hour cause iam lighting it wrong in the first 1/2hr then prob 15min to actually shoot it, and another hour to do some post processing" and if i simply multiply the entire time frame in my head by $20, so this job would take me 2.25hrs x $20 i got $45 out of that If prints are involved than the client just pays me an extra $5-10 and takes on the cost of what ever the printing place near me is charging.

Your clients don't need to swindle you, you are doing a fine job of doing it yourself...

Do you have any inkling what it costs you to shoot one delivered image? And do you understand use licensing?

Agreed. You have taken your time, equipment, cost, and art out of the equation. You are totally screwing yourself. No matter where you are from, are you making any money? At all? I bet if I figured your equipment, time, photoshopping, etc, you are actually paying this client. Do what you want to but I think you are doing yourself a bad deal. Just saying.

 

[gsgary]

This time next year you will be a millionaire

 

[SpeedTrap]

It sounds like you are just trying to make some money from your hobby rather than run a business.

When you think about just how much you should charge to make you happy, soon you will not be happy.

Like others have pointed out you are ripping yourself off. Have you accounted for wear on your equipment, time to drive there, wear on your vehicle and gas, cost of maintaining your skills.
It is a trap many new photographers get into, you think this is simple and it takes no time at all, plus I can make some pocket change. Right now you are just making pocket change.

The last product photos I shot for a website cost the client almost $600 for 2 images. They were happy to pay it.
Because you are in Canada like me the licensing for image use is a bit different than the USA. In this case you were commissioned to create a photo and you did so, for next to nothing.

The last thing you should be doing is asking a client how much money you should make, that is for you to figure out. If you can't find a client that can pay you the right price for your product they you are not marketing yourself correctly.

 

[imagemaker46]

I have set fees for most clients, month, week, day rate and half day, but am also flexable when it comes to shoots. If it is a new client I ask them what kind of budget they are working with, some come in high, in which case I take it, some come in low and negotiate a fee we are both happy with.

What I don't do is charge so far below a market value that it's pretty much working for free. It's great to make $50 for 10minutes work, but it's not 10 minutes work, once everything else is being factored in, you may as well pay the client to do the pictures, and people wonder why professionals get pissed off when they read this stuff.

Buy the board game Clue, maybe you'll find one.

 

[zamanakhan]

I have set fees for most clients, month, week, day rate and half day, but am also flexable when it comes to shoots. If it is a new client I ask them what kind of budget they are working with, some come in high, in which case I take it, some come in low and negotiate a fee we are both happy with.

What I don't do is charge so far below a market value that it's pretty much working for free. It's great to make $50 for 10minutes work, but it's not 10 minutes work, once everything else is being factored in, you may as well pay the client to do the pictures, and people wonder why professionals get pissed off when they read this stuff.

Buy the board game Clue, maybe you'll find one.

seriously i dont understand why anyone would get pissed off with this? If the client is happy with someone doing something for them for less $$$ and the photographer is happy to be doing it for them too, then it kinda seems like a win win situation to me... The only one this is pissing off is the people who think iam taking work away from them, and to be honest if ur already established and have ur nose up in the air and want ridiculous amounts of money for a mediocre job. Iam not saying any one here does a mediocre job, i have no idea what kind of work everyone does, but common you know just as well as i do there are ton of people that simply point the camera put a flash to the side on a 5min softbox and think their job is done.No one is happy with this, the client would be better to simply go out and buy a dslr and a learn a thing or two.

I would be more pissed off seeing someone having to pay triple what i've been paid for work that looks like it was done on a PS with direct flash!
All i wanted to know was what would be a reasonable way of setting prices for someone who doesnt have much experience. Sure people wil 20+ experience can charge higher amounts but i seriously dont think i have enough experience to demand such a higher pay, and if i do then i would simply get turned down.
This isnt my full time job and i have no visions of granduer, i dont think i will be a millionare by this time next year let alone even making a few thousand dollars.

I didnt realize i would be hounded by what seems like people who are threatened by anyone who might offer a service for less than they do. Photography is a HIGHLY saturated market, especially with the ease and cost of today's dslr's. Now there is some good advice in this thread as well, mainly to look into use marketing. But just from searching the forums and this thread alone everyone just seems to be pissed off that someone may charge less than them and are diluting the market. To be honest if ur CREATIVE and know how to work light then u have nothing to worry about, and definately should be pissed off at someone trying to breakinto the market instead should be concerned and try and guide them to the right path.

 

[CCericola]

Vital Signs: Commercial Photography: How Much Should I Charge | Professional Photographers of America

 

[reedshots]

How much should you charge – well the system you are currently using seems to be working and if you are happy why change. On the other hand if you are driving, buying materials (for the shoot) things like that you could set a base price using your system then add expenses (keep receipts for gas and materials). Figure in your time $$$ per hour, driving time from the job, back to process then if you are delivering the prints/disks.

Like I said, You could set a base price using your system then add incidentals for a total.

This is a problem with almost anything from new cars to used whatever (how much do you charge?) depends on what the public are willing to pay.

After you have done a variety of shoots for various amounts figure your high and low and go somewhere in the middle.

 

[imagemaker46]

What the problem is that by you charging less than decent rate it gives people the idea that everyone should be charging the same. Photographers have been dealing with this for generations, one guy charges $100 another guy then decides to charge $75 so he can get the work, someone else decides he can do it for $50. Everytime someone charges less than a respectable rate it causes a ripple. This applies to every business, not just photography. Regardless of what business you're in, if someone wants to charge less they will do it, most do it because they just don't know any better.

If you're happy with the extra money you make and your client is happy with not paying much, then great, but don't complain when the next guy offers to do it for $25.

As far as being worried about someone taking work away from me, it's happened, that's the nature of business. As a human being with bills to pay, a family to support, of course I worry about it.............see locked thread on stress in photography.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

seriously i dont understand why anyone would get pissed off with this? If the client is happy with someone doing something for them for less $$$ and the photographer is happy to be doing it for them too, then it kinda seems like a win win situation to me... The only one this is pissing off is the people who think iam taking work away from them, and to be honest if ur already established and have ur nose up in the air and want ridiculous amounts of money for a mediocre job. Iam not saying any one here does a mediocre job, i have no idea what kind of work everyone does, but common you know just as well as i do there are ton of people that simply point the camera put a flash to the side on a 5min softbox and think their job is done.No one is happy with this, the client would be better to simply go out and buy a dslr and a learn a thing or two.

I would be more pissed off seeing someone having to pay triple what i've been paid for work that looks like it was done on a PS with direct flash!
All i wanted to know was what would be a reasonable way of setting prices for someone who doesnt have much experience. Sure people wil 20+ experience can charge higher amounts but i seriously dont think i have enough experience to demand such a higher pay, and if i do then i would simply get turned down.
This isnt my full time job and i have no visions of granduer, i dont think i will be a millionare by this time next year let alone even making a few thousand dollars.

I didnt realize i would be hounded by what seems like people who are threatened by anyone who might offer a service for less than they do. Photography is a HIGHLY saturated market, especially with the ease and cost of today's dslr's. Now there is some good advice in this thread as well, mainly to look into use marketing. But just from searching the forums and this thread alone everyone just seems to be pissed off that someone may charge less than them and are diluting the market. To be honest if ur CREATIVE and know how to work light then u have nothing to worry about, and definately should be pissed off at someone trying to breakinto the market instead should be concerned and try and guide them to the right path.

The problem with this response is that you are not addressing anything substantial that was mentioned in some of the posts. And to me, that means you have no idea what you are doing...

Why should I feel threatened by you? You are no threat whatsoever. If you still are selling photos next year, I'd be surprised. You'll just move on to another hobby.

That said, I didn't respond to your thread for your sake but for the sake of members who are serious about becoming pros. Just want to make sure they don't think your approach is the right one since it is NOT.

Now, if you are so happy with what you charge, why did you ask how we would charge for the same work? Don't ask a question if you are not interested in the answers, you are wasting our time.