Senior portraits ?

robdavis305 · Sep 30, 2009

My daughter , without telling me went to school telling all her classmates that I would take there senior pic for 50.00 and just put them on a CD and let them do what they wanted to with them and Ive already had phone calls about them, what should I do, or is that a good deal.

Atlas77 · Sep 30, 2009

im not sure about money range for portraits but I say why not? any money is good money, us photographers are always looking for some money. As long as you dont screw them up.

At first I thought you were talking about senoir citizens! :lol:

:blushing:

ErectedGryphon · Sep 30, 2009

Atlas77 said:
At first I thought you were talking about senoir citizens! :blushing:

Me too!:lmao:

LuminatX · Sep 30, 2009

I thought you were talking about old people at first as well haha.

I'd say go for it, I mean $50 a kid, and how many graduating students there are.

craig · Sep 30, 2009

Figure out a business model and if you think you can shoot the kids for 50 dollars a piece and still make a profit then go for it.

I trust your skills are on point, but keep in mind that all clients are very demanding. Accommodating them in a professional manner takes experience.

Also keep in mind that senior portraits is a huge business for "professional" photographers. On one hand your service fills a niche. On the other you have the potential for killing a very lucrative field.

Love & Bass

CSR Studio · Sep 30, 2009

Would this include the picture for their school yearbook? Make sure the school doesn't have a contract with someone else.

msf · Oct 1, 2009

$50 seems cheap for senior portraits, especially on a cd. You should have a talking to, to your kid.

Perhaps revise it, $50 gets a senior portrait session, with $50 in proof credit. no cd. let them order what they want and hope they spend more than $50.

Jeffro · Oct 1, 2009

I would have to say that $50 aint worth the time. Then you are giving away the CD too. How many pictures are going to be on each CD? How many poses are you going to do? How many changes of clothing and how much time do you plan to spend with each Senior. These are all things you need to think about. You need to answer all those questions first then figure out a price for each.
Also do you plan to do any backend editing after the shoot. Or you gonna diliver them straight out the camera???

tons of questions!

musicaleCA · Oct 1, 2009

Your kid needs a talkin' too. That's rather childish and immature. Very much so.

For $50, not worth the time nor the effort.

Hardrock · Oct 1, 2009

I personally would love to have that opportunity just for the experience. Its obviously way cheap at $50, but the only way to really get more business is word of mouth. I do like the idea of $50 for the session and additional money for the prints or cd. I say go for it!

Village Idiot · Oct 1, 2009

You need to smack your daughter around a bit. Maybe then she'll get the point.

Er...and that's why I'm never going to have kids.

GeneralBenson · Oct 1, 2009

That's way cheap, and hardly worth the time. The more you do, the less worth it it is. If it's just one kid, you probably won't notice. But if you end up doing that for 10 people, you'll shoot yourself. Put it this way, I've been doing some for friends ofthe family lately, and they are $75 for the sitting, and they still have to buy the prints at friends and family pricing or pay $50 for a CD of images. Usually it would be $150 for the sitting and still having to buy prints at full price or pay $100 for the CD of images. You'll most lkely spend at least 5 hour on each kid, which turns into $10 an hour. Not bad money for a 16 year old, but terrible for anyon who remotely close to being able to make professional looking photographs. The other thing you have to think about, is that this may just be free time and a little extra cash to you, but it devalues professional photography to make people think that this is a fair price for what you'll be doing, and it hurts the pros out there who are trying to do this for a living and a charging what they need to charge to make ends meet.

tirediron · Oct 1, 2009

robdavis305 said:
My daughter , without telling me went to school telling all her classmates that I would take there senior pic for 50.00 and just put them on a CD and let them do what they wanted to with them and Ive already had phone calls about them, what should I do, or is that a good deal.

This is the bit that really concerns me. Next thing you know there are going to be hundreds of "your" pictures floating around that have been hatchet-jobbed and printed at Wal-Mart. Doesn't sound like ideal advertising to me. As far as the price goes, sounds a bit low to me me, but if you limit them to say 20 minute sessions, with no clothing changes and a maximum of five images, it might not be too bad.

KmH · Oct 1, 2009

Around here the basic Pro, 1/2 hour, in the studio, 1 change of clothes senior shoot (no CD a small print package) goes for $250. A top of the line 90 minute, 6 changes of clothing, studio and outdoor, no CD, bigger print package, is $950.

CD's are for sale as an add-on at $500 per 25-30 images.