What to charge for an impromptu car photoshoot at a car show?

nerwin · Oct 9, 2023

I was minding my own business taking random photos at a car show recently and a car owner walked up and asked me if I did professional photography and I said...no not really as its just a hobby but he insisted and really wanted photos of his car that's better than his "crappy phone shots" something with more detail.

I was planning on anything like this, I just had my Nikon Z6II and a 35 1.8 lens so I'm okay, I'll give it a shot and he said he told me to let him know what he owes. We exchanged phone numbers and spent maybe 20 minutes photographing his car. I mean there is only so much I could do at a car show in a Big Lots parking lot haha, especially with ONLY having a 35mm lens.

I spent maybe an hour editing the photos in LR/PS.

I have total of 7 photos I planning on sending him. He didn't need perfection or anything. Just wanted some better quality photos.

So I was thinking about asking for $50 but I don't know if that's too much or not enough. I'm not even sure how I should go about getting paid..like do I send him the pictures and hope that he'll pay via like PayPal or only send a couple examples and then ask him to pay? I don't know how any of this works.

I was originally just gonna give them to him for free anyways.

What should I do? Any advice would be appreciated it. Thank you so much!

vintagesnaps · Oct 9, 2023

Try ASMP or PPA for info. on contracts, pricing, etc. I'd find out more about usage. Depends, does he want prints? or small sized images for social media? or what...

Your pricing seems on the low end to me, but for the first time taking photos for someone and providing images maybe that's not a bad starting point. Once you give someone photos, they're gone, out of your hands... it's out of your control where they may end up.

If you choose to provide a few images (prints or smaller, lower res files - NOT original hi res images) at no cost this time, it could be by word of mouth you may get other future requests. So this might be a good time to start learning how to do this professionally. Could turn into a nice opportunity.

nerwin · Oct 9, 2023

vintagesnaps said:
Try ASMP or PPA for info. on contracts, pricing, etc. I'd find out more about usage. Depends, does he want prints? or small sized images for social media? or what...

Your pricing seems on the low end to me, but for the first time taking photos for someone and providing images maybe that's not a bad starting point. Once you give someone photos, they're gone, out of your hands... it's out of your control where they may end up.

If you choose to provide a few images (prints or smaller, lower res files - NOT original hi res images) at no cost this time, it could be by word of mouth you may get other future requests. So this might be a good time to start learning how to do this professionally. Could turn into a nice opportunity.

They are nothing great, I don't want to make it too complicated and I really don't care about word of mouth haha. It's just a hobby but he really wanted photos and wanted to pay and he couldn't find anyone and I happened to be there. I don't care what he does with the photos to be honest.

cgw · Oct 9, 2023

Seriously? Give him several good files and leave it there. I did that several years ago at Toronto's biggest cruise nite and got paid shoots there and offsite that season and seasons following. Most liked detail studies of their cars without people wandering around in the frame or cluttered backgrounds, e.g.,

View attachment 269304

webestang64 · Oct 9, 2023

When I did/do car photo shoots I charged $250 per car. Since I'm a film shooter I shot a 36 exp roll of color print and another roll of cross process and gave my client 10- 8x12s.

I also would make a 8x12 collage like below with an option for a poster.

nerwin · Oct 10, 2023

yeah he wasn't looking for anything like that. Just a kid that wanted some better photos of his first car. He wasn't expecting them to be magazine photos haha. I showed him some and we was really excited and still insisted on paying me haha.

I guess $50 is fair for my time even though I'm not super happy with the photos myself because it wasn't a planned and I didn't have any other gear with me.

paigew · Oct 10, 2023

I was thinking 250 but 50 is pretty good for 7 photos!

JohnLeah · Oct 20, 2023

Hey there! That's a cool story. Since you were initially thinking of doing it for free, you could offer the photos to him and say something like, "I had a blast taking these, and if you like them, you can pay me what you think they're worth." It's a friendly and non-pressure way to approach it. Good luck!

AlanKlein · Oct 20, 2023

JohnLeah said:
Hey there! That's a cool story. Since you were initially thinking of doing it for free, you could offer the photos to him and say something like, "I had a blast taking these, and if you like them, you can pay me what you think they're worth." It's a friendly and non-pressure way to approach it. Good luck!

This sounds like a nice approach. Just feel good about it and move on. $50 isn't going to change your life. I was out in Monument Valley and took a shot of an oil artist painting the monuments. He asked if I could get him a shot that he could put on his business cards. So I took his email and sent him the edited shot. Didn't charge him, maybe I should have. Don't recall if he ever got back to me. I never did see a business card. Oh well. Here's the shot.

cgw · Oct 20, 2023

JohnLeah said:
Hey there! That's a cool story. Since you were initially thinking of doing it for free, you could offer the photos to him and say something like, "I had a blast taking these, and if you like them, you can pay me what you think they're worth." It's a friendly and non-pressure way to approach it. Good luck!

No one works for free. Leaving it at "I had a blast taking these..." leaves your dignity intact and the owner grateful. The word "pay" sours the interaction.

nerwin · Oct 21, 2023

I actually ended just giving him the photos and asked what he thought was a fair price and gave me a price that was quite a bit higher than I was going to ask. He paid me and it's all good now.

This just isn't something I do very often, in fact..my only "technically" paid gig.

AlanKlein · Oct 21, 2023

Glad it ended well.

Original katomi · Oct 22, 2023

I do my photography just as a hobby, if it was me I would do them for free BUT I would insist that I be credited as the author and that they were not to be used for profit .

AlanKlein · Oct 22, 2023

Original katomi said:
I do my photography just as a hobby, if it was me I would do them for free BUT I would insist that I be credited as the author and that they were not to be used for profit .

Why not? He paid for them.

Don Fischer · Nov 18, 2023

I had to go read that again. Problem is he did something on the spur of the moment and now asking $50 for it. The guy didn't know if he was a pro or not and probably glad he's no because it would probably have cost more than $50 and the guy didn't care if he wasn't a pro in fact probably if he was wouldn't have offered to pay him. He get's the money and I think the guy owns the photo's as there is no agreement of any kind who owns them!