What would you charge...

Annrive · May 17, 2013

Designer said:
Where would you place your skills as a photographer? Are you as good as the people who photograph food for national magazines?
(I would say I am pretty good maybe not a pro but pretty good)
Also, the responsibility for how the food looks falls upon the chef. So make good photographs!

I would not say I'm a beginner I did a photography concentration as an undergrad and have been in a couple college exhibitions, but at the same time I'm probably not as knowledgeable about certain things as a pro so I'd say intermediate level skills.

Annrive · May 17, 2013

tirediron said:
Wayyyyyyyyy too little information with which to work. Are you responsible for everything? Renting gear, hiring assistant, stylist, etc, or solely for walking in and taking the shots? Food shooting can take a LONG time because the food needs to be carefully styled and if for instance, you accidentally splash mustard on the 'burger bun, you've got to start all over.

Assuming that all I was responsible for was the shooting and processing, I would probably bank on about two images/hour, so round out to a twelve hour session plus two hours post, I would estimate the shoot at $1725 + licensing.

It's basically a follow the cooks and try to get a food image kind of task. No gear was provided I used my own camera Canon T1i.

Designer · May 17, 2013

Do you have a speedlight? If so, find a place to make the photographs where there is a white ceiling above. Bounce the flash. Probably the best you can do without a softbox.

Annrive · May 17, 2013

Steve5D said:
I remember reading a piece in a magazine ("Popular Photography, maybe?) in which it was shown that many of the food photos you see actually don't contain edible food. They contain food which has been glued in place, sprayed with shellac, etc., in an effort to make it look more appealing.

As for what the chef wants, that's not really your concern. Your agreement will be with the Dining Director. If he wants to give the chef the final say, that's entirely up to him. Unless you enter into an agreement with the chef, nothing he says should matter to you, and I would let the Dining Director know this. He can pay you to shoot the food that's presented by the chef. He, and he alone, should approve the photos. If the chef doesn't like the photos (assuming they are of an acceptable quality) that you provide, then the Dining Director can hire you again...

Thank you Steve5D that's what I was thinking. I think I will show the images to the chef and if he and I both disagree about certain photos I am still going to show it to the Director.

Annrive · May 17, 2013

frommrstomommy said:
I think everyone's reading much farther into this than necessary right now.. lol she said "CAMPUS director" aka.. it's for the college campus dining room. She is probably a student there, if she's been chosen for this opportunity and been told to charge what "a normal" photog would charge. I've not done any paid work yet, and I'm thinking OP has not either if she has to ask this.. so I'd see this is an opportunity. Coming from someone who would actually be in your shoes exactly if I were in your shoes... lol think about time it will take to photograph, edit, time to and fro, and any extra gear necessary. I'd also consider what the images are going to be used for.. are they for their website? Are they expecting these images to really make them money in some way or do you think they just want some pics of their Wednesday sloppy joes for some random flyer to post on campus? lol

Basically your right lol but I just wanted to know what everyone else would charge if they were me. I had started first paid gig thread but I didn't get a lot of what would other people charge because everyone was reading to much into it. I know the images are intended to be used in the Fall semester in a slideshow in the dining court to show that the food is made fresh within the campus .

Annrive · May 17, 2013

Designer said:
Do you have a speedlight? If so, find a place to make the photographs where there is a white ceiling above. Bounce the flash. Probably the best you can do without a softbox.

Thanks for the input I was looking into purchasing one a while ago but couldn't decide on which Canon ones to get.

tirediron · May 17, 2013

Annrive said:
tirediron said:

Wayyyyyyyyy too little information with which to work. Are you responsible for everything? Renting gear, hiring assistant, stylist, etc, or solely for walking in and taking the shots? Food shooting can take a LONG time because the food needs to be carefully styled and if for instance, you accidentally splash mustard on the 'burger bun, you've got to start all over.

Assuming that all I was responsible for was the shooting and processing, I would probably bank on about two images/hour, so round out to a twelve hour session plus two hours post, I would estimate the shoot at $1725 + licensing.

Click to expand...

It's basically a follow the cooks and try to get a food image kind of task. No gear was provided I used my own camera Canon T1i.

While I'm not trying to dissuade you, realize that this is NOT as simple as it may seem. This might give you some insight into how much effort goes into food photography at the professional level. Note too that this is one hamburger; not a series of dishes...

Designer · May 17, 2013

Well, it looks like you're going to have to set up a studio, hire a food stylist, and a photoshop technician, and spend a couple of hours on each dish.

By that time, the "chef" will lose interest and go home. Problem solved.

O.K., serious now: Annrive; tell the food service director that you will do it for the price of a new speedlight. Top of the Canon line. Go to the bookstore where they sell art supplies. purchase a couple large sheets of foam core (white) and get some gaffer's tape. Set everything up near where the food is prepared. Tape up the foam core above the work table. Get down close to the dishes, and bounce the speedlight off the foam core. Give them the JPEG files, and make sure they give you credit on the website.

Oh, yea, and have fun!

imagemaker46 · May 17, 2013

Annrive said:
Dining director at campus has requested 25 images from me and said I can charge what a normal photographer would charge so what would you guys charge if you were me

I am also doing photo editing
And the chef wants to have final say in the images I give to the director so that will mean extra time because apparently if he does not approve them I can't hand it in (which I think is ridiculous) but I'm not going to argue with the chef

What's a normal photographer? I don't believe I know too many. I once knew an Abby Normal, but she wasn't a very good photographer.

tirediron · May 17, 2013

imagemaker46 said:
Annrive said:

Dining director at campus has requested 25 images from me and said I can charge what a normal photographer would charge so what would you guys charge if you were me

I am also doing photo editing
And the chef wants to have final say in the images I give to the director so that will mean extra time because apparently if he does not approve them I can't hand it in (which I think is ridiculous) but I'm not going to argue with the chef

Click to expand...

What's a normal photographer? I don't believe I know too many. I once knew an Abby Normal, but she wasn't a very good photographer.

"My grandfather used to work for your grandfather. Of course the rates have gone up."

Annrive · May 18, 2013

so here are the images I only did minor editing I'm waiting to talk with the chef first and see which ones he likes
feedback would be awesome
Flickr: Photos & Video from riveraeyes

so far my charges are at $135 for 5.4 hours of work but this is w/o editing

cgipson1 · May 18, 2013

Annrive said:
so here are the images I only did minor editing I'm waiting to talk with the chef first and see which ones he likes
feedback would be awesome
Flickr: Photos & Video from riveraeyes

so far my charges are at $135 for 5.4 hours of work but this is w/o editing

Link doesn't work.. set the image permission to PUBLIC

manaheim · May 19, 2013

I'm not sure if they had specific requirements, but those didn't strike me as at all appealing as food shots.

Steve5D · May 20, 2013

manaheim said:
I'm not sure if they had specific requirements, but those didn't strike me as at all appealing as food shots.

They may well have wanted photos to illustrate what it takes to put a campus meal together. If so, then those pictures do a good job of that. If they wanted photos which conveyed that the meals served are delicious and appealing, the photos fall far short of accomplishing that...