 Sebastian J. Scalora |
Commercial Photos of Country Club Recently, I approached a country club with the prospect of taking pictures of their golfers. It turned into me doing a shoot of their course for a revamping of their brochure. I have no clue how much to charge them. I want to make a good profit but also don't want to scare them off. What are the going rates so that I can undercut the mainstream and still be professional about it?
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Justin G. |
See if they: 1. are willing to tell you, 2. if they have the information on how much the previous photographer charged. If you're lucky and they do, then maybe go the slightest bit lower than him (or her) so they choose you. If they don't (more than likely) ... umm ... I don't know what to tell you. I haven't a clue how professional this is, because I don't have a clue about business in general, but what if they wrote down what they would like to pay and you wrote down what you think you are worth and then meet in the middle or negotiate. PURELY an idea because I'm a young-en and I really don't know how business works. .justin.
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Melissa L. Zavadil |
Sebastian, You could refer to this site. It might give you a little more information on different pricing. http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm
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BetterPhoto Member |
Sebastian, I think you should charge at a minimum $50 an hour and try for $75, if you can. Now that you are a pro, you should inquire immediately before doing any work for anybody: "what is your budget?" ... if they don't ask for your prices in advance. Usually, if they are not asking what your price is in advance, they think it is going to be real cheap or even free. I have made the mistake more than once and have twice had to settle for barely enough to cover my costs. It is your responsibility to make sure they know your rates, otherwise they can balk at your invoice and say, "forget it", claiming they didn't know it was going to cost so much. Then you wasted time and possibly film. If terms of the shoot aren't in writing, it will rarely hold up in court and in your favor. If they ask your price, tell them and then ask, "How does that work for your budget?" If they are shocked, then ask what they had in mind. If it was half what you asked for, then offer to do it for that but scale back how much you do. This way you both are compromising - they are paying you less and you are doing a little less work. But you must get the money worked out before you take a picture on every job, or you will get burned at some point.
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Sharon Gumiran |
50.00 an hour that sounds about right... Sharon G.
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Roy Blinston |
The hourly rate is a guide only. $50 to $70 an hour does sound reasonable on the face of it.... but this is in conjunction also with your level of expertise and your speed of production. I could agree and say $50 an hour but then take 3 weeks to photograph the front door to the club. In other words the hourly rate means nothing. Some photographers can get heaps done in a few hours - others take forever and ponder on every shot. The real answer is in the "pudding". Study your pics, compare them to others.... then price them to what "you want for your efforts" (regardless of what other photographers charge). Do all artists charge the same for painting a picture? No way. If you spend 4 days on taking say 15 pics... but you are happy to get say $500 for the lot - then this is your hourly rate. What others charge has no bearing on it. If you took 15 shots in 3 weeks (but they were crap) then you would be lucky to negotiate $100 for the the lot. Hope this helps.
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Norbert Maile |
It is my humble opinion that you should find out what the going rate is in your area and charge the same, or more. I have always felt that, no matter what the business, it is BAD practise to cut rates to get work even if you are just starting out. By providing the same service you are as professional as the next photographer. If you are going to provide the same product then charge a rate which reflects what you are selling. If you are doing it for a friend or family , or to build your portfolio then you can make some adjustments. Just my opinion.
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Roy Blinston |
As I said before, the hourly rate means nothing. You should price your efforts on the finished job (this applies also to the Graphic Design industry). The best approach is to first ask how many shots the Club had in mind, and for what useage (important, I will explain later) … then ask what is their budget. At this point you may get some coy too and fro-ing (ie: they don't want to commit themselves). If you are getting nowhere with this question, at least ask for a ballpark fee (guess at between $200 and $1000 and watch their reaction). Business psychology is important here. Bear in mind that you could cut "some" of your costs "if" you retained full copyright (ie: you may be able to sell additional copies to other sources, like the local Tourist Bureau etc and/or make future printed postcards for sale). There are many alternatives to the "up front price". Think about it. You could also ask the Club what they paid for their last photo shoot. Another angle is to agree on a reduced price (if that is what they want) but stipulate you are retaining copyright but agree for their use in this Brochure only for this print batch (future printing will incur extra fees). Business managers will often plump for the reduced costs of "today" and let tomorrow worry about itself. In 12 months time, when they are about to reprint the brochure you can negotiate again without doing one single bit of extra work. This could be the smart long term option (especially if the Club are trying to get everything on the cheap, they will not entertain new pics with "new costs" 12 months down the track if you re-release again for say only $250 or $300). Think about it? You could end up getting 3 times what you initially want.
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