 Piper Lehman |
First "Real" Job
This job came from some photos I did for Bryan's workshop. I asked people if I could take their picture, and then I sent them free prints of the best shots the next week. I sent 8x10's of the really good ones. Anyway, I guess it pays to be generous when you're just starting out. Got an e-mail today from someone who wants me to shoot for them. I'm guessing this will be an outdoor shoot, casual and involving kids and horses. I would appreciate suggestions on prices and what I should charge for. I want to cover my expenses, but I also want to make a good impression and for this job to lead to others. Should I try to make any kind of profit from this, or should I use it as a learning experience? Here's the thing: whatever I charge here will get around the place and everyone else will want the same price, I'm guessing. Don't want to seem unprofessional. HELP!
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John A. Lind |
Piper, I do not work professionally, so hopefully one of the others will contact you "off forum." Pros do not generally discuss pricing publicly. I will give you a tip based on what I do for my "day job" though. You need to put together a "business case" that captures what *all* your costs are. Work at thinking of everything you will have to do and write it down. This includes travel, time, film, processing, printing, etc. Time includes not only the shoot, but *all* your time to have the film processed and printed, as well as time spent dealing with your customer. If you can't put a dollar value on your time, at the very least you should know how much it will consume. You will want your pricing, whatever you set it at, to cover your costs plus compensate you for your time. Two final tips: -- John
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Eileen Iaquinto |
Hi Piper - I'm new to betterphoto.com but was concerned when I read in your question,"Should I try to make any kind of profit from this, or should I use it as a learning experience?" I have been in the same situation and want to emphatically answer that you NEED to present yourself as a professional and that means that you MUST value your work enough to make a profit at it! I made a huge mistake in my beginning photo sessions of thinking that I was doing the customer a favor by only charging them enough to cover my expenses. After all, I was still learning, right?? Wrong!! I soon found out that not only did every referral that came from those first few customers want the same price, some of them even complained that it was too much. I finally decided that enough was enough and put together a reasonable pricing policy that allowed me to get paid for my time and talent, regardless of whether or not reprints or enlargements were ordered. Then, whatever reprints the customer wanted were icing on the cake! Good luck - have faith in yourself and go knock 'em dead!
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Latanya |
First of all I started taking pictures for free and then low low rates. After all I was just happy to be doing what I loved. After a while it gets old and your doing pictures that look almost as good as the pros. I have worked in 2 professional studios and, let me tell you, if your work is excellent, people are willing to pay whatever it takes. Start with creating your own photo package. Maybe 10'13, 2-8'10's, a few 5'7's and about 35 wallets for 40.00 dollars or whatever. Remember if you are good at what you do and you develop a good working relationship with your customers, your photos will sell.
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Piper Lehman |
Thanks for your suggestions, everybody! It helps so much just to have a cheering section here at BP. Will let you know how it works out!
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