 Shelly L. Rauscher |
Pricing Question I've been asked by a local business manager to take several shots for the new restaurant they are opening. They will pay for printing and framing and will give me free advertising. I've only done one wedding that I charged for, so I have no idea how to go about charging them for the pictures. They want approximately 14 photographs. I will retain the copyright of the picture, they will be signed by me. They even plan on recognizing me with a plaque stating that all the art work is done by my me. I don't want to charge too much since I will be getting free advertising, but they insist on paying me something for my time. Is $50 each too little? Is there any contracts I need to have to guarantee that their designers don't re-print my pictures someplace else?
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Kerry L. Walker |
This is, to me, the perfect time for the barter system. They are paying for all the costs and giving you free advertising, which, if you did the pictures for free would be a good deal. Why not just figure a fair hourly rate for your time and offer to shoot for that with payment to be made in the form of a gift certificate at the restaurant. Considering what it costs to go out and eat these days, you would be getting a good deal. Also, considering the fact that the actual cost of the food itself is a fairly small part of the cost of running a restaurant (overhead is the biggest part), the restaurant is getting a good deal. Of course, you must remember to declare the value of the gift certificate as income when you file your taxes (wink, wink).
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetings Shelly. I live and work in a town that's like ground zero for the restaurant and hospitality trade. It seems every week around here some restaurant folds while another opens up. The reason seems to be that the majority of new restauranteurs don't allow sufficient budgets for marketing their new venture and when faced with the costs of hiring a pro to illustrate their project, they go into sticker shock no matter how reasonable the costs are. While I agree with Kerry about the barter system, don't under sell either the value of your work for yourself or the value of your work to the owners. When I told one owner that it would cost him $1600.00 for me with an assistant to come in and shoot his place for one day with a few food shots, he said he only had a budget for $150.00 and half of that was in trade. I told him forget it. He called around and got about the same price from other photographers here (Monterey/Carmel Calif.). He did the work himself with a digital camera and they were used, among other places, in a brochure for a bus company operating from San Francisco. The work was awful, the food shots were terrible, no one could tell what the food was. One person thought the pasta and sauce shot was "tail endings of a troubled horse". Six months later, he folded. My point is that again, Kerry is absolutely right in that food costs are minimal compared to all the others associated with running the business including payment for advertising work. $50 bucks is nothing no matter what they give you. Rest assured, if your work is good, they won't just want to display it but print it for brochures, magazine ads, etc. You should be up front with what that will cost them before you do this job. And yes, a written contract covering all usage rights is really important here, I think. Photo credit should also be spelled out including using your website address if you have one. Remember, if they go under soon or if they never use your work in advertising publications, then you could wind up doing all the work for nothing. That'd be a bummer. So, what I would do is figure out how much the advertising is worth to you in various publications. Figure out a fair hourly fee, say $75-100 per hour, charge them that for your labor and give them the usage rights with photo credit for you. Remember, it's not just the shooting time but also the preparation time you have into the deal plus post production time meeting with the owners, etc. And if you want to take out say half your fees a few hundred bucks or more, in trade, then sure. Why not? Whaddya think? Take it light.
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Shelly L. Rauscher |
Thank you so much for the responces. I asked about a trade off and they said that the owner would rather pay money, I'm dealing with the manager, who has full design authorization. The restaurant is a Sports Grille and shots I'm doing are for decorative use. They will be framed and placed on the walls. They are putting a changable Display frame in the entry for me to change out monthly with a plaque with all my information on it. Those pictures will be at my cost, but I can sell them as I see fit. It is possible that they may want to use them in advertising, and I'm not sure that they have even thought about that aspect, so I will bring that up at our next meeting. I think I will set an hourly rate and figure the time it takes to aquire the picture. Thank you again for the responces, they have given me a lot to think over and have been very helpful! :)
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Kerry L. Walker |
Glad to hear they want to pay cash. In that case, I would suggest you just charge them an hourly rate, for both your shooting time and production time. If they do use them for advertising, make sure you get photo credit.
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Mark Feldstein |
Remember Shelly: "In God we trust." All others pay cash. (Or mastercard, visa, amex or discover). :>). Glad we could help you out.
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