How much to charge for a Photo CD?

cal_gecko

I've been shooting some soccer games lately, and have a couple galleries set up for the parents of the kids to purchase prints. I have also enabled the Personal Use download option, so they can download a digital version of their image(s) if they want. One of the parents recently asked me how much I would charge for a CD of all the photos (nearly 400). I have NO idea what is a "typical" rate for something like this..

Just so you know, I've got the Personal Use download prices set at:

Low Res (1MP): $8.00
High Res (4MP): $20.00
Original size: $25.00

Are those prices reasonable? If so - what are your suggestions for the price of a Photo CD?

mercphoto

cal_gecko wrote:

I've been shooting some soccer games lately, and have a couple galleries set up for the parents of the kids to purchase prints. I have also enabled the Personal Use download option, so they can download a digital version of their image(s) if they want. One of the parents recently asked me how much I would charge for a CD of all the photos (nearly 400).

What in the world does one person want with 400 photos and what do they plan to do with them is my fear. You might just crater your sales as a result as the images are bound to get shared amongst everyone. If you even consider selling that CD then charge enough that you really don't care if you don't make another dime off those images. Only you can answer that question. But I wouldn't offer that CD cheap!

The other thing is how many parents really know what personal use means, or if they even care...

cal_gecko

mercphoto wrote:

What in the world does one person want with 400 photos and what do they plan to do with them is my fear. You might just crater your sales as a result as the images are bound to get shared amongst everyone. If you even consider selling that CD then charge enough that you really don't care if you don't make another dime off those images. Only you can answer that question. But I wouldn't offer that CD cheap!

The other thing is how many parents really know what personal use means, or if they even care...

good things to take into consideration, thanks! I think I'll just refer him back to the Smugmug gallery to purchase the downloads as he wants them.

sweet caroline

I don't offer group photo downloads or CDs because I'd be worried about them getting shared. When I do private portrait sessions, I offer all images on CD or downloadable gallery for $125. When I do school photos, I offer a Photo CD with high res images for $75 per student. I usually have about 5 good shots per kid, sometimes more, rarely less.

Caroline

cal_gecko

Hey Bill - I just took a look through your SM galleries, and I love your rig shots! Do you mind sharing some info on your rig? I'd be curious to see how you mount it up.

Also, any feedback (from anyone) regarding my download prices? Are they realistic? Too high/too low?

Thanks!

mercphoto

cal_gecko wrote:

Hey Bill - I just took a look through your SM galleries, and I love your rig shots! Do you mind sharing some info on your rig? I'd be curious to see how you mount it up.

After attempts at a DIY rig I eventually gave up and bought a used version of this rig. Of the two versions I have the one that clamps to the pinch rails underneath the car. A photo of it on my Accord is attached, and the camera would be bolted to the very end of that aluminum tubing. It takes me about 60-90 minutes to get 6 or so usable shots at 3 to 4 angles. Any rig shot is a bit involved, both in setup and in post-production, but its worth the work and appears to be a shot that I can make some profit off of.

cal_gecko

mercphoto wrote:

After attempts at a DIY rig I eventually gave up and bought a used version of this rig. Of the two versions I have the one that clamps to the pinch rails underneath the car. A photo of it on my Accord is attached, and the camera would be bolted to the very end of that aluminum tubing. It takes me about 60-90 minutes to get 6 or so usable shots at 3 to 4 angles. Any rig shot is a bit involved, both in setup and in post-production, but its worth the work and appears to be a shot that I can make some profit off of.

Awesome, thanks Bill! That's a whole lot better than me holding my monopod with my 40D on the end out the window of my car while driving in circles in a parking lot.... :laugh:

JohnBiggs

sweet caroline wrote:

I don't offer group photo downloads or CDs because I'd be worried about them getting shared. When I do private portrait sessions, I offer all images on CD or downloadable gallery for $125. When I do school photos, I offer a Photo CD with high res images for $75 per student. I usually have about 5 good shots per kid, sometimes more, rarely less.

Caroline

You only expect $125 out of a portrait session?

Thanks,
John

mercphoto

JohnBiggs wrote:

You only expect $125 out of a portrait session?

My thoughts as well. I charge more than that for the motion rig session with a car, and that only includes webhosting, not digital images nor prints, which are extra.

JohnBiggs

mercphoto wrote:

My thoughts as well. I charge more than that for the motion rig session with a car, and that only includes webhosting, not digital images nor prints, which are extra.

I'm not trying to critique the other poster on the amount. If thats what their market is willing to pay than thats fine. I just want to make sure I understand corrrectly. Do they try to sell that $125 CD and thats it? Or is there other sales opportunities that they have somehow created?

I'd really like to know.

jhelms

That rig is awesome! Roughly how long does it take to install each time? And any hints on the pricing?

I have used my stickypod in the past but haven't been able to really get it out as far as I would like:




BTW, to the OP - I would definitely charge enough for the CD's to where if you never sold another picture from that gallery it would be ok... (I hate making extra CD's for people, they should just use SM) - another thing I noticed is to maybe make your low res DL's much cheaper, maybe that would prompt people to buy more poses. Heck if a song download is .99-$2 maybe the pics (low res) would sell good around that level too?

mercphoto

jhelms wrote:

That rig is awesome! Roughly how long does it take to install each time?

It can take about 15-20 minutes to mount. Almost as much time to take off. I figure at least an hour to mount, take some pics low, move the rig higher take some more, swap ends to get pictures from another vantage point, etc. I'm looking at 60-90 minutes per car to get six usable shots. Plus that much more time in post-production. Three hours work per car when all is said and done.

And any hints on the pricing?

See my blog entry on that. Link is in my sig.

Heck if a song download is .99-$2 maybe the pics (low res) would sell good around that level too?

That analogy just does not hold any water. Songs have mass appeal. The same song can sell to thousands, if not millions of people. Pricing that low only works because of the power of volume sales. But portraits are, with very rare exception, only of any value to a very small number of people. So will low-res images sell at that level? Sure! But I sure wouldn't recommend it unless you really don't value your time and effort.

jhelms

mercphoto wrote:

That analogy just does not hold any water. Songs have mass appeal. The same song can sell to thousands, if not millions of people. Pricing that low only works because of the power of volume sales. But portraits are, with very rare exception, only of any value to a very small number of people. So will low-res images sell at that level? Sure! But I sure wouldn't recommend it unless you really don't value your time and effort.

Thanks for the info on the mount.

For the download pricing, I should have clarified that I only meant that pricing in certain instances - I was thinking sports where you may have tons of usable images from one afternoon of shooting. I do this also for some casual family / Church events where I just want people to have access to their pics and I know they'll be more apt to DL one for a 4x6 or 5x7 at a couple of bucks rather than $10 or $20.

I agree with what you wrote - for most other times higher pricing should be in place.

JohnBiggs

jhelms wrote:

Thanks for the info on the mount.

For the download pricing, I should have clarified that I only meant that pricing in certain instances - I was thinking sports where you may have tons of usable images from one afternoon of shooting. I do this also for some casual family / Church events where I just want people to have access to their pics and I know they'll be more apt to DL one for a 4x6 or 5x7 at a couple of bucks rather than $10 or $20.

I agree with what you wrote - for most other times higher pricing should be in place.

If you give them pricing very low, when it's time to get some real work from that church (family portraits, weddings, etc) they will have that price in mind.