digital sales question

thaKing

someone asked me about taking their family photos for a Christmas card...thing is, they can get 200 for less than $100 somewhere...so, they just want something to use for that ordering process...

how would you charge for this? and, what size of a digital photo would you provide - 4x6 only?

if you have any other thoughts or suggestions, i'd love to hear them...

thanks!

curvemeister

Well, here are a few scattered thoughts that might help solidify your sense of what you are worth as a photographer - keep in mind most people undervalue themselves when they are starting out.

From your question, I'm guessing that this is a friend or work acquaintance, I'd be inclined to do it for free, or perhaps barter.

$100 for a family session at a chosen location, for a max of two hours, is a normal professional rate for a family photograph. This includes an impressive looking camera, lighting rig, backdrops, the whole bit. If you can provide that kind of experience for them, and provide an excellent selection of well-lit and well-posed images, you deserve to be paid as a professional.

If you're going to give it your all, and produce a professional level portrait, take the amount of time you would need for travel, setup, taking the picture, retouching the image, etc., and multiply by what you feel is an acceptable hourly rate, plus travel expenses.

Another way to think about it is you're going to spend the better part of an hour, minimum, getting a good family portrait. How much would the average person want to charge you, if you asked him or her to come over to your place and, say, trim the hedges for an hour? That's your rock-bottom minimum price.

The intended use of the image, and particularly the cost of having it printed, is not really relevant. In fact, if they are going to send it out to 100 people, their cost will only be a dollar or so per person, and your efforts are certainly worth more than the postage costs.

Try to make it such an incredible portrait that you see it as an 8x10 on their mantle for the next several years.

thaKing

yes it is a friend...here's what i did for them, because they are a friend - i did not charge for the session, they only had to pay for the photos/cards...i spent just over an hour, with lighting, clothing changes, the whole nine...i figured i'd make enough from their purchases that i wouldn't charge them for the session - sort of my Christmas gift to them (free session)...

now the kink is, they've found much cheaper cards and want/need a photo from that session (i have not finished processing them so i've got a little time to figure this out)...they say they'll still buy a shot or two for framing, but i'm definitely losing the profit on the cards...

so, i guess i'm wondering, should i make the size of the image only large enough for them to print the cards (say the cards are 4x6, do i only provide that size)? and since i was expecting/hoping to make my money from the purchase of the cards, should i price accordingly? i mean, i am going to give the photos my all when i process them so they look as good as possible...

timk519

If you were planning on making your $ on the cards, and now they want to go elsewhere, then charge them the profit you're losing by not making the cards. Explain to them that you're willing to do the work for a discounted price but not for free.

thaKing

timk519 wrote:

If you were planning on making your $ on the cards, and now they want to go elsewhere, then charge them the profit you're losing by not making the cards. Explain to them that you're willing to do the work for a discounted price but not for free.

that's what i was thinking...if, for example, i'm losing $25 on the cards, charge them $25 for the image to use to get their own cards...

the last part - if this were you, what size would you provide them, just big enough for the cards they're ordering? or give them the original file and let them do with it what they want?

timk519

It depends on your relationship and what expectations you created ahead of time. If they thought the cost of the cards you were going to provide was just for the cards and didn't include something for your work, they may be surprised when you come back with a "well, not really." If you told them you were rolling your fee in with the cards, then it's reasonable for you to come back with a charge if they want to get something else.

timk519

thaKing wrote:

if this were you, what size would you provide them, just big enough for the cards they're ordering? or give them the original file and let them do with it what they want?

That depends on your relationship with them and what you're getting out of this. For the cards, I'd say give them the image that suits their need. If you give them the originals, you'll never see print revenue later, so charge accordingly. (or not, if they're good friends.)

thaKing

thanks for the advice, i appreciate it...