Newbie Questions

JSPhotography

OK, I have been shooting events, passing out cards and selling from my smug mug, www.jsphotography.net. Sales are not good enough. Last couple weeks I have shot indoor Show Jumping(horse) and RC Car Racing(3 times) at a new track. Both are getting a lot of hits, the horses some sales, the RC car none. According to what I am hearing they are really liking my stuff. I am thinking about starting to only shoot people who prepay. I'm thinking $10 - $20. The other thing going on is a competing track saw my stuff and wants to pay me to come shoot at his track. Some of the shots would be used for advertising. How much should I charge? I'm thinking $250. Your thoughts?

Cygnus Studios

JSPhotography wrote:

Sales are not good enough.

Some of the shots would be used for advertising. How much should I charge? I'm thinking $250.

Shooting on spec is tough under the best conditions. There are ways to make money doing doing it, but it is far more work than getting paid to shoot.

As far as to what to charge, this requires some effort on your part. First you need to determine what your time is worth to you. Some people are happy with $8 per hour and some would not get out of bed for less than $100 per hour.

Second, you need to determine how much work goes into that hour of time. Some choose to charge more if they have to work harder. Totally up to you if you wish to go this route.

Third, you need to determine if you wish to charge based on the usage of these images. Some people do, some people are happy with the hourly/day rate.

If you choose to charge per usage, you will have to determine how many images will be used, how the images will be used, and for how long the images will be used. You will also have to factor in the audience reached, the size and locations of images.

There are a ton of questions that must be asked and answered before you can quote a price. Prices are not generic.

On top of all these questions, you need to determine if you can handle this paid job. What happens if you fail to deliver? What happens if you get sick and cannot attend the event? What happens if your camera breaks? What happens if your memory card fails?

Who is going to write the contracts? How will you be paid? When will you be paid?

If this were generic and easy, everyone would be doing it.