Question about charging

SeascapeS

Hello. I am supposed to take engagement shots tomorrow evening for my daughter's friend and her fiance. I don't know how to charge.

When I used to take senior pictures, I'd charge a $75 sitting fee and then mark up the prints. This girl mainly wants a shot for her "Save the Date" - no prints. You all know the time involved in a shoot, download selections, and post processing, even for just one shot. I also have 1/2 drive to get to the location. They want their dog in the shots too.

She basically said she didn't want prints, just hand over the "file". Uh, no.

What would you do?

I took pictures for her engagement party. Five hours, 350 shots. I processed 250 of them (which took 20 hours of my time) and posted them on Smug for her. She downloaded the ones she wanted and sent me a $50 gift card.

How do you control your pictures so they don't get taken? I know a Pro account would help, anything else? This is a weird situation because she's my daughter's friend, so I don't want to overcharge, but my time isn't free.

Overfocused

SeascapeS wrote: »

Hello. I am supposed to take engagement shots tomorrow evening for my daughter's friend and her fiance. I don't know how to charge.

When I used to take senior pictures, I'd charge a $75 sitting fee and then mark up the prints. This girl mainly wants a shot for her "Save the Date" - no prints. You all know the time involved in a shoot, download selections, and post processing, even for just one shot. I also have 1/2 drive to get to the location. They want their dog in the shots too.

She basically said she didn't want prints, just hand over the "file". Uh, no.

What would you do?

I took pictures for her engagement party. Five hours, 350 shots. I processed 250 of them (which took 20 hours of my time) and posted them on Smug for her. She downloaded the ones she wanted and sent me a $50 gift card.

How do you control your pictures so they don't get taken? I know a Pro account would help, anything else? This is a weird situation because she's my daughter's friend, so I don't want to overcharge, but my time isn't free.

I have a pro account so I may not be aware of some missing options.... For starters, don't offer digital downloads. Does a non pro account allow an option for that? Second, does standard allow for watermarks?

If it does: develop a digital watermark for your SmugMug account and save it as a GIF or JPEG. Make a gallery invisible to the public and upload the watermark file to it. Go to the gallery with the file, and click "Tools -> This Image -> more -> make into watermark" You can set transparency options afterward. Then, go to the gallery of images you want to protect, and change it's settings to include the watermark (Its in the mess of options for galleries) If watermarking is not allowed for basic that would be kind of bogus in my opinion since any level of commercial photography needs watermarking.

SeascapeS

I don't have any of those options. I have the upgrade from standard, but not the pro.

trevorb

I send all my clients a numbered slideshow using Lightroom. It’s flash based so they can’t save the images (as long as you use the classic settings). I just did my first E Session and charged $85 because it was my first, I now am charging $120 and I live in a not so affluent area.
Pics from my first session.
http://vimeo.com/13760026

SeascapeS

I just upgraded. That problem is solved. Now I have to figure out how to broach the subject of money.

BradfordBenn

You might consider offering/asking to do the printing also. Through SmugMug http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/#More you can do Moo prints (I like the cards I just got from them) or Tiny Prints or directly from SmugMug you can do Cards as well http://www.smugmug.com/help/photo-greeting-cards. So rather than look like you are charging a huge amount for the file, you can do "cost of travel" plus you want to do the printing. You mark it up to a fair price and it does not seem as awkward. Just an idea.

chrisjohnson

SeascapeS wrote: »

Hello. I am supposed to take engagement shots tomorrow evening for my daughter's friend and her fiance. I don't know how to charge.

When I used to take senior pictures, I'd charge a $75 sitting fee and then mark up the prints. This girl mainly wants a shot for her "Save the Date" - no prints. You all know the time involved in a shoot, download selections, and post processing, even for just one shot. I also have 1/2 drive to get to the location. They want their dog in the shots too.

She basically said she didn't want prints, just hand over the "file". Uh, no.

What would you do?

I took pictures for her engagement party. Five hours, 350 shots. I processed 250 of them (which took 20 hours of my time) and posted them on Smug for her. She downloaded the ones she wanted and sent me a $50 gift card.

How do you control your pictures so they don't get taken? I know a Pro account would help, anything else? This is a weird situation because she's my daughter's friend, so I don't want to overcharge, but my time isn't free.

Don't charge your daughter's friends is my advice. You put everybody in an awkward position. If you don't like to work for free then have a quiet word with your daughter so she does not make any more offers. As it is they probably think you are enjoying yourself and they have no cash, so you will enjoy yourself even more when you do not need to charge indirectly via Smugmug, being a decent guy, etc.

bendruckerphoto

First off, I hope 20 hours was a typo. If you are taking 20 hours to process 250 images, you'll never make it as a professional photographer. You'll always have way too much overhead. She's making a save-the-date card. Is she printing it with a designer? You can charge the $75 session fee and then figure out a price for the file. Send the file straight to the designer with specific instructions that the file is only to be used for the card and should not be passed on to the client. Formalize it in a contract if need be. If they're spending $100-$300 on save the date, they can afford to spend $100 to license the photo.