Pricing Suggestion

nfocuz

I'm looking for suggestions on pricing on a request for attending an away high school football game and taking undetermined number of candid shots.

I had a family contact me last night asking if I would take photos of their daughter and son during their high school sporting event. The daughter is on varsity cheer and the son is on JV football. Games are played on different nights.

Because I'm already at the varsity games due to prior commitments, it's no problem to take additional photos of the daughter.

My dilemma is the JV game. I generally don't attend those and the remaining two games are away games so travel is required. I have no other reason to be at this game except for this request. I only need to attend one of the games.

I'm an photo enthusiast and don't charge for my photos. In this particular case, I feel I need to charge something?

Any thoughts.

jmphotocraft

It sounds like you don't have a SmugMug pro account (or similar), so you can't sell marked-up prints at a profit. That's actually fine because shooting on-speculation is a poor business model. Much better to be paid up front. I don't know what your work is like so it's hard to give you a number. I'll just tell you what I would do, and assume we're on a similar level I guess. I've been shooting youth sports professionally as a side-job for 5 years and I'm good at it. If this is a friend or friend of a friend I'd say $100 for the two kids and then give them access to the files, assuming the travel isn't bad. If the travel is like an hour or more away, Add $50 or $100. For a stranger I'd say $200 plus travel. Some other pros might say these numbers are low. In any case offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Give them access to small versions at first (like 900 pixels on the long side) and then if they approve give them full-res.

Art Scott

jmphotocraft wrote: »

<snip>

If this is a friend or friend of a friend I'd say $100 for the two kids and then give them access to the files, assuming the travel isn't bad. If the travel is like an hour or more away, Add $50 or $100. For a stranger I'd say $200 plus travel. Some other pros might say these numbers are low. In any case offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Give them access to small versions at first (like 900 pixels on the long side) and then if they approve give them full-res.

For someone who isn't in the Biz I would go with what is quoted from JMPHOTOCRAFT here but forgo the 100% guarantee...especially since you have to travel out of your way......way too many people will abuse a guarantee to get free images......so I would go in with a 200 to 300 price but add in you estimate travel expenses and price it as a whole package .... not as 200 + travel but simple as 275 or 375 ....especially since you have no other reason to be there.

Good Luck to you.

jmphotocraft

More on the guarantee... I've had my guarantee exercised exactly once, but on second thought a blanket 100% guarantee is indeed too vague here. I would definitely offer some sort of guarantee though. This puts less stress on you while shooting. I guess I would break the bill into a non-refundable travel and expenses fee, and then a photo fee which is refundable. There is no way to guarantee a thrilling action shot, because there are two performers in the equation, you and the player. You could do a posed portrait in uniform with the ball (like this), and if you know you probably didn't get a good shot during the game you could stage an action shot after the game (like this) so you are guaranteed to come away with something. IT IS OK TO PUSH BACK if someone tries to abuse a guarantee. I have even witnessed the customer service desk do this at LLBean. If you know the photos are good, this will be self-evident. If you're not confident in your work, by all means give them their money back if they ask. The last thing you want is someone in your community feeling like you ripped them off.

nfocuz

Thanks everyone for your input.


Yep. You're correct jmphotocraft, no SmugMug Pro account. With the number of pictures I sell, I can't see spending the additional $140+ a year. I'm a pay as you go kind of guy.


I talked further with the mother and she's looking for candid and action shots. Agreed to $75 + expenses (admittance) for a JV game and $25 for a varsity game. Her pick of the photos for download. Additional cost if she wants them printed or any special services.


I can't see offering a guarantee for this type of shooting. My only guarantee that I offered is that I will show up.

goldenstarphoto

So how did it go nfocuz? Would love to hear a follow up. Did you get any great shots and was the mom happy? If you provide excellent customer service and great shots I could see this leading to other referrals with her friends/other parents.