Should I charge?

wellman · August 14, 2006

I have recently been asked to take senior pictures (high school) of the son of an acquaintance. I'm a relatively serious hobbyist, and I've done some portraiture in the past as a favor, figuring it would be good to build goodwill and a decent reputation. Plus, if something went haywire, well, the photos were free to begin with. But this time I'm wondering if I should charge. Given the tone of the manner in which I was asked, I'm betting they're expecting me to.

So, here's my question. Given the quality of my past "work" (see below), should I charge? And if so, what would be fair? I'm not expecting to make a killing, but this would involve night/weekend time that would otherwise be spent with my family.

If you think I should charge, what structure would you recommend? If I charge a fixed fee up front with at-cost prints, they get a good deal on prints, but risk the flat fee if they hate all the photos. If I do the shoot for free but mark up the prints, they have no risk but might get swamped by print markup. And then of course there's the hybrid approach.

Please take a look at the "portfolio" below and let me know what you think. Thanks for your thoughts… :thumb

-Greg

Model headshot:

Engagement:

Candid:

Family:

Angelo · August 14, 2006

Hey Greg:

You asked so here's my two cents:

What are you, a photographer or a print merchant? If it's the latter, sell off your gear and invest in an inventory of prints and posters and open up a frame shop near the college dorms and have at it.

If you believe in yourself as a photographer, an artist, you wouldn't be asking this question.

From the looks of the work you've posted you seem to have a good eye and real talent and I don't doubt that's what won your friends over, not the ninety-nine cent print in the KMart frame.

Don't sell yourself short. Good luck.

Andy · August 14, 2006

Do the up-front gig, IMO. Get paid for your time, and charge them for a CD. You can see some example fees on my site,

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/gallery/830860

wellman · August 15, 2006

Angelo and Andy,

Thanks for your kind words and thoughts. I'll post back with results and comments on how things go (probably not for another few weeks).

-Greg

cmason · August 15, 2006

#1 is OUTSTANDING. People pay good money for far less, don't sell yourself short. Enjoy your hobby, and ask for money from those that otherwise would pay for someone else to do what you enjoy doing. If they don't pay, then you have a choice: do what you were willing to do anyway, or walk. If you don't ask , thou shall not receive.

Art Scott · August 15, 2006

Charge a fee close too what others in your area would charge....your equipment and time are worth the same as any other photog's .....you can charge a setting fee....then charge for a portfolio of Proof sized prints and of course the enlargements.....
If you do give out a CD of proofs make very sure to resize those pics to no larger than 4 x 6 inches and no more than 72dpi......a cd of proofs makes even those that are normally very honest tempted to save big and use the self print stations at the one hour lab, wally world, wal-greens etc.....but if the resolution doesn't allow it then it won't happen....or make them order ever thing thru your smugmug acct if it is so set up.

Good luck

mercphoto · August 16, 2006

I like them all except:

wellman wrote:

Family:

The people are soft. I would bet you had center-point focus, and it focused on the background between the two people.

Andy's point is a good one. Charge them a fee, hand them a CD. I would probably include one or two 4x6 prints as well that are properly printed. This way if they print it at home and the colors are off (easy to do) they can compare to the print you gave them and know its not your photos that are off!

AntoineD · August 23, 2006

Wellman, you should charge:
1/ you diserve it, for your work is far better than many other photographer in that speciality ;
2/ because if you don't, then more and more people will try to find guys who don't charge, then photographers are going to disappear... it really happens in FRance, especially in small town :-/

Andy wrote:

Do the up-front gig, IMO. Get paid for your time, and charge them for a CD. You can see some example fees on my site,

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/gallery/830860

On your website, you're talking about extra-hours... but you forgot to mention initial time

wellman · December 12, 2006

Well, it's been a few months, but I figured I'd follow up here, finally... The shoot went pretty well, and I learned a few painful lessons about GLARE. The kid's glasses would reflect the new moon!

Some still came out mostly OK. The senior and his mom are both happy, which is all I can ask, I suppose.

Some of the better ones below... I'll do better next time, for sure.

photogmomma · December 12, 2006

And did you charge?!? You definitely should have!!!

My one comment about charging (although it's way too late!) would have been to (if you were thinking of charging a flat fee and letting them order prints):

Create a pro gallery
Set all prices 1¢ above the SmugMug price so that you could:
- See what they purchased
- See how MANY they purchased
- Guarantee that they would get a very good quality print that was guaranteed - NOT Walmart or whoever
I also would have:
- Watermarked all, turned on proofing and turned OFF downloading UNTIL they purchased whatever they wanted (just for tracking) - and edited fully ONLY the images that they purchased
And after all that, you could decide if you want to do this for real or not. If you do, that would help you decide if that flow works for you, they get a great deal on very well done prints and they can still download after their purchases are made!

Hope you got paid and that you had fun! These look GREAT! (And glasses glare SUCKS!)

wellman · December 13, 2006

Andi,

Thanks for the kind words! As to whether I got paid, here's the story. Most of the photos were so marred with glare that I felt I shouldn't charge for them, or my time. Maybe I was too hard on myself, but my stance was that I shouldn't charge for an inferior product. I'd tried some photoshopping, but I'm just not skilled enough to do a passable job.

So, I've had the client pick his favorite photos irrespective of the glare, and I'll do the printing through Mpix, where I've had good luck with glare removal in the past on a photo of my own. (No slam on EZPrints - I just like Mpix's glare service.) The client will end up paying cost for the prints and the $8-per-head-per-file glare fix from Mpix, and I'll take my lessons as payment enough on this job.

That being said, I took engagement shots for a couple back in the spring. They're getting married in April '07, and they won't accept no for an answer on me shooting their wedding, despite the fact that I've never done one. Wedding shots are too big a risk to "mess up" IMO, so I turned them down three times before I finally relented. I'll do the job right (backup bodies, prepared shot list, my eagle-eye wife to assist), so I will be charging for our time for sure.

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is.

Thanks for the pro-gallery suggestions, too. I will definitely do that next time around!

-Greg

Sam · December 13, 2006

wellman wrote:

Andi,

Thanks for the kind words! As to whether I got paid, here's the story. Most of the photos were so marred with glare that I felt I shouldn't charge for them, or my time. Maybe I was too hard on myself, but my stance was that I shouldn't charge for an inferior product. I'd tried some photoshopping, but I'm just not skilled enough to do a passable job.

So, I've had the client pick his favorite photos irrespective of the glare, and I'll do the printing through Mpix, where I've had good luck with glare removal in the past on a photo of my own. (No slam on EZPrints - I just like Mpix's glare service.) The client will end up paying cost for the prints and the $8-per-head-per-file glare fix from Mpix, and I'll take my lessons as payment enough on this job.

That being said, I took engagement shots for a couple back in the spring. They're getting married in April '07, and they won't accept no for an answer on me shooting their wedding, despite the fact that I've never done one. Wedding shots are too big a risk to "mess up" IMO, so I turned them down three times before I finally relented. I'll do the job right (backup bodies, prepared shot list, my eagle-eye wife to assist), so I will be charging for our time for sure.

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is. Thanks for the pro-gallery suggestions, too. I will definitely do that next time around!

-Greg

Here is a thought on the wedding. You have time between now and April, but it will go faster tahn you think. Contact a local wedding photographer, or two, explain your plight, and off to assist on a few weddings for free just to learn enough to do a decent job for the couple who won't take no for an answer.

Also pick up a book or two on the subject, and how about fast lenses and or flash for the low light, you will probably be faced with?

Sam

Should I charge?

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