Pricing for onsite Portraits

jh4wvu

I was asked to take portraits at a music conference that would potentially have over 600 kids over two days. I have never done something this big and don't know how much to charge. Heres what they want...

The company that I would be doing it for would hire another photographer to help out so it wouldn't be like I was doing all the photos. They are wanting me to give them a day/flat rate. On the first day I would be working about 4-5 hours and on the second day about 7-8 hours.

I also have to come up with some package pricing. They only want to offer a few packages which should make that part easy. Probably the most basic package would be 1 8x10 , 2 5x7s, and 4 wallets...something like that. I am thinking of using WHCC for the processing.

I have never done an event like this before and have no idea what to charge. Any ideas would be helpful.

Also, I have mostly done event photography without any special lighting. This event is next Spring so what would you suggest be a good lighting kit for starting out and this type of setup? Keep in mind I have year to improve on technique, etc.

Thanks ,
Chris

bsvirginian

I do a lot of "special event" photography and just have a few questions to ask.
1) Where is the event being held? city, state, location
2) what time is the event?
3) How do you think the kids will be attired?
4) When will they expect their images to be ready?

As mentioned, I do a lot of this and the numbers (of participants) doesn't really mean very much. Kids really don't buy packages unless its the prom or something like it. It has been my experience that even adults won't purchase packages unless they are expecting to be fairly well dressed or the pictures are free.

I'll just give you a quick run down on how I do it and I do probably about 50 events a year.
I get a retainer check up front ($ 200.00)
If they event has 30 or more couples pay for a sitting ($15.00) than I return the retainer.
the retainer does a couple of things. It shows that the organization is serious and will help promote you or they might not get back their retainer. It also covers the real basic costs if the event is a flop.
I usually show up a full length background, a mono light and softbox and an assistant. bs

jh4wvu

To answer your questions...

1. Held in West Virginia
2. Friday Night and most of Saturday
3. Students will be performing either in a band or choir and most parents will be there.
4. We were going to say two weeks -- maybe. It should be less than that but just to be safe. Like I said I was going to probably use WHCC for processing.

Thanks,
Chris

bsvirginian wrote:

I do a lot of "special event" photography and just have a few questions to ask.
1) Where is the event being held? city, state, location
2) what time is the event?
3) How do you think the kids will be attired?
4) When will they expect their images to be ready?

As mentioned, I do a lot of this and the numbers (of participants) doesn't really mean very much. Kids really don't buy packages unless its the prom or something like it. It has been my experience that even adults won't purchase packages unless they are expecting to be fairly well dressed or the pictures are free.

I'll just give you a quick run down on how I do it and I do probably about 50 events a year.
I get a retainer check up front ($ 200.00)
If they event has 30 or more couples pay for a sitting ($15.00) than I return the retainer.
the retainer does a couple of things. It shows that the organization is serious and will help promote you or they might not get back their retainer. It also covers the real basic costs if the event is a flop.
I usually show up a full length background, a mono light and softbox and an assistant. bs

bsvirginian

I would say that the only guarantee of success would be that the people that asked you to do this would send out a flyer or at least a mailing to all that have registered that you will be there and the services you are offering.
Good luck, BS

jh4wvu

This is what I think I am going to do...

$1000 - for the flat rate for the two days. This includes time at actual event (about 20 hours) plus travel time (3 hours). Packages would range from $15.00 - $25.00 (probably would only offer 3 packages)

Does this seem too high or unreasonable? Any feedback would be great.

Thanks,
Chris

bsvirginian wrote:

I would say that the only guarantee of success would be that the people that asked you to do this would send out a flyer or at least a mailing to all that have registered that you will be there and the services you are offering.
Good luck, BS

Nikolai

My take
Since most of the shots would be under very similar conditions (inside, light does not change rapidly, etc), you can essentially nail down the post process on a few shots and then just use ImageProcessor or batch.
However I woudl still count at leat 100% of the post prosessing time.
4-5 + 7-8 = 11-13 total.
Plus 100% PP yelds ~25 hrs. I would charge $100/hr, hence $2,500.

Hopefully this gives you a ballpark.

Good luck!