What is a fair deal?

~Jan~

Through a connection at church, I'm going to do senior portraits for a low-income young lady. I said I'd do the photos for free, partially because she can't afford pictures and mostly because I need the practice! I am going to give her the proofs and session at no cost in exchange for my practice.

However, obviously I don't want to buy her ALL the pictures she wants. What is fair? Should I buy her some prints in addition to the proofs, charge her cost, what? She does have a friend (my connection at church) who is willing to pay for some of it.

LittleLisa

Hi again Jan! I feel like I'm following you.

Does this girl have online access? Maybe instead of providing physical proofs you could just let her view the pics online. Then maybe offer her a certain number of 4x6's (15?), 2-5x7's, 1-8x10 and maybe a few sheets of wallets to be able to give to friends and family. (Meijer sells 8 wallets for $2.50). So for about $17 that would give her a pretty good print package, IMO. And if your friend was going to help pay for it I don't think that's too steep especially if you split it. Obviously tweek the numbers to whatever you're comfortable with and depending on print prices in your area or online depending on where you like to order from, but I think this would at least give a good starting out place anyway. If she had it in mind that she'd like more pictures you could work it out from there. Maybe you could barter for some babysitting or housecleaning?

~Jan~

Lisa. We both live in northern IL too, funny.

Anyhow, you have a good idea about the online proofing. I will have to see. I know she doesn't have internet (they don't even have a phone), but her friend who is helping her does, so I'm sure they could look at the pics together and choose some.

Does everyone do online proofing now and not print at all?

urbanaries

I was in your shoes not all that long ago-

If I decided I wanted to do something for free, as a favor, gift, or back when I was portfolio building, I always got into trouble when I started expecting something in return.

I've done enough free gigs (and still do, if its for a project *I* initiate) that I don't feel guilty when someone approaches me hinting for a handout and I say my pricing for that is X and I am willing to offer you an X discount. Period.

It is a tough call, you want to build your portfolio, but you do kinda want to recoup some expenses, and don't want to feel taken advantage of. If you want to do this as a mutually beneficial kind gesture for this lady, then do that, and don't look back. Maybe give her a CD since she isn't online so she can print what she can afford at Walgreens or wherever, then you're out of the middle.

Just make sure when you are ready to draw that line, you come back to this thread and ask Shay to lend you a backbone.

Karma will come back, promise.

~Jan~

Thanks for the advice. I am not comfortable w/ giving a CD, I don't think. This is one of the first times my work will be "out there", and I'm not sure I want the public to be seeing Wal-mart prints, you know what I mean?

I think I will still not charge, still give her some pics since she's my first one, and then upgrade my Smugmug page to professional and set it so I make a tiny bit of profit if she DOES order prints. I am talking like $1 a print--nothing huge of course. That way, in the future, I can just keep requiring people to either order through me or order from my Smugmug page. I don't know if I will be confident to charge a sitting fee for a LONG time, so this may suffice. You think? If I can sell enough prints to cover the Pro fee on Smugmug I'll be happy!

jonh68

Thanks for the advice. I am not comfortable w/ giving a CD, I don't think. This is one of the first times my work will be "out there", and I'm not sure I want the public to be seeing Wal-mart prints, you know what I mean?

I know what you mean, but I think the only ones who would care are other photographers. If you are building your resume, get a good print. If you are doing this for free, cut out as much time as possible.

Scott_Quier

You could treat this as a TFP deal. She is doing the modeling, you're practicing. You get the practice and the images. She gets a select set of prints. The value of those prints to be determined by how much you value the time she will be devoting to the photo shoot.

Talk to her and/or her mother/father (especially if she is still a legal minor) about the deal and treat it as a business transaction.

Put together a contract. This will save you much strife in the future. It should describe the details of the deal. Contracts don't have to deal with money, but they go a long way toward managing client expectations and communicating intent.

If you are going to be doing this as a portfolio building exercise, then you MUST get a model release. If she is a legal minor, her parent MUST sign the release as well. This release can and, maybe, should be an integral part of the contract.

As for providing the young lady and/or her parents the opportunity to select the images to be printed, you can:

• Provide images on CD at 72DPI and sized 4x6 (so 288 x 432 pixels). These can not be printed. They can be viewed well enough for selection purposes.
• Load your images to a laptop and visit them or have them visit you for the selection process.

Just some thoughts...

~Jan~

Thanks, Scott. Good advice.

She is not a minor--she's 18 or 19, but she did have her "guardian" along with her. This is the woman that I work w/ that she lives w/. This woman has basically raised her.

I didn't have her sign a release, but I will. I have a close relationship w/ her guardian & this will be no problem. I'll bring it w/ when I show the proofs.

If you are interested in what I captured, PM me and I'll share the gallery. It's online at Smugmug but password protected. I don't feel comfortable putting the password here (defeats the purpose of a password, no? ).