Event Fee's?

kris10

I was asked to shoot a family reunion this summer. I really want to start getting into event photography such as birthdays, anniversary parties and so forth but I have no idea how to charge for something like that. I do weddings, which are a set fee based on what they want and what the event will include. I also do some portraiture which is charged based on a sitting fee and package prices & I do youth sports athlete and team photos which I just charge package fee's for.

When it comes to "miscellaneous events", I'm lost as to how to charge. My mom had suggested charging hourly but knowing how my family reunions are, they can go for hours. If I were to charge say, $50/hour and end up hanging out for 6+ hours and shooting 300+ photos, I just don't think it ends up being worth it for me. I could charge a flat rate, say $300 for 3 hours and then charge an hourly fee after that. I would love some advice from those of you who have done this form of photography before. If I'm going to be spending a large amount of one of my Saturdays to do this, I want to walk away with something. I plan to offer the host of the reunion a full set of 4x6's after the event with the cost of those prints coming out of the total fee charged. I will then put all of the pictures on my website in a gallery where family members can order what they want.

Mulder32

My 2 cents
I go with a flat hourly rate and then provide the clients with a CD/DVD with the images. For me, $60/hr. I'm just starting to get into photography again, so I'm starting a little lower than the going price around here.

Art Scott

I haven't been shooting Pro for a few years...but when I was, I also hard a hard time setting fees.....what I came up with was a semi-flat somewhat wavy event fee....at the time I did mostly contract weddings for a few area wedding studios and bridal shops at $350/ wedding / 3hours....my own weddings were 750/wedding/3hours .....I do use a sliding scale at times if I feel people really can't afford the rates but they must provide me with at least the last 2 pay stubs for me to consider them for a sliding discount...kinda like some health clinics for the real poor........but I feel that all events are worth the same rates as they are all once in a lifetime events....a child's b-day never comes for that age again, a reunion....well who won't be there next year.....every event is once in a lifetime and should be shot as such and sold as such......these types of threads are making me think as I am going back into photo'ing as a profession and I can use others ?'s as my own sounding board for me also........

HTH and THANX

LUCKYSHOT

kris10 wrote:

I was asked to shoot a family reunion this summer. I really want to start getting into event photography such as birthdays, anniversary parties and so forth but I have no idea how to charge for something like that. I do weddings, which are a set fee based on what they want and what the event will include. I also do some portraiture which is charged based on a sitting fee and package prices & I do youth sports athlete and team photos which I just charge package fee's for.

When it comes to "miscellaneous events", I'm lost as to how to charge. My mom had suggested charging hourly but knowing how my family reunions are, they can go for hours. If I were to charge say, $50/hour and end up hanging out for 6+ hours and shooting 300+ photos, I just don't think it ends up being worth it for me. I could charge a flat rate, say $300 for 3 hours and then charge an hourly fee after that. I would love some advice from those of you who have done this form of photography before. If I'm going to be spending a large amount of one of my Saturdays to do this, I want to walk away with something. I plan to offer the host of the reunion a full set of 4x6's after the event with the cost of those prints coming out of the total fee charged. I will then put all of the pictures on my website in a gallery where family members can order what they want.

Kris10
No one could tell you exactly what to charge, but a good idea is to google local photographers to see if you can get a feel for what they are charging and decide a price accordingly, I do alot of parties and when I first started I gave too low of a price for a 40th birthday party and suddenly all the clients friends wanted the same price for similar parties and I was sorta stuck with it. (this was pre SM).
I would sell them on a copy of all pictures on CD and The advantage of them not having to distribute the pics themselves to relatives near and far, because all the relatives can browse and buy pics on SM etc,etc etc,.
I have found when I offer a set of prints, I tend to shoot less, If they want a set of 4x6s Add $100 onto the price.
I would also sell myself on the fact that not only would I take all family shots requested, but I will walk around and get the relaxed shot of people, the fun shots and the natural shots of the kids having fun
Anyway
Good luck
Chris
www.longislandimage.com

kris10

Thanks for all of your advice. I'm thinking about the set fee way to go too. I'm going to include a set of 4x6 prints of the whole thing and then I'll just upload the same ones on my SM site. The only thing with giving them a cd is I will also have to provide a print release. Everyone here is soooo funny about letting people print from a cd. I don't want to have to answer why I'm not providing one for just the host of the party. I'm not going into the expense of paying for 50 cd's just so everyone can have one. Plus...at least with SM, I can control the cropping of my images and do a proof delay to check how they crop. I don't want a bunch of my pictures floating around with cropped off heads and feet and such. So, thanks so much for all of the advice.

With contracts...do you guys require one to be signed for something such as this and how detailed would something like this be?