Pricing help please

<p>I need to give a quote to an advertising company. I have not done any work like this yet, so I am wondering how to price it. After seeing my portfolio online, an advertising company contacted me about taking some photos of their employees and taking some product photos of brochures, books, magazines ect.. that they have made. There are 10 employees and about 15 product pieces to photograph. They also want me to put together collage images of the product shots, about 4 images per product (different angles and details of products). They would like to use the images on their website. At a loss... I have shot weddings and portraits thus far, so I'm not sure how to price something like this. Thanks for any help!</p>

i'm going to be blunt, if you cant price it, you likely cant shoot it . . . I mean that respectfully. Product

photography can be hugely time consuming requiring a verity of different lighting applications. When i

price a job i start with how much time it will take to shoot one subject and i know what my time is

worth, then i add to that all of the incidentals.

 

I think it's unrealistic to provide much in the way of pricing support without knowing the product and then

being able to come up with a reasonable calculation of what it would take to produce commercial

images. One important consideration is, are you shooting on location for everything, or will the people

come to your studio? And what about the product shots, will they be delivered or will you have to shoot

them on location meaning you'll have to somehow transport all your lighting and power supply's to the

field. . . .

 

Are you insured?

 

Do you have a business or are you just "getting your name out there?"

 

Too many unknowns and by the sounds of it you might feel the same way . . .

 

Tony

<p>Tony- I am confident that I can shoot the style they are looking for. They sent me some examples. I've done a little bit for fun on my own and over the last few days I took some shots of my own photo books, albums, and some pamphlets, magazines, ect... They just want these against a black backdrop. The shots of the employees against a white backdrop. As you said, I get the feeling that shooting the number of product shots they want will be time consuming....I'm just not sure exactly how time consuming as I haven't done a project like this. I would hate to pass up the opportunity, though....Commercial work really interests me and I would love to start doing some work like this. I have the studio equipment, but I work from home. Don't yet have a studio area at home that I would take clients to. So, I would be travelling to them. I do have a business. Have been building my wedding and portrait portfolio over the last year and a half. I just got some quotes for insurance last week. I've chosen a company, just need to send in the paperwork. I wanted to get an estimate of what someone with more experienced would charge, and then adjust according to my level of experience and the time I think the whole project would take.. I want to be in the ball park. I've done research online and found quotes for this kind of work from $500 all the way to $2500. That's a big range!</p>

<p>I would have to agree with Tony. Product photography is something you really want to know about before shooting. I would suggest paring up with a commercial photographer to shadow before venturing on your own in that arena. You could cost the client hours of time and money if they are not satisfied, ultimately causing you a referral. And if you happen to get an art director assigned to your shoot, good luck, because those guys will expect you to know what your doing. Hope it works out for you. </p>

if youre going to take this job, i would do as i mentioned. figure out how long it will take you to shoot

one product, and one head shot. Then estimate how long it will take you to do them all . . . sometimes

you will get faster, while other times you wont - depends on the subject, the day, and your gear and it's

acting . . .

 

I think $2500 which you point out is on the high side is LOW . . . 10 head shots and 15 products each

with 4 angles, unless you can stuff them, one at a time, in a light tent/box, you've got a lot of work

ahead of you.

 

And how will you know if what youre shooting is acceptable? Consider shooting one or two products,

and a head shot or two and submitting it to them for approval before moving on. . . . This might be a

project that would take someone with a lot of experience and a staff a couple days, or it might take

someone weeks to complete. . . . Be careful, this sounds like there's a lot of room for "scope-creep."

 

Consider a fixed fee price, or by the hour. If you can get them to pay you by the hour until your done

that might work better, unless you know what kind of time is involved then i'd deliver them a fixed fee

price and get the job done . . .

<p>Thank you both for your advice. I like the idea of sending them a few shots to see if they like how I would photograph the products and staff members. If I go forward with this, I think I'll do that. I also do want to avoid the "scope-creep" situation, so I will make sure the details of the project are clearly defined. I hadn't thought of this being a big issue, so it is good you mentioned it. I called with the quote this morning...not much of a reaction, so I guess I'll just wait and see if they contact me again. Thanks again, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.</p>