Photoshop Extras

<p>I recently did a photo shoot with a family of 4. Two adults two kids. The kids were 3 and 5. Not the hardest age, but challenging. I really think I captured several good shots that I did touch up in photoshop. The client is now asking me to do some head swapping as she likes a smile in one better than another. I really like this client and would like to keep her as a client so I am tring to decide how to respond to this request.<br>

I am asking for opinions on how you would handle this? Would you do the work with out saying anything to keep the client? Would you tell her there is a fee for that type of work, and if so how you would you work it to not be offensive, or would you just tell them you do not do that.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help. :)</p>

<p>I would explain the level of difficulty and charge a fee. I charge $65/hr billed in 15 minute increments. You may have to charge more if you need to send the work out compared to doing it yourself. </p>

<p>Why would it be offensive to charge a fee for additional work? I'm sure your client does not expect you to work for free at their every whim... </p>

<p>I would simply say that you would be happy to do the additional retouching work for them, inform them of your rates and quote how much it will cost them in addition to the shoot (then stick to your estimate).</p>

<p>Once the shoot is completed and delivered, your obligation is fulfilled - unless there is a problem that is your fault and needs to be corrected. In this case, they want you to undertake retouching work - mixing and matching shots - that is completely additional and not part of the original shoot.</p>

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<p>I'm not one to pass up an extra charge, but if it didn't take long to fix, I might do it, just to keep the client happy, or let them at least know how many hours of labor it took to create the image they wanted.</p>

<p>Being the devil's advicate here, one COULD potentially claim that if an image has a child grinning stupidly or making faces or whatever it WAS the photographer's responsibility to ensure that that did not happen. That is why we always try to end up with shots where EVERYONE looks their best.</p>

<p>But, if the client wants something like that, then yes, we would charge, even if it was just a token charge (again, that would depend on the amount of work involved etc.</p>

<p>Kindly let her know you'd be happy to help her but your fee for head swapping, airbrushing ect is X amount of dollars per image. I don't charge by the hour since the client has no way of knowing that it took you 15 minutes or an hour. You could obligue "Just this once" since she had some confusion as to the editing for future reference I post in all my sales/specials & contracts that the shoot includes light editing (skin smooth and a glamour look) but airbrushing, headswapping, stretch mark removal is charged at x amount per image.</p>

<p>I think this is from the darn Microsoft Cloud commercial they are playing all the time showing how easy it is to swap heads LOL. Have you tried using Windows Live Photo Gallery?</p>

<p>Photographers sometimes have a hard time believing their own value proposition. I observe this in myself as well, on occasion -- a hesitancy to charge for a value-added service or product. </p>

<p>The question in my mind is this: does the client simply prefer one smile to another, but both are good smiles from a technical / photographer's standpoint? Or did you deliver a defective photograph, in which a smile is really not suitable, similar to a shot in which a subject is squinting or posed awkwardly?</p>

<p>If the photograph is technically competent, including the subject's expression, then your work to swap smiles is a value add, and justifies an additional fee, without any kind of embarrassment or apology on your part. A simple, "I certainly can and do perform that kind of photoshop work for clients; my fee is $75/hr, and I'd estimate that to be a 15-30 minute job, so the most you'd pay is $37.50. Would you like me to do that work for you?" will communicate the value proposition.</p>

<p>If the photograph is one you probably shouldn't have included, except that it was, say, the best of that pose, though none were what you wanted, then doing the work at no additional charge is reasonable. </p>

<p>You only "offend" a client when you fail to deliver what you <em>should </em>deliver, and then charge more to fix the problem.</p>

<p>If this isn't a problem you should have fixed on your own, then it is a value add, and not only is an extra fee for extra requested work reasonable, but it would be <em>unreasonable</em> for the client to expect free work outside the original work scope.</p>

<p>Thank you for all your responses, they all have helped me with my dilemma. Just so that I am clear and so that others might benefit from your answers. the pictures she is asking me to swap heads on was not because the pictures that I submitted were bad smiles or bad poses, this particular client just really liked one smile better than another on several of the pictures. She told me which was her favorite picture of her and wanted me to put that on some of the other ones too. Needless to say I can do this on one or two but due to angle limits I am not able to make that much magic. Anyway thank you again for your help.</p>