Pricing for Commercial Photography

<p>Hi! I would appreciate any and all feedback on this from photographers with experience in commercial work.<br>

I have received an inquiry from a winery in my area asking for my rate for a commercial shoot. They are looking for:<br>

- 7 team shots<br>

- a few individual shots<br>

- detail shots of wine barrel, vines, and various winery equipment.<br>

- They would like rights for all photos for online and print.</p>

<p>Should I charge an hourly rate plus a usage fee? How do I determine this usage fee?<br>

I am typically a wedding and portrait photographer, so my regular pricing is structured very differently! <br>

Thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>"I have received an inquiry from a winery in my area <em><strong>asking for my rate</strong> for a commercial shoot</em>."</p>

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<p>It may be a semantic misunderstanding, but I suggest that you do not give them your "rate". (i.e. do NOT give them: <em>“Hi, in response to your request I charge $100.00 per hour”</em>) </p>

<p>What I suggests you do give them is a <em>quote</em> (or whatever the appropriate term is in your region) for the specific job. Then a separate <em>price</em> for the usage rights and stipulate duration on those rights – probably “ongoing” would be OK from what you have disclosed, because in two years many of the images would be stale. Usage rights are mainly genre; locale and somewhat fame (of the Photographer) dependent – I really don’t have a suggestion without more information. </p>

<p>I suggest you reckon the <em>quote</em> by estimating the hours that you will need to complete all the items in the brief, including the preparation and any expendables relating to the job. Then use what you consider to be an appropriate rate per hour for your TIME. You should have a good idea of that from how you have priced your Wedding Business.</p>

<p>A <em>quote</em> is a legal document where I work and it is not necessarily the amount the client ends up paying: sometimes they will be required to pay more. Unless you live where I live don’t know if that applies to you or not – but it’s likely that it does apply in some manner – so the quote needs to be specific as to what work will be done and what will be supplied and what other costs might be additional.</p>

<p>In simple terms, the Client signing off on the acceptance and conditions of the quote where I work, forms the <strong>contract</strong> of that work.</p>

<p>On the other hand I could be asked to supply an <em>estimate</em> – this seems what your client is asking you to provide. In other words they are just feeling the water so to speak: in which case I advise that you treat this as part of the <em>negotiation process</em> and if you really. want the job, then make an appointment to visit the site and meet with the <em>decision maker</em> to talk through the requirements in detail and record them on a quote sheet so that after talking over the requirements you can close the deal with a signed contract, in other words I rarely would give “estimates” for jobs and I suggest that you don’t either.</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>Rachel, interested to know how you proceeded with this and what were the outcomes? </p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>Hello! <br>

Commercial Photography is a little tricky in terms of pricing. Its not wise to charge based on by per hour basis as that would mean client will rush you to complete the job as every min means that it becomes more expensive for them.<br>

The most important thing is that you must achieve the quality of photo that you want thus its better that you offer them a fixed price.<br>

However, an easier way is to offer a day rate (e.g 8 hours) at $XXXX<br>

Hope this helps.<br>

LiLi<br>