Help: Pricing Corporate shoot with environmental portraits AND reportage

<p>Good evening!<br>

I'm looking for some feedback on pricing a job here in NYC. A boutique hedge fund is looking for 15 environmental portraits of its team (two locations/set ups) and then candid-feeling reportage/lifestyle shots in 2-3 set ups around the office.<br>

I'm kinda clear on the portraits as I'm thinking $150 per subject, but I'm not sure how to price the reportage shots. A day rate/creative fee plus a fee per select? Or a flat creative fee to include a set amount of selects and then an a la carte fee for add'l selects? For example $1850 to include four selects and then $350 per add'l. So, the estimate would be something like:</p>

<ul>

<li>$1850 for combined creative fee/licensing</li>

<li>$2250 for 15 portraits</li>

<li>$250 equipment</li>

<li>$350 for assistant</li>

<li>$4700 TOTAL</li>

</ul>

<p>Anyone out there have an opinion? Would love to hear from anyone with corporate experience. Thanks!</p>

I'd put another zero to the left of the decimal point on each of those line items.

<p>Really? Ugh, I've lost out on two jobs this week for being too high, so I'm feeling a little gun shy. It will be only the second time the firm has hired a photographer--the first they flew in from Miami and were unhappy with the results. Thanks for the input!</p>

<p>I think you are in the ball park. The days of 5 digit corporate shoots ended when digital came on the scene.</p>

<p>Considering the location, the Industry the Client is in and the economy, I would think that $500 a person plus about $2500 for licensing would be where I'd quote. What about the time it takes to process, edit and deliver the images? The labs in my area (Atlanta) charge $75 an hour for editing, so I'd quote the same. Only you can determine your CODB and pricing to get the job and feel good about the fee. </p>

<p>Congrats Regan, on a nice, interesting job.</p>

<p>I haven't done this kind of work in a while, but off the top of my head:</p>

<p>How many total hours do you think you'll spend on this, 36?</p>

<p>If you're comfortable with $4700., I would try to get it up into the high fives, and perhaps you should be looking at $8000.</p>

<p>You might bill an extra day for the assistant, to cull and retouch the images; of course, if you have the time you can do it yourself but bill for the assist anyway.</p>

<p>Re: the shoot: You might consider having two assistants, when I'm doing portrait / lifestyle shoots on several locations I need to keep my head clear and I don't want to be involved in moving equipment and arranging furniture. </p>

<p>Towards that end, I would have a notebook full of thumbnail sketches and verbal scenarios to fire at the subjects, you'll need to keep moving and you'll be shooting a lot of images.</p>

<p>For lifestyle it helps to have one assist for holding lights, reflectors, and arranging the set with another assist to wrangle and engage the subjects.</p>

<p>If you keep the lifestyle stuff consistent you can make it look like it was all shot in one cooperative meeting, face left and right, interacting, and it can be laid out nicely on a page. Those were my biggest successes, anyway.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Awesome advice, everyone. Thanks!</p>

<p>If you are established and have a pro portfolio, probably double. </p>

Regan please let us know the outcome

of your final quote.

<p>As a NYC photographer who is active in corporate photography let me say your lucky to get them to pay you $150 per person and forget about adding a licensing fee on top of that. The old timer corporate guys are willing to pay more but not the new guys out of college. Again, please tell me the outcome of your venture. I hope you got what you wanted.</p>

<p>any word?</p>