Charging for digital photo jobs

I am preparing to make the transition from film to digital for my

commercial work, which is mostly event photography. A typical event,

e.g., a conference on saving the whales, involves shooting say three

rolls of film and developing and scanning same, and these processes

are marked up and add to the profit per job. The cost of the film,

processing, and scanning to CD is roughly $15 and I mark it up roughly

100 percent.

 

My question is, is there an analogy to this in the digital world,

i.e., do people commonly charge a set amount for a digital "roll" of

40 pictures, or does the markup typically come in the form of the cost

for the CD or some other?

 

Secondly, and more importantly, for people who mark up the final print

prices, which I assume includes most photographers, do you keep

"ownership" of the high-res images and only give out low-res proofs or

contact sheets? Or do people typically find it easier to charge more

for doing the job and then simply hand over a few CDs worth of

high-res images?

 

Please no posts saying "it depends." I know it depends; I'm trying to

get a sense of business norms.

 

Thanks much...

"The cost of film, processing and scanning to CD is roughly $15.00."

My costs for film, processing and High resolution scanning is about

$45.00 with no mark up, (the amount which covers your overhead and some

profit), how do you do it, my scanning is done by my photo lab, what do

you charge for scanning, color correction, etc. and computer work? Your

prices seem very low.

You probably need to take the cost of your 'digital' camera into the mix for figuring out how much to charge. Unless, of course, someone gave you the digital camera body and you are just looking to make a buck or two.

 

 

 

If you think the digital body you have will hold up for 100 jobs or 1,000 jobs, you need to take the cost of how much 'wear-and-tear' for each project you undertake when you figure out how much to charge. Plus you have gas for your auto at $2 per gallon, unless you walk to each event.

 

 

 

 

You need a business plan to look at all the costs involved.....

I'd agree, A roll of 35mm 36 exposure E-6 film stock ranges anywhere from

about $7.00 to $11.00 so lets say the average is $9.00, professional

processing and mounting is about $7.00, or a total of $16.00. Scanning

ranges anywhere from $$0.99 to $20.00 per scan depending on the level of

scanning being done. let's asume you are going with the low end (a Fuji

Frontier 5x7 @ 300ppi 8 bit per channel sRGB scan) and that you are

scanning 12 frames per roll. So now we are up to a total of $28.00 per roll (or

if you scan eveerything, $52.00 per roll, and then add in your very reasonable

and rational 100% markup, so to me it sounds like you should be charging

anywhere from $56.00 to $104.00 per roll.

 

I guess if you are just shooting C-41 film and only having it developed and

scanned (still a low level scan) your costs might be less but I am having a

hard time seeing it.

 

SO: How are you doing it?

 

But back to your question. yes I i charge a digital service fee. The minimum is

about $150.00 per shoot but for a small PR job like you describe $200 > 300

is more likely. I also tend to shoot more when I use a digital camera than I will

if I am using film in certain scenarios, in others I'll shoot less. How much would

you pay an assistant for a day to do the image editing, processing, renaming,

orcanizing, archiving and editing job? Where I live (Atlanta, GA) a good

assistant these days gets at least $200.00 per day.

 

I am definitely not telling you how to charge or what to charge as that is illegal.

(price fixing) but simply explaining to you how I generally think. There are

exceptions. Your circumstances are no doubt different from mine.

I agree with Ellis' post...when handling digital files, the amount of time spent laboring over the computer to edit, color correct, sharpen images produced during an assignment (event/pr) like the one you describe requires much more of your hands-on time than shooting film and dropping it off at the local lab for processing and scanning. When I shoot film, I bill each roll at a minimum of $30/roll. The digital cameras and periferral equipment that I have invested in to do the work digitaly is saving the client an minumum of $20/frame in scanning costs (more likely $45-$75/scan for high-res drom scans). I bill a fraction of that cost in capture in addition to my shooting or "creative" fee. Additionaly, I bill $100/hr. in digital post processing and there are very few jobs that can be done in post in an hour or less. Then...there's the charge for burning the CD(s). I bill at $25.00 per disc.

 

I'd suggest that you consider joining the editiorial photo group and access their website at: http://www.editorialphoto.com

 

On the home page is a link to the EP Digital Manifesto that explains how and why we need to adjust our billing strategies to survive in the rapidly changing and very expensive world of digital capture. Clients seem to be suffering under the opinion that digital capture is cheaper than film capture (and many of us seem to be reinforcing that idea). Factor in the expense of the new digital equipment and the short life of today's current crop of cameras as the technology moves forward...along with the cost of support equipment (computers, memory cards, imaging software, etc.) and the only way to survive as a viable business is to charge for the additional time spent and to factor in a depreciation scale for the equipment in yur billing structure.

I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I'll tell you what I do. My work is commercial, but the principles are the same<p>On film, I charge X per day or Y per half day plus film at a fixed price per roll, including processing. The cost of the film is the same whether they get 10 slides on tranny film or 10 small prints on negative film, and the charge is around 250% of the actual film cost. Scanning of selected images is of course extra.<p>On digital they save on the film/scanning costs but my day/half day rates are 30% higher, to cover higher capital costs and the costs of digital workflow.<p>Ownership of copyright is the same. New clients pay upfront, trusted clients get limited credit, so in each case they get hi-res images.<br>Hope this helps.

Boy is it expensive where you guys live! I'm getting high res scans on whatever medium (tranny,print, B&W film) for $A14.95 including a proof print. I then hit that at 200%. At the end of the day, whether the iamge originates from a dSLR or is a scan off a film medium, we are dealing in digital imaging, so I always charge out at an hourly erate for thr enivitable post processing plus a per CD charge for the burning. As far as mark ups on the final (print) product, does that not depend on what the market can or will bear? What I get for corporate work varies enormously from that pricing on my "heritage" B&W prints in various galleries/retail outlets. Ring around your competition, bet a feel for the market and price at a level you are comfortable at.

All: Thanks these are very helpful. Ellis: Likewise. The $15 figure is based on one roll of Portra 800 or Fuji 800 press film ($4-5 from B&H, though I pay roughly the same for E-6 film -- E100-G is $4.50 at B&H), and a basic develop and scan ona Frontier -- the crappiness (dust lack of color correction, etc) of these scans serves as a curious advantage in that they serve as digital "proofs." when the client orders prints I have a custom lab do them (also on a Frontier, but they're careful.)

No film and processing fee, charge a "digital capture fee" instead.

Got to agree with Tony Novak-Clifford's comments and observations about digital. While the guys on the other side of the digital divide have, in their short-sighted enthusiasm, been quick to write down the role of film in the scheme of things, they've been very slow to explore and open up suitable "working models" when it comes to costing out the business side of things and what it actually costs to go digital let alone running a "professional service/business".

 

Typically most of this gear - meaning cameras, digital backs, scanners, printers, laptops, computers, software and whatever - has a "half-life" of about 18 months. That is, within 18 months whatever item you have in that list will most likely to have been replaced. Within 3 years most of that stuff will be fully redundant. This becomes a case of, "Replace it. Hanging on to it, you do so at your or your business's peril".

 

With this type of redundancy at play, someone's got to pay for it. Hope it isn't the mug carrying all that gear.

 

Got to love my M-3 - as in coming up for its 50th annivarsary. Might not exactly use it for commercial work but its still paying its way and contributing to the annual income. Not going to get a deal like that from anything digital. As the saying goes, "The only thing in which I have faith is that piece of film in my hand - as least its real".