Professional Fees

I have recently been given my first major brief that related to

producing a number of heritage images for long term display at a

visitor info centre here in regional New South Wales. I have no real

gauge as to the "normal" charge one would place on this type of

brief. Is it on a per image basis for those that are accepted and

used, on a once off "assignment" fee, or is there an

ongoing "license fee" for the use of your images? The body concerned

has also indicated that they may wish to use some of the images for

postcards in the future...what do I charge for this?

Any input here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation

Are you seeking a 'profit' and are you going to pay taxes on the income earned from this adventure? If you are in business, you have overhead expenses (film, digital equipment, a phone, a vehicle, your time) that should be covered in your 'deal' for the sake of figuring out what charge to provide your client, the visitor info centre.

 

 

 

Have you looked into any textbooks on how to operate a business?

If the client doesn't flinch, you didn't charge enough. It's easier to negotiate down than up.

 

What are your goals? Being a starving artist is greatly over rated, but if this is your goal, price yourself accordingly.

A useful general rule of thumb for any service business. Take what you want to earn and multiply by 3. This covers the time that you are not working and overheads (including things like camera depreciation).

 

Personally look to include the licence for use in the inital fee. I would also spell out to the client who owns the copyright, and what is licensed and what isn't. I'd also include all materials in that fee, unless the cost is both large and unpredicatable.

People seem to moving away from a business model which means you don't make your money unless the client buys prints / licenses further use.

 

The comment about making the client flinch is a good one. Setting your fee on the high side and stating "My normal fee for this work would be xx" does allow the client to come back and say "Is there any scope to negotiate ?". People generally worry that they will be rejected out of hand, but unless it is some kind of competive bidding process the usual response if you go too high is to try to get the price down. But make them ask, don't offer.

There is sound advice contained in the above, and I must assume that you are a "pro" in that you are officially and legally in business. IF not, (in the US) you may have no recourse in the courts in a contract dispute. Pricing schemes vary widely, even from state to state, region to region, and certainly country to country. I'd look into the typical standards and practices employed locally. But generally speaking, you should charge a shooting fee with any unusual costs, travel, purchases, rentals, etc. added on. This should be more than enough to cover you and produce a profit even if they do not order a single image. Image rights are another matter, and must be negotiated based on intended use. If there are unknown factors, such a postcards, or whatever, leave this open in your contract language as "To be determined at a later date."Anything in a contract is acceptable as long as it's legal and is agreed to by BOTH parties. If this turns out to be a rather large undertaking, I'd have a lawyer look it all over.

You might find this website somewhat useful: http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm. The amounts are USD, they definitely are not definitive, and I don't know how accurate they are for your market, but maybe you can get some idea of a starting point for negotiation.

Just charge enough to cover your expenses and your time, and learn from the experience. Since this is your first major brief, it might be in your best interest to think about building a name for yourself first, even if it means the possibility of not charging what others are. A good agreement for the post cards might be to charge them a one-time fee, as long as your name is on them somewhere and contact information is provided. Once you have built up your name, then you can start charging enough to make people flinch. If you charge too much now, there's a possibility that they'll give the job to someone else and you might miss out on what can be a golden opportunity to lay the foundation of your career.

Pick a number from 1 to 10, multiply that number by your longest

telephoto lens, with your new number, wade threw the mountain of images

which are available for free to any buisness or commerial enterprize,

pricing photography is at best hallucination and what you can pry

from your client, but be careful he may have a D100 too.

There's an interesting web site with a scale for calculating prices on your own photos used for things like stock libraries. It covers things such as number of reproductions, circulation etc. Admitedly this is different to being commissioned and going out to do specific shoots, but may be a helpful starting point.

The address is photographersindex.com/price-ed-search.htm

Ask them if they have a budget..they surely have..or is this a tender? i have done many similar jobs ...you always have copyright .....request a credit on all images used wherever..thats your best PR and worth more than the dollars at this stage of your career.... i think a once off fees is always better ..but make sure it covers everything too including your hourly or daily rate . cheers rose

Someone said "Take what you want to earn and multiply by 3"

 

Rubish!

 

I'm a CPA in the US. That's a CA for all u others.

 

1st. Shop your competition to see what they charge.

2nd Charge an hourly rate that's acceptable for you and the market. In other words if what they'll pay is less than what your value is...decline.

3rd. Charge them a royalty for prints at whatever..it's gravy at this point. Control the production by retaining the negs and CR!

 

You should not negotiate a per image fee!!! You'll end up spending hours for twelve pics and they'll stiff you on the per image rate!!!

I'm a CPA in the US. That's a CA for all u others.

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First off, a CPA's expertise is not in establishing a "pricing strategy"! This is not an easy subject, and it could even put you out of business. Pick up a marketing book, there is always a section on pricing. Then pick up a book on basic economics. For a successful career in photography, your going to need to do some serious planning---Marketing plans, prod'n plans, financial plans! Period! I've seen bad photographers doing well (Sears portrait studios), and a lot of excellant photographers who went back to their old jobs.

 

Here are just a few things that will be affecting your price. Remember also in some industries (electronics) pricing is a key to success, in others it is secondary.

 

1. Supply and demand...and elasticity of demand. You could be price sensitive in some photo markets (lab prints), and less in others (b/w creative art).

 

2. "Goods classification" system:

Read up and decide what "category" are you in. Eg- Are you selling a convenience good, shopping good, specialty good, unsought good, etc? Knowing this puts you well on your way to understanding pricing policy. Basic discusions can be found in any std marketing book. If you've achieved specialty class status, you can generally charge more then others. Read up to get a better explanation and understanding. In some industries pricing is critical to success, in others the right product strategy can be far more important. Eg- A person buying a suit considers fit, style, color available, more important then a small $50 savings elsewhere.

 

3. The competition, their services, their pricing. Visit and get a price list for their different services.Phone a few competitors, they may be secretive, but likely will leak out some important information like hourly rate soon as the discussion moves to something not in their standard package.

 

4. Your time, costs, investment!

 

5. The standard pricing in the industry:

Example- a plumber came to my house and charged "by the hour" PLUS materials (only a few dollars worth). But his bill was just under $250 (all for time). His rate was easy to figure out...about $65/hr and he took his time. Other industies charge "by the job", eg- drywall is $80/sheet finished/unpainted, roofing(by the bundle)...speed is the key, not creativity. Auto dealers charge by the job (Time as set in the book plus parts).

 

6. Break down your market (photography) into submarkets: You will be surprised by the number of categories. See how many photographers are serving the various categories...make up a table. Try rating them!

 

7. The dep'n of your equipment. Digital has a short life compared to a plumbers pipe wrench, threading pipe machine, torches, good in many cases for his lifetime. Pricing must consider buying of new expensive equipment to keep up with competition.

 

8. Branding decisions- greatly affects price. For explanation, get the book. Establishing brand recognition or even "brand preference" shakes off the competitors. Eg- some of us want the Levi jean label, nothing else will do, rent comes second as the commercial says! With the famous people, often it was Karsh or nothing. Your reputation in the community can raise you to a "specialty goods" status.

 

9. "Sliding down the demand curve" approach- a high price targets collectors, high end galleries, and wealthier sectors, as you slide down the curve price drops and you enter new markets. Now the average buyer can afford to buy (mall art stores), slide further down the curve and your now into the wallmart category for art (apt art). Each price range uses a different approach for distribution and promotion of the art, it even affects the level of quality (product strategy)...high price art commands archival processing, low end art doesn't.

 

Choose your market(s), offer the right product, at the right place, and price, and don't forget to let the consumer know about it (promote)....and you got a chance. People can't beat a path to your doorstep to get your product if they don't know about it. So advertising also has an affect on pricing. I highly recommend anyone going into photography hire a marketing expert. You may know photography, but it doesn't mean you understand mktg. There are times we need a lawyer, a doctor, a marketer, etc. As you can see, pricing is not easy, but it is easy to throw away money you could have earned by charging more, and it is also easy to price yourself till your bankrupt.

 

In the long run, I recommend you do some serious reading and planning, but for the short run (if it is just this one job) consider..... If your satisfied with $50k per year, then you want $25 per hour. Your like a plumber, your not sure how long the job will take because each job is "unique". Charge base labor plus materials for the photography (inc gas), extra for the prints. That way if he wants more or less prints, small/large prints, lightjets/traditional prints, it's easy to decide (consider this retailing, taking the picture is a service industry...by the hour makes more sense).That's as simple as it can get to cover yourself, and no lose ends.

 

I agree, don't sell by the image. You could end up spending 100 hours per image and be wasting time. There is a lot more to pricing I haven't discussed, I'm sure there are others with more specific ideas to contribute (I don't do photography for a living).

 

My expertise: Marketing (strategic planning)