Rates for digital post production?

[suzie_greenberg]

What is an appropriate hourly rate to charge for post production? (RAW correction, basic retouching, converting

RAW to JPG, backing up files and burning DVDs, etc) I have over 2 years of experience in this position, and I am

trying to determine rates for the Chicago market. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[d._b.2]

this is based on experince and since you have a couple of years under your belt, I wouldnt hesitate to charge a decent amount (for yourself). In my opinion, processing rate should be about $70.00/hr even more. I would call up your local photographers and ask them what their rate is so you can stay competitve.

[tony_clark]

I would definitely check out the local labs for their scanning and PP rates. You can compare your skills and maybe start at

a slightly lower rate to encourage people to give you a try. You will need to put together a promo piece and mailing list to

promote your business.

[suzie_greenberg]

Thanks for your answers. Are you suggesting that I call up studios and ask what they pay their employees? Will that fly? Sorry, but although I know what I'm doing on the technical end, I'm new to the business aspect of this and I'm not sure what's appropriate.

[tony_clark]

I only suggest to look at the local lab websites and see what they charge. I would not call studios and ask what they pay or

try to sell them. I prefer a soft sell by way of a postcard and if the studio is interested they can call or drop an email.

[sarah_fox]

Highly skilled work (requiring a high degree of expertise/experience) should command a good price. I don't know about "basic" work, such as you propose, but higher-end retouching and photoediting work should command about the same as location photography, advanced web design, and computer programming -- perhaps in the neighborhood of $100/hr or more. To the extent that your services would be more basic, you would charge a bit less.

 

To the extent that the recession may erode the ability of clients to pay, we might ALL need to rethink our pricing. Dunno. How many chickens or goats would be fair payment for a basic web site? ;-)

[david_brennan]

I charge $110/hour, but I'm fast and very experienced. To produce final file from raw as you describe I charge $55

each, because it's about a half hour by the time I'm done fooling around with each one. For instance, I spend a lot of

time just moving files around and backing them up, before I start to actually work on them.

 

I actually have two digital services charges: Digital Production, and Digital Post-Production.

 

My estimates describe digital post production as:

 

"Digital post-production" charge per finished file includes conversion to tiff file, producing web photo gallery or prints

for review, individual color correction, applying contrast curves, sharpening, any needed dust removal, very minor

retouching, and burning to CD for delivery. This total amount may vary if client chooses more than original estimated

number of final shots. Retouching, if necessary, is an additional cost of $110 per hour.

 

This is on top of my daily digital services fee which starts at $350. It goes up if we are shooting a lot of pictures, or

are tethered. If we need to hire a digital tech it's a whole other deal.

 

My estimates describe this as:

 

"Digital production" includes the cost to shoot, transfer, edit, save, and archive digital files.

 

Hope this helps.

 

David

 

www.brennanphotography.com

[caitlin_greer]

I am paying $40/hr right now for a very talented guy. I am in NYC but he works out of his home in Western Mass and so does not charge the NYC rates. If anyone needs a referral, let me know. (Just don't keep him too busy!)

Caitlin