Pricing photos for advertising in magazine

[nicholas_baker]

<p>Hi everyone. I would like to hear comments/suggestions about my prices/ pricing scheme.</p>

<p>The prices below are for food/interior/portrait (depending on the type of business...its often interiors/food and requires strobe setups) photos that will be used in a magazine that has a (paid) circulation of about 40,000. The magazine caters to upper-middle class clientele. The advertisers are local businesses (Wine bars, restaurants, spas), not large corporations.</p>

<p>I am charging a basic shoot fee for my time (adjustable based on increased shoot time) and then adding on a licensing fee depending on what size the ad they are buying will be. The licensing fee allows them to use as many photos (from their session) as they want (on a single ad). I allow this since the graphic designer at the magazine often makes collages. The license lasts for one year, at which time they can re-purchase. Upgrading to a larger size requires paying the difference.</p>

<p>Minimum Session Fee (3 hours) - $250</p>

<p><strong>1 year Licensing Fee For Use</strong> <em> (in a magazine with 40,000 circulation): </em> <br /> 1/4 Page or Spot use: $150.00<br /> 1/2 Page: $350.00<br /> Full Page: $650.00</p>

<p>Here is an example of the kind of work I am doing.</p>

<p><a href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=10442388&albumID=270539&imageID=56672816"><img src="http://hotlink.myspacecdn.com/images02/29/3a040dd58d884a72a666582da060fcba/m.jpg" alt="" /> </a></p>

[nicholas_baker]

<p>One or two more examples.</p>

<p><a href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=10442388&albumID=270539&imageID=56673668"><img src="http://hotlink.myspacecdn.com/images02/62/04696621c1a646f1b5bd76f60c489dac/m.jpg" alt="" /> </a> <a href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=10442388&albumID=270539&imageID=56673655"><img src="http://hotlink.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/e24a2278df92474686f94e8d10a5a75e/m.jpg" alt="" /> </a></p>

[tony_clark]

<p>I do not feel that your rates are high enough. I shoot those type of images and your rates look more like editorial rates. BTW, why would you link the images to myspace and not a professional website?</p>

[nicholas_baker]

<p>If you were to set the rates what would you set them at? I linked to myspace becuase it was up already and took about 5 seconds to UL and post. Not trying to sell anything, just give a rough Idea of what im working with :)</p>

[enlightened-images]

<p>Yeah, those are editorial rates, not ad rates. You wanna hear high dollar numbers. Call that 40k press run magazine, and ask them how much a single full page ad costs. Now ask yourself, when a company puts a full page ad in a magazine, what's the first thing that catches your (the customer) attention? The words? No. It's the pictures that are meant to draw eyeballs to an ad. Therefore your photos should have more value when being used for advertising, right? Also, even if you didn't change your rate structure, I'd think it be more reasonable to charge those fees PER IMAGE, not for use of as many as the client wants. Then again, this is a great time economically to throw money away, so maybe you should stick to your original rates. (not.)</p>

<p>Let me ask, since you're doing this professionally, I'm assuming that you've researched what other food photographers in your area charge. What do they charge, and how do your rates compare? Are you trying to be the cheapest kid on the block?</p>