Contracts / Deposits for Family Portraits

[julie_a.]

<p>What kind of contracts are necessary for doing family portraits? Where would I find the necessary wording? (For instance, holding appointments, deposits, the understanding that images may be used by me for promotional purposes or on my website)?<br>

Also, how do I take a deposit and get a returned, signed contract when my appts are booked mostly through phone or email?</p>

<p>Any help appreciated!</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>I suggest you read John Harrington's book "Best Business Practices for Professional Photographers" and the ASMP book "Professional Business Practices in Photography" for information on how contracts, releases, licenses and the like work.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

[tangibleimages]

<p>The PPA and other professional organizations have some great links to this kind of stuff. Other than that, since legalese varies from state to state and country to country you might want to look into having a lawyer draft something for you. What works in Washington State, USA might not work in Florida, which might not work in Canada, etc.<br>

As for taking a retainer, I require 50% at time of mutual acceptance of contract (we both sign it and I get a copy). I handle this via email by signing a copy of my contract, sending it to them (mail, fax, email, carrier pigeon) and then they send me a scan/fax/copy/original along with the check/credit card info. To encourage timeliness, I don't reserve the date and time until I have received a signed copy of the contract AND confirmation of payment.<br>

Hope this helps,<br>

Jake</p>

[kevin_delson]

<blockquote>

<p>Also, how do I take a deposit and get a returned, signed contract when my appts are booked mostly through phone or email?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Depends.<br>

How often are you taking deposits?<br>

If often, I suggest CC or even PayPal. Credit card merchant accts are a little expensive, but if you have enough work to justify it; do it. PayPal charges fees too, although not nearly as much as maintaining a merchant acct.</p>

<p>The two books mentioned are good.<br>

Just be careful not to bury your clients in legalese. These are family's you are photographing; not a commercial shoot for NIKE. ;)</p>

[karen_lippowiths]

<p>I require a $500 initial payment (which includes the creative fee and some amount of order credit, depending on the type of session that's booked), which I require by credit card at the time of booking. I do this in part to "pre-qualify" clients a bit. If they can't / don't want to pay me $500 today to book, it's unlikely they'll spend the $2,500 total (my average sale) down the road. </p>

<p>I ask clients initially to submit an online agreement that spells out terms of the job and things like cancellations, viewing and ordering, confirmation that they've read and understand my pricing, and a few other things. The entire agreement is seven short paragraphs. I'm not trying to hit anyone over the head with legalese, I simply want to avoid hearing "I didn't know X, Y, Z" or "We didn't realize you charged this much" when it comes time to making the portrait sale. Upon meeting the client, I ask for a penned signature to the same agreement. Of course, all of this follows a "human" one-on-one discussion of these terms by phone before they book. Everything has worked out well so far :)</p>

<p>Good luck :)<br /><br />Karen Lippowiths</p>