Portfolio building

[hopalonghowie]

<p>I have had a number of people asking me about senior portraits and how much I would charge them to do them.</p>

<p>Since I do not have any in my portfolio what I have been considering doing is just simply not charging a sitting fee as long as they are willing to sign a model release so I can use the images in my portfolio and advertising but charging for prints only and a small fee if they want me to shoot the pictures with film to cover my film and processing costs.</p>

<p>I'd like to get your thoughts on this plan.</p>

[tonybynum]

I guess there's nothing out of bounds these days. Here are my concerns. Minors, don't shoot alone. Insurance, get some

or don't do the shoots. I think anytime you can get free models when learning to shoot portraits yo should take them.

Trading for photos and having them pay dor the cost of productions seems like a fair deal to me. Get it in writing, get a

realize and if you're dealing with minors, better have another adult with you at all times.

[hopalonghowie]

<p>Thanks Tony.</p>

<p>I actually do have a model release specifically for minors that has to be signed by a parent or guardian and I will require a parent or guardian to be at the shoot as well along with my assistant (aka my girlfriend). I have been checking into the possibility of adding a hair and make up person from a local beauty college as well so they can get some experience. </p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>If you haven't done senior portraits before, then definitely don't charge for something you don't know how to do. Google "senior portraits" on Amazon and there are at least a couple of books you can read to learn the basics. If you have some students who parents' are willing to let you practice on their kids for free once you've read up on the subject, go right ahead. Once of the recommendations you'll see in the books is to have the parent on hand, particularly when photographing girls. Hair and makeup arists are not normally used for senior photos because of the added expense, so if you were to use them your portfolio shots you would come up with some great pictures but you might not be able to deliver the same quality in your actual product later and that could be misleading to your clients.</p>