How much to charge?

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hey guys,

A guy has seen my ad and has rung me. Basically he makes furniture and wants me to go to his workshop once a week and take photos of his new lines of stuff. It would mean taking my studio gear down there and setting up there.

How much would you charge? I know this is a very difficult question to answer but hes about a 15minute drive from me, I'm guessing each time will be anywhere upto 1-2 hours (takes 25 mins to set the studio up)

He already has a photographer...but they live in France and come only come over every couple of months which sucks balls (for them :p) and I'll ask how much they used to charge him and go around that.

Wondered how much you guys would charge though :)

Thanks,
Jake
 
It depends...

Will you do any processing on the photos after or just give him the data from the card?

If you are PP how long will it take per picture?

How much will you spend in fuel?

How much do you consider your time to be worth?

Do you want to short change yourself in the hope of getting your name passed round a bit more as you are cheap or do you want a decent return from the off?

Have you run round other photographers in the local area to see what they charge per hour?

Lastly...do you have insurance that covers public liability and moving your studio equipment off the premises?
 
TheBigCheese said:
It depends...
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Will you do any processing on the photos after or just give him the data from the card? - I will give him finished images, so yes there will be processing.

If you are PP how long will it take per picture? - It's just furniture so probably not long.

How much will you spend in fuel? - Probably about £5 a time I go.

How much do you consider your time to be worth? - Normally about £30 per hour. But I don't include setup time with this as why should they pay for me messing around with studio gear?

Do you want to short change yourself in the hope of getting your name passed round a bit more as you are cheap or do you want a decent return from the off? - This is a constant question I ask my self. Sell less for more or more for less. I always try and go for somewhere inbetween.

Have you run round other photographers in the local area to see what they charge per hour? - No, as it goes from one extreme to another round here. Theres one guy which charges £20 per hour and another which charges £150

Lastly...do you have insurance that covers public liability and moving your studio equipment off the premises? - Yep.
 
Setting up studio gear is part of your job as the photographer, so as long as your not dilly-dallying, you can by all means justify charging for setup time as it is an intergral part of the shoot.

you also find that if someone approaches you, whether from an advert or especially word of mouth - they will be willing to pay for your services, even if you think you are charging too much (within reason ofc, i doubt he'd pay £100ph, but it wouldnt be out of the question to charge upto £40ph~)
 
Considering the journey/setting up time, your total time spent will be a couple of hours probably? I'd say 100 quid would be fair although I may have grossly underestimated here as people charge 5-10 times more than that to shoot weddings, and they only last a few hours.
 
£30 a week. That way your not too expensive, its cheaper than the generic labour charge, and he will more than likely spread the word.
 
Pabs,

I advertise in the local network magazine, it goes out to 20,000 homes/businesses every month across Brentwood, Shenfield and Billericay, it costs me £100 a month to do and that includes artwork to. And every month it atleast pays for its own advertising :)

Here's my slightly redesigned ad for Feb. Wanted to use a heart image but didn't have time really.

jedesign.jpg
 
Impressive mate! Great to earn your costs back!!

Is this how you've got your other photoshoots in the past?
 
pabloB said:
Impressive mate! Great to earn your costs back!!

Is this how you've got your other photoshoots in the past?
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Some of, yes :)

Others are word of mouth and through working at the club :) - I'm really excited about my new website being done. I advertise my new work everywhere but there!!!!!
 
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Phate said:
Pabs,

I advertise in the local network magazine, it goes out to 20,000 homes/businesses every month across Brentwood, Shenfield and Billericay, it costs me £100 a month to do and that includes artwork to. And every month it atleast pays for its own advertising :)

Here's my slightly redesigned ad for Feb. Wanted to use a heart image but didn't have time really.

jedesign.jpg
Click to expand...

Looks really good :) And you're based quite near me! I'm in Witham.
 
I like your advert!

I had a figure of £30 per hour in my head then you said that as well, so maybe that's a good figure to go with. You don't want to charge too much and lose the deal but you don't want to charge too little and get locked into work you know you should be charging more for...I know that feeling unfortunately. :(

One thing I would say is I wouldn't charge people for the time spent setting things up, I know it's your time but some people could see that as a bit of a swizz as they aren't paying for the service at that time, they could be paying for you to faff about as they see it.

As Fstop11 said, there isn't any way someone will pay £100 each time as an ongoing expense.

I would keep the costs to them lower, and say on your website that you have a regular commercial client and build things up. If you keep up a good relationship with the client you will be able to get a reference from them to show other potential clients.
 
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Phate said:
Some of, yes :)

Others are word of mouth and through working at the club :) - I'm really excited about my new website being done. I advertise my new work everywhere but there!!!!!
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Nice one - what club is this you mention?

£30 sounds about right but that's only a guess!! I'd also say experience counts unless you're already a fully fledged pro?!
 
You are wasting your money in your advertising by using that picture.

I completed a HND in design which a large chunk covered advertising and I can tell you that you are paying a lot of money by using an image of boat in the sea.
In advertising you have to use every pixel as means to adverstise, draw in and stop a reader to look at your ad. People booking you aren't gonna want a picture on the sea they probably want a picture of their daughter or family.

I personally feel you are shooting yourself in the foot by not using the image to promote portraits.

Of course if you do incorporate a person you are going to need release forms from that person/guardian.

Just my 2p

Johnny
 
Well went and met the guy today.

To sum up...

The bloke is a lunatic - :D
His furniture he makes is stunning to say the least
We agreed a deal
I'm ringing him on Thursday to arrange my first day for him :)

I'll typically be going there for a day or 2 at a time, every other week. We agreed a rate of £180 a day which works out roughly to £25p/h.

A bit of info. He makes antique furniture and calls himself an honest forger. He'll make say a bookcase exactly how it would have been made hundreds of years ago, which each piece taking typically 2-3months from start to finish then he sells it to someone in america who will then say "This genuine 18th century piece..." kinda thing :) - But the attention to detail in his work is unbelievable! I was standing there in awe when he showed me one of the warehouses!

Very interesting stuff overall :) - Seems like a really cool guy, with a good attitude but a business head at the same time. He showed me the work his other photographer has produced and I am confident I can replicate it :)
 
Fstop11 said:
Just my 2p

Johnny
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Fair play :) - I don't really know much about advertising and wish I did! When making it I tried to think of what picture has gotten the most 'wow' factor or good comments and it reminded me of that holiday shot. It stands out in the magazine, and it seems to be working :)
 
So 2 days a week every other week at £180?

How is this guy not broke?

If you have settled on that then seriously congratulations as that is a more than impressive deal.

At £25p/h I have a good idea what the furniture image would expect to look like as I am friends with a global interior photographer whos work is industry standard.

Do you have examples of his previous photographers work?
 
Fstop11 said:
So 2 days a week every other week at £180?
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He said typically it will be a day or 2, but I might not have anything for a month for example. But he's confident he'll have plenty for me.

How is this guy not broke?
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He is a 3rd generation furniture/antique dealer, has been in the business for 35 years. When I pulled up there was atleast 120k's worth of cars on the driveway. And this is just one of his businesses apparently.

If you have settled on that then seriously congratulations as that is a more than impressive deal.
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Thank you :)

Do you have examples of his previous photographers work?
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No I do not, I will try to get some though :)
 
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