How much to charge?

[bugs]

Hi guys,

New years eve I promised myself to be more active in here - so much for that. I've simply been to busy at work!

Recently we've (my wife and I) been shooting a few girls for fun - most recently I've done a 26 week calendar for a friend (she sends it to her boyfriend in Baghdad - masive exposure :-) ). Now the trouble begins: yesterday we were asked how much we charge for a session of this other girl, and we simple have no idea! We've been doing this for fun (and it should stay that way) but when that calendar is sent I'll bet we get even more requests for similar jobs - hence a small potential to finance some new lenses.

My question simply is; how much do you charge / how do you calculate what to charge? Mind you this is only a hobby and it should stay that way.

/Johnny

[iwatkins]

If it is for hobby only and you wish to continue enjoying the work, then I suggest you charge only a little over what it will cost you to do it.

I.e. expenses + 10%

Just my suggestion though.

Cheers

Ian

[bugs]

Ian, I can only say "ouch", then I will only make $10 for the big orders, as most are satisfied with a CD. Even printing the calendar is pretty cheap (done profesionally it costs me only $40 - and thats a 26 page calendar).

We still invest a lot of time doing this so I'd really like if we could make a new lens this way - so problem is, should my time go under expenses too? As it was for a friend of mine I won't be charging her for the calendar, but the exposure we get from that will only add to the requests we're starting to get. All in all, if we do not charge anything, soon we wont be doing anything else but portraits in the sparetime - and the real pasion is nature/animals in the summer time.

A friend of mine here said I should ask for at least $100 above materials for a similar job, as it is about 1 day in the studio + time for creating the actual calendar. I know the job would have set her back about $2000 for a 12 month calendar at the prof. photographer.

So the question remains :-/

[mpkirby]

If it is for hobby only and you wish to continue enjoying the work, then I suggest you charge only a little over what it will cost you to do it.

I.e. expenses + 10%

Just my suggestion though.

Cheers

Ian

But what exactly are "expenses". 99% of the work is effort, and how does one charge for that? $20 an hour?

Being an amature, it might take me 3 times as long as a pro would spend doing something...So even though I spend 3 hours, it should only be 1 hour.

Auto mechanics generally have standard times they charge for standard repairs, and if they are quick, they do well, if they are slow, they don't. Is there something like that for photographers?

Mike

[iwatkins]

Yeah, tough call.

As far as I'm concerned the difference between an amateur and a professional is that a pro. charges for his time.

If you want to do it as an amateur, then your time is free because you are doing it for the love of it, but you must recliaim any other expenses, e.g. printing, CDs etc.

If you want to do it as a professional/semi-pro charge for your time as well. Just pick a number out of the air and charge per hour + expenses on top of that. Add a nice fudge factor on top of that as well.

Both methods have their merits, but if you go with the pro/semi-pro route you are also implying that you will produce a good result. In some countries I would think charging also has legal connotations, i.e. you need insurance etc. You would have to check and I'm by no means the right person to ask as I keep it strictly amateur :D

Cheers

Ian

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Just ask what you think is correct, if they like your work they will pay.
The nice thing about photography is that every photographer has his/hers unique style and outcome. If you like what you see you have to go with that person.

I would charge arround $ 10,00 per hour if I'm having fun with it myself.

Greetings,
Frank

[bugs]

hehe, I guess they do like the work as they keep asking ;-)

I'd like to keep it strictly amateur, only if I do not charge anything I'd be getting a lot more requests than I could possibly handle. Also of course, I see my 100-400L out there, paid for by villing customers for doing something I enjoy. I am only an amateur but people are more or less expecting me to charge for the effort too, so I guess I should.

Charging $10,00 an hour seems ok to me - it leaves me with a little earning while still being considarebly cheaper than the pro.

/Johnny

[mpkirby]

hehe, I guess they do like the work as they keep asking ;-)

I'd like to keep it strictly amateur, only if I do not charge anything I'd be getting a lot more requests than I could possibly handle. Also of course, I see my 100-400L out there, paid for by villing customers for doing something I enjoy. I am only an amateur but people are more or less expecting me to charge for the effort too, so I guess I should.

Charging $10,00 an hour seems ok to me - it leaves me with a little earning while still being considarebly cheaper than the pro.

/Johnny

A friend of mine is in the music business and he charges about $35 / hour to run a studio. (He does software engineering by day, so this is just a hobby).

But he has gotten to the point where he is pulling in serious cash because when he does screw up, he doesn't charge, and if he is learning something new, he gives out free time so he can figure out the new equipment.

He also has a "commercial" rate and a "just screwing around" rate. He will also charge more if the person is not very talented, and less if they are very good.

So, if someone invites you to "yet another 5 year old birthday party" perhaps $35/hour isn't bad if you give them a CD, a couple of prints and options to buy more at $10 per print.

But if you get an option to shoot something you've never done before (i.e. back stage passes to favorite rock band + front row seats to shoot them in concert), then perhaps free is okay.

Mike

[SnJPhoto]

There is another way to look at this. If you don't want to charge your friends for the work already done, ask them to sign as a TFP (time for print/publication)(I think thats the term). I believe that allows you to use the pics/materials for your benefit when you get to be in the mood to sell/advertise yourself for hire.

If anyone has personal info/experience with this type of arrangement or how to execute it legally let me know.

Scott