What should I charge?

[Conk]

When people ask me for photos. How much should I charge for photos that will be used on the web and how much for photos in print?

[Vegas Poboy]

Studio Shots or Candids?, What is the local market pricing? Are you considering yourself as a pro or hobbiest?

To me these questions need to be considered & then go from there. I've gone through this many of times with many other students & our instructors & the only real common answer is to put yourself within the local average market when starting out.
I'm slowly converting from hobby to pro work & have come up with pricing that can keep me happy with what I can offer my customers. One example for portraits I charge $75.00 per sitting fee with a contact sheet and so far it has worked well. Some say why so much then I come back with I'll bring the studio to them, no waiting in line with quality & quick turn around.

[Conk]

Well, I'm trying to consider going pro. But I need to learn a few ins and outs. I've been approached by someone interested in my services. It is something I'm doing a lot of work at to make it work. Now, opportunities seem to keep popping up.
I've been to a couple events and people ask if they can purchase photos. One guy in particular is a performer. I've already got the images put together for him to view but do not want to send them off without pricing. I've resized all the images to 640x427 with watermarks across the image. Is this a good idea? He most likely will use them on the web but he may also want prints.
Another is the fellow in this post (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36597) wearing the bees. He is also interested in photos.
The important one is the performer. I need to get pricing to him fast.

[Vegas Poboy]

All I would say for now is $20-25.00 US per a print & have him sign a model release so you can use it for future advertisement. Thats my going rate when I'm out freelancing. If he purchases two or more prints reduce the other prints by $5.00 each.
Hopefully this is some help, Good Luck & yes emailing proofs is fine I've done it before.

[Conk]

Thanks for your replies Vegas.
That's sounds great for prints but what about image files?

[Vegas Poboy]

I'm not sure, I've been debating on this one for some time. I'm aware that photographers makes their $$ off of reprints but I would most likey have to say if it's only one or two prints it would have to be around the price of $25.00 each and still give you full rights to use the images. Explain to him that your losing $$$ when you sell the negatives. Hope this will work I was hoping for more input on this topic.
Good Luck

[ajax]

I've been wrestling what to do with friends and coworkers who have started piping up with "ohhh, can I have a copy of that photo?" I've freely given away prints and copies to family and friends, but, the second tier is starting to pluck away on my sleeves with offers to buy copies...friends of friends; people I have no connection with.

I'm not confident enough to pipe up with a price--I also need to find a price and feel confident speaking up about it.

[robertwgross]

When asked "Can I have a copy of that photo?", I always ask for their email address. Then I send a very low resolution file to them, so that they can see that I got a good composition and good technical exposure, but not so good that they could print anything decent out of it. Then I mention that the original file is XX Megabytes and can be produced as a color print up to 11x14 inches, or whatever. Then I tell them my print price for 8x10 and 11x14.

---Bob Gross---