Headcase650
12th of December 2004 (Sun), 06:08
A little background Info
My girlfriend and I have a small studio in our home and do portraits for friends and family and the occasional referal. About a year ago we came up with a price list for making some money on the side. $55 for a sitting, $10 4x6, $15 5x7, $20 8x10, $20 8 wallets and so on.All printed at a local lab we upload the files to over the web. We use a canon 300D, smith victor 1250w hotlights setup 2 umbrellas and a boom light (just bought a couple vivitar 283's and slaves to replace the hotlights). We have a white muslin, brown muslin, black velvet and a white vinel. Software is Canon DPP, Photoshop cs and Noiseware to remove noise because I shoot at ISO 400 with the hotlights.
All has been pretty good considering this is not our full time jobs, we have done about a dozen seniors (largest order has been $600) Some friends and family and some of their referals.
Last week my girlfriend was contacted by a referal from a client that wanted some swimsuit pics taken that had seen some of our work and had also seen one of our price lists. It is clearly marked on our price sheet that all images are copyriighted and can not be reproduces in any way physically or digitally.
She makes the appointment, She comes over, Im all set up with the lights and white vinel. I start taking pics. We are talking and she tells me she is on the dance squad for our citys basketball team and only needs one 4x6 and shee needs it by tomarrow morning. Ok I get sceptical and start asking what she plans on doing with the photo. She tells me she needs it for their marketing department and they are going to scan it and place it on their website and print it on some of their marketing materials. I tell here that she cant because the images are owned by us and it is copyright infringment and is against the law. She was totaly shocked
Now im thinking what the hell should I do now especially after she told me that she had checked with other photographers and they were much more expensive. I bet she had explained the need for the photo to them when asking about it but failed to mention it to my grlfriend when setting up the appointment with us.
Well I wound up telling here she could have a few images on disc for $150. I uploade the camera files, she picked 10 she liked the most. I edited them, burnt them to a CD and printed here a contact sheet. Then I proceaded to tell her that the price was extreamly cheap for that type of photography and If she would ever be in need again or send a referal for the same kind or work I would have appropriate pricing.
I have no clue what to charge for this kind of thing, can someone sugest something. If I continue to do this kind of work I need to charge more as there will be no profit from prints.
She called me the day after and said the marketing guy loved them and may consider us for doing the 2006 dance squad calander. What would I charge for something like that. It would take a couple months to do all the location reserch, the travel, to setup times with all the dancers. Do I edit the files or just give the graphic artest the raw files so they can post process them to their liking.
Am I in over my head.
My girlfriend and I have a small studio in our home and do portraits for friends and family and the occasional referal. About a year ago we came up with a price list for making some money on the side. $55 for a sitting, $10 4x6, $15 5x7, $20 8x10, $20 8 wallets and so on.All printed at a local lab we upload the files to over the web. We use a canon 300D, smith victor 1250w hotlights setup 2 umbrellas and a boom light (just bought a couple vivitar 283's and slaves to replace the hotlights). We have a white muslin, brown muslin, black velvet and a white vinel. Software is Canon DPP, Photoshop cs and Noiseware to remove noise because I shoot at ISO 400 with the hotlights.
All has been pretty good considering this is not our full time jobs, we have done about a dozen seniors (largest order has been $600) Some friends and family and some of their referals.
Last week my girlfriend was contacted by a referal from a client that wanted some swimsuit pics taken that had seen some of our work and had also seen one of our price lists. It is clearly marked on our price sheet that all images are copyriighted and can not be reproduces in any way physically or digitally.
She makes the appointment, She comes over, Im all set up with the lights and white vinel. I start taking pics. We are talking and she tells me she is on the dance squad for our citys basketball team and only needs one 4x6 and shee needs it by tomarrow morning. Ok I get sceptical and start asking what she plans on doing with the photo. She tells me she needs it for their marketing department and they are going to scan it and place it on their website and print it on some of their marketing materials. I tell here that she cant because the images are owned by us and it is copyright infringment and is against the law. She was totaly shocked
Now im thinking what the hell should I do now especially after she told me that she had checked with other photographers and they were much more expensive. I bet she had explained the need for the photo to them when asking about it but failed to mention it to my grlfriend when setting up the appointment with us.
Well I wound up telling here she could have a few images on disc for $150. I uploade the camera files, she picked 10 she liked the most. I edited them, burnt them to a CD and printed here a contact sheet. Then I proceaded to tell her that the price was extreamly cheap for that type of photography and If she would ever be in need again or send a referal for the same kind or work I would have appropriate pricing.
I have no clue what to charge for this kind of thing, can someone sugest something. If I continue to do this kind of work I need to charge more as there will be no profit from prints.
She called me the day after and said the marketing guy loved them and may consider us for doing the 2006 dance squad calander. What would I charge for something like that. It would take a couple months to do all the location reserch, the travel, to setup times with all the dancers. Do I edit the files or just give the graphic artest the raw files so they can post process them to their liking.
Am I in over my head.