How Did You Know You Were Ready To Start Charging?

[DavidSR]

Hey guys,

I have a few people at work that have seen some of my work and they seem to like it and now want me to take pictures of them. All I have are my 55-250, kit lens and Vivitar 285HV. I have no idea if I should take them up on that offer or wait until I purchase a 50 1.8 and some off camera flash stuff. I have done pretty decent with my pictures considering my limited equipment. I can see all the flaws in my own images, but since they are not photography literate they don't see them as well as I do :).

So, just wondering, but when did you start to chage and what would you do in my situation? My fiance said "You better not do it for free" I won't charge much...if anything $5-$10..I do need to buy a memory card and that would help a little.

Thanks for the help!

[Ultimate CC]

in the beginning i did stuff for free for friends and some family but that was just to gain experience, as soon as i started doing work for others i started to charge...how much is a tough question, because there are so many variables...for instance I charge about 100 for a portrait shot but when I do portraits for this business I work for I charge 2600 for a small 2 hour session where I do 5-10 people...but remember don't ever undercut your self, don't talk your work down...dslr are not cheap and if people want to take advantage of the quality that can be produced by them they must pay for it...just my .02

[tomslens]

Do yourself a favor, do some math to figure out what it really costs to do the work.

Your time x your hourly rate + materials = your cost

That's just you breaking even. You should multiply that by about 3 to make money. My advice is charge a full price for prints but don't charge a sitting fee. That way there's no commitment to anything before they see the goods. This should take the pressure off you a bit but still make some money on the deal. If you discount, be clear that you are discounting. Don't say its because you're starting out, say its because they are a friend. Ask them not to share that you gave them a discount so that everyone in the office doesn't expect the same deal 6 months from now when you're regularly collecting fees.
My personal approach is that if I offer to shoot someone (as a practice session) I do it for only the cost of prints and shipping. If they ask me, its the full rate. The only discount is to knock of a sitting fee.

[DavidSR]

Thanks for the help guys!! I know that a DSLR and my equipment are not free and did cost money, but I just can't see my self charging more than $10-$20 for pictures..not at my skill anways. And trust me, the people I work with won't pay more than $20 for prints :( lol...I have been told by someone on here that I am on my way of being able to charge, but still need some work ;). I do like the math that Tom mentioned, but I would also have to take my skill into consideration.

[tomslens]

Thanks for the help guys!! I know that a DSLR and my equipment are not free and did cost money, but I just can't see my self charging more than $10-$20 for pictures..not at my skill anways. And trust me, the people I work with won't pay more than $20 for prints :( lol...I have been told by someone on here that I am on my way of being able to charge, but still need some work ;). I do like the math that Tom mentioned, but I would also have to take my skill into consideration.

I caution you about charging with a big eye on skill. Look at it this way, Joe asks you for shots now. You only charge $20 for a print because you feel your skills are lacking. 6 months later, you're a lot better and chargin $50 for the same print. Joe comes back for another shoot and the price is more than double the last time. To him, you're the same guy and to his non-professional eye, the shots are just as good. How do you justify?
This is just my choice but despite what I consider to be a mediocre skill level at best I choose to present myself as a professional photographer to my potential clients. The idea is that as I get better, I don't have to constantly explain why my prices are rising! Instead I can just explain that discounts aren't possible anymore due to a very busy schedule.
If you're uncomfortable charging, you might not be ready to. Just shoot for materials cost (rounded up) for now but make it very clear that this is a big favor, a deal that these people should not expect or broadcast. As you gain confidence/ skill, my guess is that you'll know the time to start charging a full price.

[DavidSR]

Thanks very much for that information!! I know what you mean about charging $20 now and doubling it in 6 months and the people I work with will have a coronary when I give them my new price. I will make it clear that this is a big discounted favor. I will most likely shoot for materials and some of my time since they are friends that I work with and wouldn't want any conflicts considering that these are people I would have to see every day.

[martin j]

Offer them at a reasonable rate, say $20 and add that it's an introductory rate a for a short time only?

[HQP]

Tom's advice is spot on. I'm in the same situation and because of good advice I've read on POTN I've got some paying jobs. I just got paid $1,200 for shooting a group at work with individual shots included. I thought I was charging a lot but I went for it. Have confidence and play the part they expect to see pro play and they'll never know the difference.

[DavidSR]

Tom's advice is spot on. I'm in the same situation and because of good advice I've read on POTN I've got some paying jobs. I just got paid $1,200 for shooting a group at work with individual shots included. I thought I was charging a lot but I went for it. Have confidence and play the part they expect to see pro play and they'll never know the difference.

Man, I wish I had this attitude when it comes to charging. I just found out that my company hired a pro. to shoot pictures at the Holiday Gala we are having and he's charging $15..doesn't sound like much, but with all the people there...I'm sure he'll get plenty of clients. I'm just in the mind set of saying.."If I just have some more equipment, I'd be ready!"

Thanks for the help everyone!

[madramper]

"If I just have some more equipment, I'd be ready!"



Yes, but if you were charging for your services, you would be making the money to buy that equipment. :D

[DavidSR]

lol..that's what I tell myself AFTER I say that haha.

[madramper]

If you are not 100% confident in your work, here is another option. First, let them know this is a one shot deal and won't be repeated so you don't get stuck in the future. I had someone come out to shoot my family. She is trying to start her business. Charge a set sitting fee $50, $100, whatever your time is worth. Then give them a CD with the pics on it. They can choose to have their own prints done at Walmart or whatever. You have a clean conscience that you didn't charge more than you felt your ability warranted, they are happy because they didn't spend too much money, and you still made some money.

It seems like a good way to get your foot in the door. They'll love the pics and word of mouth will get you more work and you can start charging full price.

[DavidSR]

Thanks! I think I might just do that! Now to figure out how much my time is worth :)

[alabama1980]

Just a word from personal experience about giving out CD's....

I took some group pictures and individual portraits for a friend of mine with my new lights. Pics turned out great. I looked at them on my computer, printed a few from my decent quality printer on good paper. Everything was good. Well, I gave out 12 CD's with those images to those that I photographed and they had prints made at Wal-Mart. They looked TERRIBLE and guess who got the blame? My only redemption was the fact that I had the one's I printed available for comparison. Otherwise I would have had twelve people badmouthing my work. In a small town that can be really bad.

As far as the original question: You're ready to start charging for your skills when people are ready to start paying for your skills. I did it (and still do) for free for my friends and family. Then their friends started asking me what I charged...so gears started turning in my head. I never had intentions of making money, but as soon as I realized someone was willing to pay for what I was doing I started charging.

I struggled as far as "how much" but I finally concluded that it would be too hard to raise prices later for the very reason Tom stated above, so I took averages from my area and went with it.

[DavidSR]

Thanks for your response! I wonder if I should order them prints from MPIX and just have them mailed to their address instead of using Wal-Mart. I think I might hold off on taking their pictures at least until I have some more stuff for my flash. It's not expensive so it shouldn't be hard to save up and when I take their pictures I can use the money I get to make up for some that I used to purchase my extra equipment.

[tomslens]

Thanks for your response! I wonder if I should order them prints from MPIX and just have them mailed to their address instead of using Wal-Mart. I think I might hold off on taking their pictures at least until I have some more stuff for my flash. It's not expensive so it shouldn't be hard to save up and when I take their pictures I can use the money I get to make up for some that I used to purchase my extra equipment.

Don't get hung up on the gear! You've got enough to shoot with now. Gear is a crutch. Use the flash as fill. If you don't have reflectors, buy some white poster board instead. Go shoot and have fun. Remember, if the pictures don't come out great, you can always offer to shoot them again!

[DavidSR]

lol..I guess there's only one thing to do now..go out and shoot ;)...thanks for the help guys!! Hopefully this won't be my only paying session :)

[Bosscat]

Just a word from personal experience about giving out CD's....

I took some group pictures and individual portraits for a friend of mine with my new lights. Pics turned out great. I looked at them on my computer, printed a few from my decent quality printer on good paper. Everything was good. Well, I gave out 12 CD's with those images to those that I photographed and they had prints made at Wal-Mart. They looked TERRIBLE and guess who got the blame? My only redemption was the fact that I had the one's I printed available for comparison. Otherwise I would have had twelve people badmouthing my work. In a small town that can be really bad.

Best advice in this thread. I have only one party that gets the original files, save for magazines and newspapers and that a customer that has a full on design team in house, and they print all their own catalogs in house, so I know they will tweak the images properly.

I get asked every weekend about images on CD and I just say I do not have time to go through picking out individual shots of people to download onto a CD.

[Mike R]

Tom gave you excellent advice.