First time selling photo shoot slots, need advice.

[KimmyGoth]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here on the forums and probably won't be my last. My first question is about photoshoots. I've done some before, but never on a paying level, yet I believe I am ready to move up to being a paid photographer.

My dilemma lies in that I'm not sure how much to charge and how much time to give each subject/group. A photographer doing similar work charges 30 dollars for 20 minutes of his time, taking 60-80 photos and only 10 of those photos are usable on the subject's/groups website(s). The rest, with no total specified, will be posted on the photographer's site only.

To me this seems a bit harsh. If I were the client, I would want to use all the photos on my site, as long as copyright information was kept in tact on every picture. And since the copyright/watermark on the photo has my info in it, it's still advertising for me and my work as long as the rules are upheld.

So I guess my question is, what are reasonable terms and conditions for both myself, the photographer, and my client(s)? I also need advice on refund policies that are also fair and any thing else I might need to know, or keep in mind as I take my photography to a new level.


Below I'll paste what I have so far for rules:

Photoshoot Details:

Photo Posting:
All photos from your photoshoot posted on the web site are available to be posted on your site, provided the watermark (the part of the photo that shows who took them) is not removed or altered.

The photos will be posted/made available in the gallery after the convention for all to see, in the order they were taken.


Refund Policy:
Refunds are available based on how many days advance notice are given, prior to the conventions starting day. A break down of these times is below.

Not showing for the photoshoot: No Refund
Less than a week, or at convention (6 days or less): No Refund*
One week before convention (7 days): 50% Refund
Any time above one week (8+ days): 100% Refund

* A refund is only possible if your spot is re-filled. You are encouraged to help fill this spot by spreading the word of it's availability. Once the other party pays in full I can refund your money as soon as possible.

The reason for this schedule is that the photoshoot spots are hard to resell with little notice. Refunds are issued as soon as possible, which may be after the convention if time doesn't permit.

Should something come up and I am unable to do the photoshoot, a full refund will be issued as soon as possible.


Thank you everyone in advance!
- Kimberly

[Jackal]

Kind of funny. I was just going to ask the same question right this very moment.

What's the average amount photographers charge by the hour to do portraits? I speak of outdoor portraits on location.

[KimmyGoth]

The same applies to me, outside, on location at a convention. Could also be inside as well since I will be dealing with costumed individuals and we will change locations depending on the costume's theme for best result.

[PhotosGuy]

I don't know that there is an "Average price", & most of us won't work by the hour. You'll probably get better replies if you define just what a "Photoshoot " is of & what is expected to be delivered.
You mentioned a convention?
Hope you get your answer, & welcome to the forum! ;-)

[KimmyGoth]

Well a fair price would suffice really. I don't want to over charge, or shaft myself. Basically I'm looking at selling blocks of time, whether that be half an hour or a full hour, for X amount of dollars. 30-40 is what the other guy I know of charges, his price goes up and down for the same thing for some reason.

At the conventions where I go, which are anime (Japanese Animation) conventions, a photoshoot would entail finding a nice location somewhat close to the hotel or convention center to take a series of photos. A kind of 'working together' atmosphere where if they had certain poses they wanted to do because the character they were dressed as does them then that's fine. If not, I would pose them myself for the photos.

The services would include my time at the convention taking photos, and post photoshop work needed, and making the images ready for the web.

I hope I helped fill in some gaps, if there is anything else I should clarify please let me know. And thank you for the welcome! :)

[chtgrubbs]

Well, you have to figure out how much you NEED to make per hour. Is this going to be part of your income to pay living expenses or just saving enough money to buy a new lens? Do you have overhead such as advertising costs, insurance, transportation, business licenses and taxes, income taxes, etc, etc, etc,? How much time will be required for post-processing, printing, filing, archiving, etc. So figure out how much money you need to make and how much time it wil take to make it and do the math.

Jackal, most portrait photographers don't charge by the hour. The old business model was to charge a modest "sitting fee"(usually starting around $40) and then try to sell prints at a very large markup (like $250 for a 5x7 print as an extreme example) to make the profit. With digital this is changing, since many people want the digital files to make their own prints or buying one print and then scanning it and reproducing it. Many photographers are now charging their money upfront and giving the client the digital files or prints at modest markup. Today I would probably charge $300 or more for a two hour portraits session.

[KimmyGoth]

I'm not going to the convention solely to make money, or do these photo shoots. It's an extra money and practice thing for me. I will have some gas money to worry about and if I did one session for 30 dollars it'd probably pay my share of gas since the event is pretty close by.

I hadn't put much thought into prints or costs it would take to create them. Plus I'm still trying to figure out the base price of services, after that I can work on print costs and packages. I'll do some research into local photo shop costs for prints and sizes.

Another thing to keep in mind about my type of photoshoots is at these conventions, the attendees aren't made of money so 30-40 is about all they'd be able/willing to pay. I'm just trying to see just how much of my time for about that much money is fair. And what kind of rules and conditions I should have to protect all parties involved.

[KimmyGoth]

Well, so far no one's touched on what sort of terms and conditions I should have to keep both parties safe and happy. Any ideas on this? Any other tips to share?