Post processing charges? What would you charge?

[Toogy]

I have been working alot with a local pro, assisting and doing second shooting etc. Up to this point, I have basically handed over my images and he does the editing & processing of the photos.
He is now interested in me doing this for him, or he says he will just hire a student to do it for minimum wage.
Now my question is what would be a fair price to get paid to do this? or what should I charge him?
I am thinking a price/image is the best option, that way I get paid for what I actually do and not by the hour.
What would a reasonable price/image be to crop/colour correct/USM etc.

[chtgrubbs]

Well, really only you can decide what your time is worth, but if he thinks he can get a student to do an adequate job for minimum wage then that's probably the way he should go. I bill $50/hr for post processing time. Why should I make less than a plumber or auto mechanic? I wouldn't bill by the image, though. Most may take only 5-10 minutes, but some can take a couple of hours.

[blue_max]

I charge a reasonably high rate (I think) for my work as a graphic designer. I lost a client because of this rate. They had someone else on half that and couldn't understand how I could charge so much. When we were asked to quote on the same project, our figures were almost identical. I base my rate on the time that it is commercially worth. ie if I know what I'm doing, it will take me less time, or if I struggle, it will take me more. However, the rate is the same – it's my problem/advantage.

The point is that the client never saw past the headline figure.

Maybe you could batch process and deal with the tricky ones individually.

There is a definite skill to colour balancing and having the care and attention to do a good job and be reliable is surely worth more than the minimum wage. I would ask for a modest hourly rate and ensure that it reflected the work actually done, rather than the time taken (unless they are standing over you, of course).

This may be great experience for you and make you even more useful to him. It will also give you a head start if you want to move on.

Graham

[keenasmustard]

I just thought I'd give this thread a bump, as I've just been offered a similar situation and thought maybe I could fish for some additional responses.

I have someone who needs me to do all the post processing on his wedding photography. To give you an idea of his budget, he charges the client $1300 for a package that includes 300 digital images, the time of 2 photographers and all post processing onto disks. (no prints included) He's suggested paying me per package that I process. Before tax, what sort of amount would be fair to pay me to post process each package?

[Mike Panic]

if he's giving a CD w/ high rez images, he's giving all his profits away...

he should have a set rate for prints.. say $5 for a 4x6, $25 for an 8x12... etc - sell the package for $850 w/ no prints and a low rez cd w/ watermarked images - $1000 w/ 25 4x6's and 2 8x12's, etc etc... that way there is more money to go around, you are getting paid for what you ar edoing and you can bill better for post processing

also - if images are taking any more then 2-5 minutes to post process on a contining basis, you need to start shooting better out of the camera. if an average shoot lasts you 1 hour and you shoot a total of 60 shots with the intention of giving the client the best 15 and you spend another full hour editing down to those 15 and getting them right, your profit margin just got cut in half based on an hourly rate - as you now have 2 full hours invested in it plus travel

[chtgrubbs]

I have someone who needs me to do all the post processing on his wedding photography. To give you an idea of his budget, he charges the client $1300 for a package that includes 300 digital images, the time of 2 photographers and all post processing onto disks. (no prints included) He's suggested paying me per package that I process. Before tax, what sort of amount would be fair to pay me to post process each package?
Frankly, this seems to be a case where nobody is really going to make any money on the deal. Even if you can keep your time down to 5 minutes per image, that is still 25 hours to process the total package. So if you want to make, say, $30K a year, you would have to charge him $360, which is probably more than he is going to want to pay considering his package price. Personally, I think he is delivering way too many images for his price point. And probably way more than any bride could possibly wade through.

[keenasmustard]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Re his prices: yeah I reckon he's undercharging. I'm sure I paid a lot more for my wedding photos and I only had one photographer! He is trying to break into the local market though by being ultra competitive, but I guess he needs to figure out where to draw the line.

On the subject of the number of images: Again, for my wedding I was given about that number of prints and I remember the company being a bit annoyed at the photographer shooting that many rolls of film (I think I got way more than what I was meant to)... and yes it was overwhelming to go through. The other side of the coin, is we couldn't decide between a lot of the shots and ended up spending more $$ to expand the album from what we'd originally budgeted for... so I guess the company won in the end.

I'm meeting him tomorrow, so thanks for the info to arm me with a bit of background on what to discuss with him. Wish me luck.