Am I doing this right?

[lvidmar]

This is sort of my first officially paying (I would say "professional") gig. I've been paid for shoots and prints before, but mainly a pittance for my time in the past.

I was asked by a friend-of-a-friend to take some photos for his wine-tours company (they're just getting started out). Photos of a couple vineyards, wineries, their tour vehicle, etc... Shot 3 hours over 2 days. We had agreed on an hourly rate plus mileage, for a "reasonable" quantity of images with unlimited non-exclusive use (I don't have to police his usage of them, and I can still use them for my portfolio or however I see fit).

He needs to get the photos to the design company ASAP so they can start designing some promotional materials for him. So I shot, culled, and edited what I deemed to be the best ones, and transferred 1024px watermarked images to my client, along with an invoice for the services.

This gives him a GOOD idea of what he'll be getting, and the design company a chance to pick which 3-4 they want to use, while he also has a chance to pay me before I transmit the full-size not-watermarked images to him.

[Nightstalker]

If you billed by the hour and did not include any usage fees then just invoice him at the agreed rate and give him all of the images, full size and unwatermarked.

Why complicate matters.

This is what I'd do for a friend.

[lvidmar]

I realize that. I don't know the guy I'm doing business with that well yet, and I want to handle this in a professional manner.

[AZAlphaDog]

I would suggest that you sit down with your "client" before any project (to late for that now) and discuss the clients expectations . . .

i.e., this is what I provide . . . Is that inline with your expectations?

that way everything is agreed upfront and everybody knows what is going to happen and what they will get before the project is started and any time is billed.

See if you can sit down with your client and discuss what you are delivering and how you expect things to go as far as what you are delivering and what you are billing for.

[Karl Johnston]

invoice him the bill and have it payable within 15-60 days.

Small projects, usually 15-30 days, charge 2-3% late fees to encourage the payment of the bill for every week after that. If client fails to pay then consider small claims or whatever equivalent in your country.

Include a license usage agreement signed by yourself and him (representing XYZ company) with the invoice.

It's completely appropriate where I am to email said documents and they are usually emailed/pdfed/faxed back in a timely manner. I don't know about orangeania (or where that is actually)

but really all of this should be gone over in the contract, along with the deposit, BEFORE anything happens.

Ideally, but often time constraints don't allow the time. In this case I get the feeling it would've been a good idea.

[Rubi Jane]

I think your approach is fine. The only question is whether your client's expectations of a "reasonable" quantity of images is in-line with you expecting to provide 3 or 4 images? Your description of "Photos of a couple vineyards, wineries, their tour vehicle, etc... " seems like it would likely warrant more than 3 or 4 images.

For small new businesses I'll sometime include usage and simply provide a fee for the entire project (usage is still clearly defined), but I don't see the need to provide all images, nor does client want all images. It's part of a photographer's job to cull the shoot and present proofs. From there I'll usually indicate photographer picks and rarely do my clients choose outside of my recommendations.

Congrats on your first gig!

[lvidmar]

I don't know about orangeania (or where that is actually)

Clever way of saying Oregon, I guess. (USA)

[Karl Johnston]

I don't even know where Oregon is :lol:

[lvidmar]

@AZAlphaDog: I did have a candid conversation with my client on the evening of the first shoot. I explained that I would rather get paid to shoot and turn over the images, than license everything per usage.

@Karl Johnston: Deposit at contract signing sounds like a good idea. I'll have to work that into my business model as it develops. I guess that's why I'm "complicating things" as Nightstalker suggested with a job for a "friend-of-friend," testing the waters for myself, and flesh things out.

@Rubi Jane: I was expecting to have about 20-50 images, but ended up submitting about 65 "proofs". Client was kinda vague in specific shots he wanted, I think to give me more creative license with the shoot(s).

I do need to get a standard contract put together for such gigs, but in this case, there was no contract (other than e-mails back and forth). So with the watermarked proofs, I was merely protecting myself a bit. Mainly wanted to be sure I was not out-of-line with this.

[lvidmar]

I don't even know where Oregon is :lol:

We're California's Canada, Washington's Mexico, and Idaho's Portugal. :lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Colbert_Oregon.png

[Rubi Jane]

I do need to get a standard contract put together for such gigs, but in this case, there was no contract (other than e-mails back and forth).
Take a look at Blink Bid (http://blinkbid.com/). It will pay for itself on the first job.

[Ray Marrero]

You NEED to read this book: Best Business Practices For Photographers by John Harrington.
Read it and keep it handy for reference every so often.

[Karl Johnston]

and follow this blog
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2010/04/15/real-world-estimates-a-mash-up-of-product-and-architectural-photography/

[lvidmar]

Great resources folks! Thanks!