Group photo. Prices?

[Infamous20V]

What do you guys suggest for a ballpark price in shooting an indoor 150 person group photo? I have never done a group shot this big and don't even know where to begin.

I'm renting 2 tungsten continuous lights: Includes : 2 Lowel DP Lights (1000wt) / 1 Lowel Tota Light (750wt) / 3 Stands / 2 Barn Doors / 2 Umbrellas which will run me 40 bucks for a day.

Here is an old crappy image of what the client is looking for. It's a gif image the second of which is the photo in question.

[43 North]

Bumping this as I am curious as well....

[tim]

Forget the constant lights, get strobes. You could charge $500 or $5000, but i'd suggest you work out time required and charge based on what you want to earn (with prep and post), plus your expenses.

[Infamous20V]

Well responses took too long, so what I did is called around local photography companies and asked for quotes. They all came in around 300 for weekday shoots and 500 for weekend. My gig is on a Tuesday, so i told them 350 and they agreed to it almost too quickly.

I rented tungsten lights with stands and umbrellas for $40, which is not bad at all as far as I see. I'll probably use them for my own personal use on some shots after the gig as i have them for Tuesday to Wednesday evening.

Strobes are more expensive to rent and I don't even know how to synch them to my camera anyway. I think continuous lighting will just have to do, and it's not like i'm shooting Scarlett Johanson!

I'll update this thread when more news comes in for those interested.

[tim]

Strobes put out about 100 times more light that constant lights. It's easy, camera on 1/100th, ISO400, F8, strobes on max, then change your ISO and aperture until you get a good exposure. You can use a light meter but I have one and I never bother, I just guess and check.

[msfvirginia]

Do you get to sell individual prints to the people in the photo? That alone could make this pretty profitable. : )

[Infamous20V]

Originally Posted by msfvirginia

Do you get to sell individual prints to the people in the photo? That alone could make this pretty profitable. : )

I doubt it. Im not printing anything for them anyway just a CD with the images is all they get from me.

[msfvirginia]

If its not to late, you should try to get printing rights as well. Perhaps offer them a deal, [150] 8x10 prints for $650, your cost would be $195 or $330, depending which method you go at WHCC, and they get a deal thats comparable to a local lab but much better quality. All 150 would be of the same group pose.