Budgeting advice

I don't have a studio space/gear but usually the people I'm shooting know this and we work around it. However I was just contacted by someone requesting some photos. I need to know if she just wants location shooting or studio shots ( both probably ) and if she wants studio shots, if she needs full lenght. This is important because if she just needs headshots, any white wall will do but I can't do full lenght without a proper studio, and I would have to work that into the price I'm giving.

Now my question: this sounds like some really idiotic things to be asking a potential customer... " Do you want full lenght shots ? Because that's going to be more expensive " . I don't think this would look good or professional. What do you usually do in such a situation ? Just give a price with the studio included ? What if she doesn't want full lenght shots in the studio and I'm just losing money/giving her a higher price than she's willing to pay and scaring her off ?

Also, how are you princing "final shots" ? Retouching 5 photos takes seriously more time than 3, for example.

Davidoff wrote in post #13431733
I don't think this would look good or professional.

Also, how are you princing "final shots" ? Retouching 5 photos takes seriously more time than 3, for example.

I agree that it wouldn't look very good. I guess you have to decide what you want to be. I am also somewhat bothered by the "any white wall will do" comment. Do you not have any backdrops. I know some photographers will market themselves as a head shot photographer only. You need to find some space that you can use and if that means that you have eat some of the cost of the studio rental in order to continue to have a good name in the market then that is what I would do. The other thing to do is to try and have other bookings at the time of your studio rental so that the cost can be spread across multiple customers. I don't have an easy answer for you as you are the one that has to decide how you want to appear in the customers eyes. I know if I called someone and they said so much head and shoulders and another x.00 for full length I would say thanks but I think I will shop around a little. A sitting is a sitting.

When we decided on our pricing structure we calculated how many average photos would be in a single sitting and built the photoshop time into that. To be so definitive as to so much for 3 vs 5 delivered images looks cheap, imo. A sitting is a sitting and you provide the images whether there are 3 or 20.

Thanks ssim. I would agree with that last comment " A sitting is a sitting and you provide the images whether there are 3 or 20. " if I wasn't retouching them. Are you individually retouching them and doesn't the extra time affect prices ?

Can you actually charge someone more because you don't have the right setup? Seems odd to me.....

With the retouching, it is probably the law of averages. How much time do you really spend, how many shots do you usually get, etc, etc. Attempting to build a 100% a la carte business is pretty risky as it tends to only work in the favor of small time customers.

My thoughts are this:

Let's say you charge $200.00 a headshot, for 5 photos they can use for their own marketing purposes. You find a studio that will let you rent their space by the hour, say... $50.00/hour, and it takes you 2 hours to setup/shoot/tear down/leave - so that's $100.00 out of your own pocket.

Why not just charge $300.00, and have all your customers come to your "hourly" rented studio? This way, you will have the SAME consistent results over and over, with seamless paper (which is pretty cheap for headshots, or you can go to Backdrop Outlet and get yourself a simple 5x9 backdrop in white, and use that over and over again http://www.backdropout​let.com/prodinfo.asp?n​umber=AB501. If you need full length, can just grab the 12 foot by 10 foot version instead.

That way, when someone calls, you can charge them your $300.00 fee, AND use them in a studio, regardless of whether they are wanting full length or half length headshot.

That's how I'd do it, and still be able to shoot in a studio regardless of what needs to be done, and you look more professional because you have a location for your customers to go to.

No I would not charge more for full length. A sitting fee is a sitting fee and your charges should take into consideration your operating expenses. So for someone with a studio, there are overhead costs associated with it's operation. In your case, you may have to rent studio space, or make other arrangements and those costs need to be built in.

Davidoff wrote in post #13431733
I don't have a studio space/gear but usually the people I'm shooting know this and we work around it. However I was just contacted by someone requesting some photos. I need to know if she just wants location shooting or studio shots ( both probably ) and if she wants studio shots, if she needs full lenght. This is important because if she just needs headshots, any white wall will do but I can't do full lenght without a proper studio, and I would have to work that into the price I'm giving.

Now my question: this sounds like some really idiotic things to be asking a potential customer... " Do you want full lenght shots ? Because that's going to be more expensive " . I don't think this would look good or professional. What do you usually do in such a situation ? Just give a price with the studio included ? What if she doesn't want full lenght shots in the studio and I'm just losing money/giving her a higher price than she's willing to pay and scaring her off ?

Also, how are you princing "final shots" ? Retouching 5 photos takes seriously more time than 3, for example.

It took me a while to realize that it's sometimes best to leave some work to the professionals. There's some editing that I have done by Retouchup.com. They're editing experts and the pricing is very reasonable per photo (actually cheap!). If I cannot do it quickly, it goes to them. My time is worth much more that they charge and I could never achive some of the results they do. They usually have magazine ads offering 10 Free edits to new customers. The less time you spend working on images, the higher your profit.

I will just say it's sounds as if you don't have all of the tools and equipment necessary to run a professional photogrpahy business. I would keep practicing until you do.

prepare for the worst, hope for the best. You should expect that everyone who calls you asking for a studio booking is going to want full length shots (and often with 2 or 3 people in case they 'bring along a friend'), and if they only want headshots, then that's just a bonus for you.