What to charge the school for senior portraits?

Greetings all....its been a while

We recently landed a gig at a special needs school to photograph events and students.

We are having difficulty coming up with a number to charge the school for individual images (2) of each senior for the yearbook.

We have a pricing structure for family packages, but nothing to present to the school.

Not being a school photography studio, we are aware that a contract is usually agreed upon by the studio and school and that 1 image from each session/sitting is used for the yearbook regardless of whether the student purchases a package.

Our situation is "unique" (yeah...you've heard that before! LOL!!!) where we were asked to come in and take senior images when the school was already in contract with another "provider". No need to get into that particular situation as we have been informed by the school that they are using our images.

I tried to ascertain the fee charged by the other studio, but I was only provided underclassmen package prices.

Your thoughts are definitely appreciated!

-TomD

p.s. MDJAK....I miss you honey......

School Photography

I feel like I might be selling myself short...

Wade into the business

Since you used a descriptive title, the forum has done a mini-search for you. Look at the links at the very bottom left hand corner of this page.

Muchas grazie!

Heading to a shoot.....and DEFINITELY will be perusing those links when I return....

-Tom D

PhotosGuy wrote in post #13794332
School Photography

I feel like I might be selling myself short...

Wade into the business

Since you used a descriptive title, the forum has done a mini-search for you. Look at the links at the very bottom left hand corner of this page.

Whelp....none of the forum generated links were of help for my situation, so
if anyone has any thoughts on what to charge the school for usage of 2 images
each for every senior?

We planned on not charging a day rate, just the proceeds from our packages. We
were under the impression the images shot by the other "provider" would be used
for the yearbook.

Much to our surprise, they are using ours. I've not come across this type of pricing
before and searches are just relating package prices, not what to charge the school.

So any thoughts would be really appreciated!

-TomD

I do 8th grade individual portraits/class portrait for a small private elementary school near me. I charge the school for what they want. Usually just a 11X14 of the class, and the rest of the money comes from what the parents order. It is fairly common to not charge the school anything as they are handing you a captive clientel on a silver platter.

I have also seen charging a "flat fee" that is basicaly your studio time and the prints the school wants. Then again making up the rest from family orders.

Some schools want a cut of your money for offering the opertunity. But I have never come accross this.

Take your CODB for this type of shoot, travel expenses etc and then add your profit margin, double it and you should be close. Why double it? To cover low or no sales issues and the cost of the images to the school.

Now that being said, You could use a Customer average to determine pricing as well. Take your total number of students, add a 10% variable for absences and reshoots. CODB/CA is one very good way to estimate the cost/profit margin for the shoot. Limit the poses, meet or exceed the look of the book and presale as many packages as you can. Offer a freebie of some sort. Most likely you will be dealing with the parents so make sure that you have some great samples to show, and mount in temp frames and mount to a tacky wall. Design a customer information card, for the kids to fill out prior to the shoot (given out in class if you can) and set appointments.