Two Questions; Pricing and Pro Bono

First question, I am doing a pro bono project for a local magazine just to network and get to meet some pretty cool folks, but one of the participants has dropped out. He still wants to buy the images for his use and I am not sure exactly how to handle that. There are about 8 images, mainly 3/4 length portraits. They didn't take too terribly long to produce or process, but the planning stage was a nightmare (he had a difficult schedule) and I had to shoot quickly and think very quickly on the fly. So even though it was a fast session by my standards (30 minutes or so), it was rather stressful and not an easy thing to complete. All that being said, I have now went from expecting nothing to being asked how much I would charge. I am thinking of charging approximately $20 per image. This would cover all my costs plus offer a reasonable amount of profit. I am somewhat confident this would be a good number to offer the client but I do have room to go lower if he baulks. Should I offer to cut my prices slightly? I do believe future work could come from this guy if I treat him fairly. Thoughts? At the end of the day value is only what someone is willing to pay/accept, so I realize it is up to me and him to figure out where we meet. I am just trying to get an idea from you guys what I might be overlooking. Thanks.

Second question. For this pro bono project, do you think it would be a good idea to go ahead and submit an invoice for what I would have charged, and then to create a 'promo discount' line item on the invoice to zero it out? At least then they would have an idea what to expect if they ask me to repeat this process next year (annual feature article). Thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance for your comments. I must say I have learned more from this forum, and from the last 4 months of actually shooting real clients, than I did in the last 8 years of this hobby. Thanks again.

i'll answer the second question first...no, it's not a good idea. it just reinforces that you will work for free or that they should budget 0 and find someone who will meet their budget. unless, that is, you delivered the most amazing images that made them think, "holy cow, we should be paying for this!"

pro bono work should be reserved for organizations that you feel a connection with, that are involved in doing works you believe in supporting, and that truly cannot afford quality professional photography. all others should pay the going freight, rather than exploiting others.

as for the first question, while it is true that the two of you must have a meeting of the minds, you need to take into consideration all the factors that go into developing a price. it's not just the time and efficiency you exhibited, but how the image is going to be used.

is he going to put it on a website? a business card? facebook? is he going to use it with press releases? is it going in an annual report? could it be used in a full-page magazine ad? how long is he going to use it? these factors and more could make the usage fee range from $75 to $750 or more. how much you get depends on your ability to educate and sell the client.

if you want to pursue photography professionally, you need to really dig into learning the business side of photography, especially in developing sustainable rates. by this, i mean hitting the books and maybe taking some courses, not just asking 'how-to-price' questions.

good luck!

skippix wrote in post #16047745
by this, i mean hitting the books and maybe taking some courses, not just asking 'how-to-price' questions.

good luck!

Thanks. I have been trying to read as much as I can on this subject. I bought Best Business Practices For Photographers by John Harrington but it seems to be geared more toward a full time pro with complicated contracts, sophisticated clients, more thoroughly negotiated compensation and usage rights, etc. I have learned quite a bit from his book, but I still looking for something that breaks it down further for a part time freelancer serving very low budget clients in a small market.

Any suggestions on where I can learn more basic information regarding how to figure out my costs per hour when I have no clue how much I will be shooting in a given year? I know what my annual costs are, that is easy. Just not sure how to break that down into what I need to charge for overhead per hour of shooting/processing? It seems I should get that figured out then I'd have a better understanding of what to charge as a flat package price based on how long those packaged shoots are booked for. Am I making sense in my inquiry? If not, I will try to explain better.

Thanks in advance. You hit the nail on the head regarding what I have been unsuccessfully attempting to do for the last few months.

you're on the right track and harrington's book is one of the best. what you have to do is realize that even in your situation, that stuff is applicable. it's just going to take some work for you to figure out how to apply it to your situation.

and keep working on the numbers. search for freelance calculators and keep working with it until you know exactly how much you need to get out of your endeavors. then start working with usages. some of the stock calculators will come up with larger numbers than might make sense in a small market, but they're a good starting point. the main thing is that you have got to develop sustainable rates...otherwise, you won't even get enough to cover new gear...