First time paid opportunity - advice wanted

I'm going to be paid for the first time for a friend of mine. I'm doing shots for their family. Mostly standard still shots, groups, family shots, etc.
5 different setup group shots. Probably some candids of kids playing and all that too. The place is a little over an hour away. This will either be at a lake cottage (i'm told no real great spots for these photos but lakes always provide a good background I think) or at their farm which is an hr and 40 min away.

The other event is a suprise birthday party probably a 2 hr drive. Mostly candid shots and usual party pics. Not a long shoot by any means. Maybe 2-3 hrs and that won't even be dedicated time but I like to get some practice in.

Me - I'm pretty ametuer but people had people commented good things about the shots I did for my brother and my friends family. I did those for free to get some experience with the whole thing. I don't think my services warrant a hefty price tag but I'm looking for reasonable prices at my level. My first though was $200-$300 pending distance and editing time.

Thoughts?

Links to some of my recent pictures:
https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …JGBydnmVw&feat=​directlink
https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …vQkJfmsgE&feat=​directlink
https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …uthuser=0&feat=​directlink
https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …P7yq_aXGg&feat=​directlink
https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …uthuser=0&feat=​directlink

If you both think that $200-$300 is an OK price, then it is. Does that include prints?
In https://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdis​play.php?f=23 try to be more aware of the background when you get down to his level, which you should be doing most of the time. Good luck!

Thanks!

The easiest way to price your early work is simply to charge an hourly rate, including travel time and processing time. The deliverable would be the best 250 images on a CD and the client gets unrestricted use for prints, gifts, or social media. As a gift, make them (1) 11' by 14' poster print for their home with your small logo in the corner. At a rate of $20-25 an hour, your final price should be in the $200-300 range.

Take what you can get, obviously. But I think you're getting into 'professional photographer' stratum here with your pricing. Are you prepared for that ?

Do you have backup equipment in case your primary equipment fails ? Do you have speedlights in the event that lighting isn't satisfactory due to a change in the venue, e.g. ? I also noticed very odd color balance choices, strange poses, poor lighting, deep vignetting and overall 'instagrammy' processing for the photos you have linked to.

I basically asked for $150 per event. I will end up staying at the friends house that first night so travel time is less. I do have a decent flash with a diffuser for lighting. Still learning best uses for it though. Right now the only lens I have is the Canon 18-135 IS STM. It's a decent all around lens but I fear only avg in doing an actual shoot. I could probably barrow my friends 50 1.4 and maybe rent a 70-200L for the weekend. I'm working on a T2i as well.

Good advice Christopher. I need the constructive ctriticism. I see a lot of flaws myself in the post processing of my previous work too so it's getting better.

I do not have backup equipment. Just not something I can provide my 'customer' at this point. I will be looking to upgrade the lens I have to a 24-105L in the near future so I won't be able to 'blame' the glass for my shortcomings. I just need to get better...

I do quite a bit of shooting around lakes thanks to our family cabin. If you are using the water as background get creative on focal lengths and angles of view that will show the subjects with water behind but not a lot of stuff (boats , piers, lakefront equipment) that will clutter up the shot. If you do a half decent job of it you can make it look like they are on open green space in front of a wide open body of water even when that is not the case. Best if the sun is behind you very late in the day. Good luck if it's coming across the water straight at you!