What to Charge for Informal Pictures Taken at a Gallery

Recently, while taking pictures of sculptures on display outdoors, I was approached by the gallery's manager and asked to take pictures of an event the following week. She said that if they used some of them for publicity she would pay for them. What would be a reasonable price for them?

I am strictly an advanced amateur, not a professional, but would not mind doing this occasionally for fun and profit.

I would quote about $125 an hour plus processing time for a predetermined number of images. Be sure to get it in writing before hand.

And make sure you don't give her any photos, but provide her with a link to a web gallery with watermarked images where she can choose which ones, if any she wants; then, when she coughs up the dough, you give her the non-watermarked, high resolution files, along with a non-exclusive licence (which can be perpetual, but I can't stress out 'non-exclusive' enough).

tcphoto1 wrote in post #18094431
I would quote about $125 an hour plus processing time for a predetermined number of images. Be sure to get it in writing before hand.

I think asking for $125/hour for someone who never done this before is a bit ballsy. He better be very confident he can deliver the goods under those circumstances.

Maybe charge per print they want to use and skip the hourly rate unless you are very confident with your skills.

Hogloff wrote in post #18094599
I think asking for $125/hour for someone who never done this before is a bit ballsy. He better be very confident he can deliver the goods under those circumstances.

Maybe charge per print they want to use and skip the hourly rate unless you are very confident with your skills.

I agree. That sounds like the only way, given that the gallery manager put it in terms of contingent payment (the "if" word). It would be one thing if someone was interested in the images I was voluntarily shooting at the moment, but to ask me to shoot a future event with no guarantee of payment would be a little off-putting. On the other hand, it's an opportunity to network, so if the OP is interested in the shoot and isn't averse to the risk of making $0, then he should go for it.

The OP could even scale the rate such as having a premium rate for a single image while discounting for multiple images.

Hogloff wrote in post #18094599
I think asking for $125/hour for someone who never done this before is a bit ballsy. He better be very confident he can deliver the goods under those circumstances.

...I think its much more ballsy for a Gallery Owner to ask a virtual stranger to commit time and effort with no guarantee of payment at the end of it. Its up to the client to spend the time checking out the OP's portfolio and experience to see if they were up to the job.

"Shooting on spec" is a horrible way to do make money. There are alternatives though. Maybe negotiate for something you are interested in: like tickets to an exhibition or a "behind the scenes" tour. But you want to walk away with something tangible. But I would echo the call to just charge an hourly rate.

RodneyCyr wrote in post #18094379
She said that if they used some of them for publicity she would pay for them.....

Errrrr no.
I am with Mark on this. If a client wants you to shoot photos for them they pay you. Try walking into a nearby restaurant and asking them to make you a meal and if you like it you will pay for it..... wait don't, the chefs have sharp knives.

Agree. Generally, I shoot, I get paid. No spec. ......unless I have a very, very good feeling that this will lead to an awful lot of future work. I shot free images of a major restaurant interior for the company's designer for her personal portfolio. I allowed her to share them with the company, no strings. I've been paid handsomely for tons of future projects including shooting conferences in Vegas and a Mexican resort. Hard work, but worth it. On the flip side, I was granted exclusive rights to shoot a small business college graduation on spec and sold zero images. Equally hard work. I learned big corporations is where the money is. This gallery gig sounds more like the later. I also don't see the gallery manager having the authority to make any significant financial decisions. That would fall to the gallery owner. Many people in non empowered positions like to blow sunshine up our you know whats. Give them a quote for your services.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #18094919
Errrrr no.
I am with Mark on this. If a client wants you to shoot photos for them they pay you. Try walking into a nearby restaurant and asking them to make you a meal and if you like it you will pay for it..... wait don't, the chefs have sharp knives.

But this guy is not an established restaurant...he's someone who has zero experience shooting this type of work. Would you pay someone off the street to cook you a meal without any experience.

I still say that you better be really sure of your abilities before getting an hourly rate. If not...then either bow out or shoot on spec. Worst case is taking the hourly rate and not delivering.

Agreed. As stated, it's the client's responsibility to vet vendors. If the photographer can demonstrate talent they need to choose wisely the risks they are willing to assume by shooting spec. In this situation shooting spec is an option if you see a legitimate opportunity but cannot yet show a portfolio of work.

I don't see this client as a big corporate prospect with the potential of many well paying projects down the road, but if the OP knows this gallery currently pays regularly for various projects then shooting spec to show competence, to establish a relationship, and to get on their approved vendor list might be worth it.

Yeah, well, we haven't seen the OP's work, have we? Ergo we can't assume that he's got 'zero experience' and even if that be the case, he might possess the technical ability and creative vision to put some of us professionals to shame. All the more to give him some pointers that will help him not to be potentially be taken advantage of by a gallery owner –who in turn might not be out to rip him off at all, but might also have neither experience nor practice in buying or pricing these kinds of situations.

Amazing! No one has yet mentioned that the written agreement should include what rights the OP is assigning to the client and what rights he's keeping.

Er, I did in my first post on the thread.

OhLook wrote in post #18095279
Amazing! No one has yet mentioned that the written agreement should include what rights the OP is assigning to the client and what rights he's keeping.

You might want to read the thread again.

Alveric wrote in post #18095299
Er, I did in my first post on the thread.

Right, you did mention some of that. What you said was brief, though. I've been waiting for the experienced business owners to bring up factors that help to answer the OP's question about pricing. If the gallery uses a photo in 5,000 copies of a brochure, for instance, it makes a diference to what's a reasonable price. I think there's a sticky around here somewhere . . .