Pricing for a starting Motorsports Photographer?

I had my first time shooting motorsports when a friend attended motorcycle riding school on track, and her friend that's already a experience rider did a track day at the same time.

The Riding school liked the photos I put out compared to the photographer they already had, and they're asking what my rates are, but I have no idea what the economics of Motorsports photographers are.

I shot with two bodies, and did some light editing on the photos before giving them to my friend.

First I would suggest you read through this section, your question has been answered many times already for various sports etc, then if you have a specific questions, post them.

There are literally too many variables for any one stock answer to match a question as broad as yours is, so dig around some and lets go from there.

I see two ways of doing this, first is to be honest and asking what they pay the other guy. Secondly, get the details of how many images and how they will be used then draft your estimate. I would lean toward being naive and you can raise your rate as you improve and build a relationship with them.

tcphoto1 wrote in post #19189295
I would lean toward being naive and you can raise your rate as you improve and build a relationship with them.

It never works that way, start out cheap and you will be seen as cheap and unable to raise you rates with that customer.

In the beginning of your career, it is better to be honest. Once you've progressed and understand pricing, it is better to quote an established rate and adjust for usage.

tcphoto1 wrote in post #19189532
In the beginning of your career, it is better to be honest. Once you've progressed and understand pricing, it is better to quote an established rate and adjust for usage.

Honesty is not cutting your rates, honesty is knowing what your rates should be based on the market you are competing in, anything less is being dishonest with both yourself and your clients.

We simply do not agree so I'll leave it at that.

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You shouldn't start low and then raise your rates (unless they're just extremely low periodic increases to keep apace with inflation).

Clients will base their concept of the value of your work by what you set your prices at. . If you set your prices at $400 for a day's shoot, then you are telling them that your services are worth $400 per day.

So ..... they think your services are worth $400 a day, and then at some point you tell them that you are now charging $550? . Huh? . That will appear unprofessional, and you will either lose your clients or have to back down and agree to continue working for $400 per day.

These insights are based on experience - personal trial and error. . Hopefully you can learn from other people's mistakes - it is far better than learning from one's own mistakes.

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MBR wrote in post #19189526
It never works that way, start out cheap and you will be seen as cheap and unable to raise you rates with that customer.

+1 to This. Once you set a low rate that will be your value to that client. Getting them to agree to a higher rate letter will be very hard.

If you believe you can do the job then charge the proper rate. If it turns out you were wrong then give them a refund.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19190614
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You shouldn't start low and then raise your rates (unless they're just extremely low periodic increases to keep apace with inflation).

Clients will base their concept of the value of your work by what you set your prices at. . If you set your prices at $400 for a day's shoot, then you are telling them that your services are worth $400 per day.

So ..... they think your services are worth $400 a day, and then at some point you tell them that you are now charging $550? . Huh? . That will appear unprofessional, and you will either lose your clients or have to back down and agree to continue working for $400 per day.

These insights are based on experience - personal trial and error. . Hopefully you can learn from other people's mistakes - it is far better than learning from one's own mistakes.

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Personally I think a lot of the problem is insecurity, no one likes being rejected and of new people starting out complicate that with with a lack of understanding how to run a business.

They have a camera or two, maybe done a few shoots for friends and an ego boost for the accolades they received, so they are either approached to do work or decide to get their feet wet, say with a Craigslist ad.

Or worse pickup a real client and under-price themselves, then reality sets in, the client being real sets hard deadlines, the pressure is on and the fun is gone, it becomes a job.

The client being real and getting a deal, starts tossing out more work, not wanting to be rejected the work is accepted, pressure rises, errors happen, maybe quality takes a dive, or worse help needs to be hired and then it really gets weird.

Then if real lucky comes the sit down with the accountant, not an attorney, reality sets in, what seemed like a profit has evaporated, insurance, supplies, fuel and equipment, all gets added up and then the partner you didn't know you had, the Tax Man demands his cut and unlike the Mafia he's not going to threaten to break your kneecaps, na he's more professional than that, he will seize your bank account and any other business assets he can find, like your equipment and maybe your vehicle.

So the end result is, you lose a client, your fanny, your credit, relationships and a good chunk of your life, all because you didn't spend a few hundred bucks to talk with a accountant and a attorney, before having a single business card printed up by Vista Print.

No you went cheap and ran with what you got for free off the internet and you got what you paid for, nothing or worse bad advice.

And sadly these types of threads pop up here every so often and the answers fall into two columns, dumb dangerous advice, and advice from people who have the battle scars from actually running a business and walked through the fires and survived.

Guess which one gets ignored most of the time?