Kiwi - GKPE - General Ramblings (2)

weka2000 wrote in post #4168108
Lil Miss you are really helpful.

So with the say 50 basic editing ones on disk whats the next step?

Do your clients want prints. How then do you charge for the HQ editing

Edit. Now that my evenings are free maybe I should do that course

I offer to do prints for them if they want - but the images I give them they are able to print themselves. I usually leave them to it after giving them the disc. Or to make the package more attractive I offer 1 or 2 "free" 10x15 enlargements or something - just so you get an idea of what 1 or 2 are their favourites (as they usually pick those to enlarge).. gives you a bit of feedback too. Or you could up the price and include those 50 images printed 6x4 or something.. to print that many would cost all of about $15 so not too much extra cost. I also have another portrait package they can choose from which is more expensive and does include the prints - but also includes 100 photos instead of 50.

For digital retouching such as airbrushing etc.. depending on what it is and how long it would take I would charge by the hour.... havent been asked to do so as of yet so not sure what the rate would be.. would depend really on how long it takes I guess. If people are after a more natural look most of that is not really required anyway - unless they want double chins or whatever removed etc.

Oh and I have a lot of actions set up which speed up my editing process

Lightroom and CS3 work togather.

Man have I learnt a lot this weekend no photos but hey. once I get my head around all this business stuff I will feel better. Took me awhile to realise I do a good job as a photographer. Just have to do a better job as a businessman.

Oh I have no intention of giving up my day job yet

i hate all the business stuff - i am an arteeest! *dramatic head-toss*

seriously tho, i really dont enjoy it, but i almost equally dont want anyone to do it for me and start telling me what to do

lil_miss wrote in post #4168143
For digital retouching such as airbrushing etc.. depending on what it is and how long it would take I would charge by the hour.... havent been asked to do so as of yet so not sure what the rate would be.. would depend really on how long it takes I guess. If people are after a more natural look most of that is not really required anyway - unless they want double chins or whatever removed etc.

I do get asked a lot about body scultping. The last model also had exma (skin blotching) on her arms which she wanted cleaned up.

Im really pushing for the MUA now. When you compare photo1 on my web to others. Saves a lot of time in PS later.

i would charge the same hourly rate for airbrushing and special effects etc as graphics designers charge - cos it takes forever and it is skilled work

Especially if they know before you start taking photos that they're gonna want stuff fixed up such as excema. That way you can factor it all into the price straight away...

lil_miss wrote in post #4168185
Especially if they know before you start taking photos that they're gonna want stuff fixed up such as excema. That way you can factor it all into the price straight away...

The liquify tool is a womans best friend

weka2000 wrote in post #4168210
The liquify tool is a womans best friend

so have you mastered it yet ?

scotttnz wrote in post #4165914
Thanks everyone. My photography has been a bit flat lately, but I'm really enjoying snapping the kids lately, and every now ant then I get one I really like. The 85 1.8 is a great lens, which helps. I love the blurry mum in the background on that one too. (I love her when she isn't blurry too )

Well spotted on the shoes Kirst. I had been trying to convince her thay were on the wrong feet all day. I think it adds to the photo too.

I Love that photo too. Love how the focus is so perfect on the face. The shoes are great.
I noticed it the forst time I looked & thaught maybe she had her legs crossed:o

lil_miss wrote in post #4167029
Serious editing - yes you should be charging extra. But I dont think you should be charging for basic stuff that takes no more than a few minutes.. eg levels, contrast, B&W conversion etc. $175 is a fair price.


Would you seriouslly show the image in that state to a paying customer... I would not. You cannot expect someone who isn't into photography to 'envisage' how they see the photo looking. You are the photographer not them.

Extra editing should include things like cloning out spots, airbrushing and all that kind of stuff.. that is what they would pay for.


I'd tell them a week turnaround... they should also know that any good photographer will work on his images so he can provide them with the best. I would NEVER hand out images straight from the camera.

I have the same problem...
I don't have a set package worked out.
I have an up coming shoot with kids where I said 50 Euro basic price ($100) + 30 Euro / hour for a longer session. This is for CD images.. No prints. PP ing calculated at 30 Euro / hour.

joeseph wrote in post #4167111

Hosted photo: posted by joeseph in
./showthread.php?p=416​7111&i=i194770968
forum: Member Activities

So cute... Love the expression.

weka2000 wrote in post #4167256
Lil Miss. So you would select how many out of a say 200 photo shoot?

Then say 20. Spend about 10 min a pic there is 200min.
Who picks them or you. How do they see all the photos to pick from?

Im happy with the $175 but lets face it more time goes into PP than the photoshoot. So how does one recoupe that cost?

The paying model last week found 20 "She like" I found none that I could use.

Lightroom is a dream for the quick processing.
I notrmally do a quick job on 10 or 20 images, then for TFP sessions, I burn a CD with these in the root directory, and a sub directory with the originaly.
In a paid shoot I would probably downsize the originaly so they can go through and perhaps choose some more.

somethingsimple wrote in post #4168155
i hate all the business stuff - i am an arteeest! *dramatic head-toss*

seriously tho, i really dont enjoy it, but i almost equally dont want anyone to do it for me and start telling me what to do

I'm the same. I hat business / marketing etc. I'm still owed $$$ from the shop I did photos for as I haven't given them the invoice Coz I can't decide how much to charge them.

lil_miss wrote in post #4168185
Especially if they know before you start taking photos that they're gonna want stuff fixed up such as excema. That way you can factor it all into the price straight away...

That is difficult.
Sometimes you get someone with perfect skin.. (My last 2 models where great) & then you get someone who is an editing nightmare.
I wish I had a MUA... or could do it myself... But I haven't got the foggiest where to start.

I was just meaning if they asked at the start for you to specifically remove stuff then its helpful when quoting them a price

lil_miss wrote in post #4168253
I was just meaning if they asked at the start for you to specifically remove stuff then its helpful when quoting them a price

True.. But only good if the price isn't made out before they arrive.

whats an MUA
i have no clue what you guys are on about

theflyingkiwi wrote in post #4168220
so have you mastered it yet ?

Getting way better why you want a boob job

I use it on arms (whe the press down to hard) push things in and sometime out.

somethingsimple wrote in post #4168290
whats an MUA
i have no clue what you guys are on about

Makeup Artist (MUA)

somethingsimple wrote in post #4168115
sorry, but imo: BULL.

lightroom is the best raw editor out there and has totally revolutionised stage 1 of my workflow. if you have never used it, you probably don't have any idea what you're missing. i would never go back to photoshop for RAW processing... ever. and i LOVE photoshop a LOT.

(and, it never took over my pc, cos i didn't let it.)



hahaha tony you know me so well...

WELL.
all of you are wussy wusses who missed out on a fun afternoon. we ended up staying at the zoo KNOWING no one would be at the park anyhow (see previous wuss comment) and had a really good shoot. the animals were very cooperative, we some caught feeding times, and the light was perfect. we were there 4 hours total.

so ner ner ner to all you couch potatoes.

hehe yeah i was kicking myself for not going out to photograph anything today. Was a boring day in the library. We should really organize a meet with a good amount of numbers. It seems like all the advice being thrown around would be valuable with a meet. cough cough...

I guess i will use it one day. Just have to be comfortable with photoshop first. I'm probably going for another night time mission for some photos. Great to get some free advice on the business side of things as well. Might help me in the future or something.

Love the momentz website by the way. Its really clean and easy to navigate.