Advice on charge for architectural shoot

I'd appreciate any feedback any of the members have. I realize there's a wide variance in pricing.

I've quoted $300 to provide professional images of a higher end apartment complex in Atlanta. When I was approached for the job, I was asked for images the company could use for their website because they didn't like any of the images they took themselves.

I sent an invoice with the $300 quote that included exterior & interior shots which would be delivered by email & specifically included "for web use" on the invoice.

Today, they wanted to clarify because they may want to use them also for print. Typically, photographers base their quotes on use of the images, i.e. web, print, etc. I feel I could ask for more if they want to use the images for print. I want the job and know I can deliver the professional shots they need. On the other hand, I don't want to lose the job for raising the price (for print use) & sound like I'm a scammer.

Other info on the shoot:
-I'm doing the shot at 0700 for the right light so it's in the golden hour
-I haven't put any time restrictions on the job. I imagine 2 hours at most at the apartment complex but I'm flexible
-I will be using a combination of Lightroom 3, CS5, NIK software to process the images ($$) at no extra charge
-I will be using Canon 16-35 2.8L or 24-70L glass, tripod, cable release
-I have 10 years of experience in photography (www.dougsturgess.com)


What input/suggestions do you have?
-stay with the $300 quote & just buck it up & give them permission for print use also
-ask for more to include print use
-other options...

Thanks for any input.

http://www.nppa.org …practices/cdb/c​dbcalc.cfm
http://www.cradocfotos​oftware.com/fotoQuote-Pro/

Don't fear losing a job. Some jobs really aren't worth it.

They change what they want... you adjust your quote accordingly.

Whilst you are right to say that pricing may be influenced by usage this is usually on a per photo basis - have you assummed for instance that you will license the use of 3, 6 or 9 images for the $300?

In your position not I think that I'd write back to them saying that my standard rate for web usage is $X per image and my standard rate for web and print usage (define the print run here as well - say upto 1000 copies) is $Y per image where obviously Y > X.

They have 2 options either accept the price increase or negotiate. To me the use of the tern "standard rate" leaves sufficient wiggle room for you to be able to offer a deal if they object - it also indicates to them that you may be prepared to negotiate a compromise.

You may not get your ideal price but you should be able to negotiate something higher than you have quoted. The fact that they are asking shows that they understand how the market works and are probably expecting an increase of some sort.

Thanks to both jacuff & Nightstalker. I would be more confident in pricing jobs if this were my full-time profession so your advice is really appreciated!

I like many of the images on your web site. I don't know how many images you are promising but, by most professional architectural photography standards, $300 is dirt cheap and under what many shooters would charge for a single license. Of course you really have no examples of interiors on your site and are not really in that class yet.

My advice is jack the rate up for the additional uses and count this a learning experience. If you seriously want to do architectural work, I highly suggest you join ASMP and then join their architectural specialties group. A great source of information and one of the main participants, Jim Roof, is a highly esteemed Atlanta architectural photographer.

Good luck.

Hi Doug,
I have no input to answer your question, but, I have had a look through your gallery and I believe you when you say you will deliver professional looking images.
I was recently approached to sell one of my images and as I had absolutely had no idea on a price I gave it away for free rather than perhaps ask a silly amount. Last week I was chatting to a retired pro photographer who had images printed in magazines and the prices he told me that the mags pay was ridiculously small. I guess they rely on our hunger to get into print.
But its different for you as they're relying on your skills to get people interested in a major purchase of which they will benefit so why shouldnt you have a piece of that profit. Good luck, I hope you get what you want.

$300 is a great deal. Architecture shoots are some of the toughest. Balancing all the different lights, window light and lighting the details can be a rough job. It also takes a ton of equipment. I would be surprised if they balked at adding a bit for print rights.
I personally charge a day rate and don't worry about the incidentals for this type of work.

Apartment Shoot comming up...

After the job...a follow-up...

What I learned from this experience:
1. It took 3 hours to complete the shoot of the complex, exterior & interior. I was counting on 2 hours. Next time I'll build in more time.
2. I shot all HDR. The images turned out very well using this technique.
3. I spent more time post processing than I thought, about 4-6 hours total. I will account for this in my next shoot.
4. I burned them a copy of DNG's & final jpegs onto DVD. Next time I'll probably charge separately for this or build this into the total charge.

This was a great learning experience. Although I undercharged for the job, next time I'll have a better idea of what to charge & feel more confident about charging that amount. They got a bargain for $450. I imagine a photography company that specializes in architectural interiors would have charged much more for what I did.

I don't have any way to post images from the shoot but I can email a proof size image of a sample if anyone is interested.

Ok, I found out how to upload the max of 2 images.


Thanks.

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Doug they certainly got a bargain. As a professional (not photography) I can say because of liability issues here in the US, it's hard to charge enough for almost anything.

I'd consider a base charge of $300 per hour plus expenses in the future. Plus, additional charges for additional use of photos over and above a basic set. This may be somewhat less if you're not in a metropolitan area.

I don't understand that. If you can get here online, you should be able to post the images?
Where to host my photos

dougsturgess wrote in post #10626612
What input/suggestions do you have?
-stay with the $300 quote & just buck it up & give them permission for print use also
-ask for more to include print use
-other options...

Thanks for any input.

Hi Doug, I usually stay away from threads like this but wanted to say that your 300 quote is a very reasonable price for them to pay and don't worry about giving them all rights to do whatever they want with the photos.

The minimum gear requirement for competent architecture photography is T/S lenses. Any photographer that is shooting without them is unprepared for architectural photography. This is a smaller job so it's OK to lack some of the proper gear as long as you can make up for it in other ways...like by doing a great job for a lower rate and just giving them the rights to everything. If you were shooting with the proper gear then it could be expected to charge a bit more for the shoot. But since you aren't, then 300 dollars is a really reasonable fee for both you and the complex.

Good luck, I hope it works out...it would be really cool if the shots turn out well and get you more jobs and eventually lead to higher rates. Personally, I think architecture is a lot of fun to shoot and the small clients like that can be great to work with.

Those shots look pretty good.

A tilt/shift lens is nice to have, but pretty expensive if you only shoot the occasional building. A WA/XWA lens won't distort (very much) if you're careful to keep the sensor plane parallel to the walls. It helps to have extra megapixels to play with so you can crop a usable image from that shot. Then you would have had the walls straight in the first image.

Photosguy, thanks for the input.

dougsturgess wrote in post #10758455
After the job...a follow-up...

What I learned from this experience:
1. It took 3 hours to complete the shoot of the complex, exterior & interior. I was counting on 2 hours. Next time I'll build in more time.
2. I shot all HDR. The images turned out very well using this technique.
3. I spent more time post processing than I thought, about 4-6 hours total. I will account for this in my next shoot.
4. I burned them a copy of DNG's & final jpegs onto DVD. Next time I'll probably charge separately for this or build this into the total charge.

This was a great learning experience. Although I undercharged for the job, next time I'll have a better idea of what to charge & feel more confident about charging that amount. They got a bargain for $450.

Doug,

Congratulations on landing that project! I am entering real-estate photography right after my TS-E arrives, but in the Phoenix metro area. You might find this other group's discussions insightful:
http://www.flickr.com …photographyforr​ealestate/

If this your first paid real-estate/architectural shoot, then maybe 2 hours is a correct work estimate. Likewise, 4-6 hours in post-processing of individuals (non-models) sounds plausible, but I wonder again whether it took 4-6 hours because this is your first paid real-estate/architectural shoot. Would it be fair to expect that as you complete more projects that your proficiency will increase and your time requirements will decrease?

Just glancing at the two photos:

• They are both vertically mis-aligned. The Skew or Perspective tool in Photoshop or GIMP should help to correct that alignment. If the lens produces a distortion effect, that should also be correctable using a lens geometry adjustment tool in Photoshop or UFRaw.
  
• The colors between the two images indicate uncorrected color casts: blue from the window(s), amber from the walls, yellow from the light bulbs. Using gels and X-Rite ColorChecker Classic cards should help with correcting for color casts during the pre-shoot, shoot, post-processing, and print-proofing.