Please help with Family event pricing

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Please help with Family event pricing

Postby Looney » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:23 pm

I was just asked by a family member to take pictures at a birthday party for 2-3 hours and I am wondering what to charge for this. I expect that most of the pics will be spur of the moment, but a few will be staged. I have to travel an hour+ each way. I am thinking of charging by the hour plus travel, but have no idea what either of those should be. After the event, they would like a cd of the photos and most likely I will make them a slideshow. I haven't gone pro, but am trying to build my portfolio for the future because I have an interest in this. Can anyone give me some advice on how they would handle this event? Thanks. :D

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby Ron » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:54 pm

Hi Looney
Well I'm not sure if your gonna like my answer but here goes. To me the experience is worth a lot, it's something you can't buy. Starting out I would not charge anything for "Family" members and strictly view it as a learning experience. It really would only cost you minimal in dollars but the experince is worth so much more. Give them the cd of prints as they asked and present them with a "SHOW" as a bonus. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising slide shows and families are a great starting point.
Until your accomplished a few pro bono shows is the going rate. Once your accomplished then you will have an idea of what your services are worth. So I say absorb the $10 in gas and the # of labor hours involved and smile and say thanks for the experience. With that I say welcome to the forum & enjoy the shoot & show.
Well that MHO
Ron
PS: Don't forget to share your show with us when your done & if you get stuck give us a shout.
"Family over Friends" "Night over Day" "Nikon over Canon" "Gravy over Everything"

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby debngar » Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:47 am

Hello Looney,

You'll find more information from forums such as photo.net which are designed to cover those kinds of business topics in detail.

http://photo.net/business-photography-forum/

I shoot my immediate family events for free when I'm available. The shots most often wind up in a slideshow. This and the files are usually my gifts to them on DVD at Christmas. If they want prints, they can either buy a high quality product from me at a discount, or get prints somewhere else.

For everyone else I've now set a price. People's perception of the value of your work isn't there if they get your services for free or next to nothing. It's harder to raise prices than it is to lower them. It's important to treat it like a business if you expect to live off the income. Without a good idea of what you want to earn and doing the REAL math to figure all the expenses and time involved you won't nail down the real value of your work.

Most people only "see" the two hours taken for a photo shoot and think that's all there is to it. What people don't understand is the value of the end product isn't just in the paper it's printed on and the initial two hours clicking away with a camera. The value is also in the additional time spent afterward (12-19 hrs) culling, post processing, for your expertise, equipment and artistic eye that produces the final product not to mention regular business expenses. It ultimately doesn't cost much less for a 4x6 than for an 8x10 for instance. It still takes the same amount of time to produce either size print. This is why you'll find some photographers starting prices at about $50 or so for small prints up to about an 8x10. Those are the photographers that will be able to stay in business. No one can be profitable and stay in business by trying to compete with Wal-Mart or Costco prices. A pro provides a customer with more than just a DVD with the images burned on it or a piece of paper with some ink on it. If they don't, they won't be in business for very long due to lack of income or will quickly burn out trying.
Last edited by debngar on Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby rdurga » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:25 am

Hi Looney,

I agree with Debbie's comments about the amount of work after the photo shoot. If you want to do a professional job, it involves lot of your time and effort.

Since your photoshoot is with your family member, money should not be involved. I agree with Ron's comments. Pl find a way to let them know the time and effort you have put in for them to appreciate your work. It is your gift to the family be it a birthday party or whatever the occasion. If you are a kid of the family and your family members are well off, I am sure they will find a way to show their appreciation to you when the occasion arises.

They will definitely pass on good word about your work - photoshoot, slide shows.

ram

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby bellzerr » Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:30 pm

Starting out, don't worry too much about what you SHOULD charge, figure out what your time is worth to YOU. Would you do it for a dollar? No. For one million dollars? Sure. So find a number in between those that is balanced with Ron thoughts on what the experience is worth to you. And... do you need photos for your portfolio? Will they give permission to use them if you discount or do the job at no charge? Make it work for you, particularly when it's a family event.
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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby Looney » Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:55 pm

Thank you so much for the information, you all have been very helpful. Do you all feel the same if I add the following information? While it is a family member ((cousin) asking for the service, it is an event for her grandmother that I am not related to. Would you still do it as probono or would you charge an hourly rate? My cousin is suggesting an hourly rate plus travel, I just don't know what those should be. She doesn't want me to do it for free, but I understand what you are saying. I suppose there is even greater potential if everyone wants a slideshow as well. Any thoughts? Thank you to everyone for their opinion. :D

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby debngar » Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:20 pm

I can't tell you what to charge. But if you do it for an hourly rate for only the time you're shooting, it won't likely be enough unless you plan on just handing over the unfinished pictures without further processing. I won't do that, family or not because you're only as good as your worst photo. Other people will see them too. The images should always be processed if you're shooting in RAW.

Suppose you take a couple hundred pictures or maybe even 300-400 pictures during the time you're there. Do you plan on editing them? How long will it take you to cull and process? Some people take less time to do that than other people.

If you don't edit them at all, then charge an hourly rate. But if you do edit them, figure out how long it will take and include it in your rate.

Example:
Suppose you charge only for the shooting time at $100/hr and shoot for 2 hours. If it takes you another 16 hrs to process them and 2 hours for the travel, you're only making $10 per hour and that doesn't take into consideration the gas and wear on your car. If it's worth that to you then fine. I personally don't charge by an hourly rate.

If you build a slide show, that will mean more hours of your time depending on how complex you want to get with that. Oh...then there's the cost of the DVD, the ink to print the label and the jewel case too.

Giving them the CD or DVD with the files caps anything further you can make off that day so price it according to what you feel comfortable charging.

If you have children in the shots, secure model releases signed by the parents. It's also possible they may not want their child's images posted openly on the internet for all to see.

Your level of expertise makes a difference in what you ultimately should charge.

Pricing is one of the hardest things to figure out. Good luck with that. :roll:
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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby Ron » Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:33 pm

I am sure they will find a way to show their appreciation to you when the occasion arises.

They will definitely pass on good word about your work - photoshoot, slide shows.


Hi
Family is family even extended, do it for free will make you feel better & will take some pressure off.
Ron
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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby stiophan » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:35 am

Sorry but family is family to me, personally I do them all for free using them as a learning curve.
No offence intended.

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby scorpio_e » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:41 pm

I would do it for free

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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby ChrissyC » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:49 pm

I also do my shows for free..I am not good enough to charge, it's a learning experience for me...if they want a digital scrapbook as well, I design the pages, upload to Costco, at 1.49 a page they tell me how many pages to make, they pay for the prints and an album...doing it for free they can't gripe if it's crappy but paying money they can and I would be stressed to the max trying to make it perfect which it wouldn't be because I am far from perfect and not ready to charge money for it, just typing about this makes my upper lip sweat :lol:
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Re: Please help with Family event pricing

Postby joemav57 » Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:39 pm

Definitely do it for free!!! I would rather not worry about offending anyone in my family (or near family) by putting a price on it. Put them on a disk and give it to them. I actually got money from them not wanting me to do it for free. I refuse it but they keep insisting. If you feel inclined and have the time do a slideshow. Keep it short, but do a great presentation. I got 10 paid projects simply through family showing friends in the first year I started doing them.
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