[reivax]

A friend of mine recently asked me to take pictures of his son's baseball team. When he asked me how much I would charge him, I told him I'd do it for free. He kept insisting that he should pay me "whatever it's supposed to cost" and I told him I'd get back to him. The day is soon approaching and he continues to ask me for a price. I guess most of the parents want to chip in to pay the "fee". I have no idea what to charge him. I made one of these recently for my daughter's team (that's the reason he wants one for his son's team), and it took a lot of work. I took pictures of each kid individually and them made a composite afterwards. I don't know if I'm slow, or if I was just too anal about certain details, but I probably spent about 8 hours (most likely more) shooting and editing the poster.

I actually am pretty curious what someone would charge for something like that. Again, the last time I did it, I didn't charge anything because it was my daughter's team, so I never even looked into fees.

He's asking me to do something like this (not my work):



(taken from: peter talke photography )

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

[OrangeKx]

In the spirit of being nice and being as you're friends, I would say $50 (even though $100 seems better). If you started getting regular orders with word of mouth for this I would certainly up the price and maybe try to cut the hours down without compromising the quality.

[Kerrowdown]

He's just a couple of my initial thoughts, you need to find a way of dramatically reducing the time to produce the finished image, both in the taking stage and in the PP.

At the shoot stage, you can try and maybe take just three group shots, so then your only working three images. If you can use a tripod and make the background static, carefully place the folk within each individual shot, again limit the number of shots to cover everyone, you could simply then merge the images in PS. This takes just a few seconds, a bit longer to set up at the shoot stage, but will still save lots of time overall.

In Lightroom you can create many different presets, which you can apply with just one click to various elements of the image production without compromising any quality.

[reivax]

In the spirit of being nice and being as you're friends, I would say $50 (even though $100 seems better). If you started getting regular orders with word of mouth for this I would certainly up the price and maybe try to cut the hours down without compromising the quality.

Wow, this type of work is cheap. I thought it would be more expensive (normal price, not "friend price"). Photography really has some large fluctuations when it comes to pricing.

---

Last edited by reivax; 06-20-2013 at 01:50 AM. Reason: added content

[reivax]

He's just a couple of my initial thoughts, you need to find a way of dramatically reducing the time to produce the finished image, both in the taking stage and in the PP.

At the shoot stage, you can try and maybe take just three group shots, so then your only working three images. If you can use a tripod and make the background static, carefully place the folk within each individual shot, again limit the number of shots to cover everyone, you could simply then merge the images in PS. This takes just a few seconds, a bit longer to set up at the shoot stage, but will still save lots of time overall.

In Lightroom you can create many different presets, which you can apply with just one click to various elements of the image production without compromising any quality.

I agree, I do need to spend less time. When I made the first poster, it took me about an hour to shoot all of the kids (including mom's wanting to review every picture...). The ridiculously long editing time was really due to trying way too many different things. I think I've got a better handle on it now... I hope.

Any recommendations on what type of background to use? I tried black the first time and had a hard time getting a true black so I ended up cutting out the backgrounds on every picture (another big reason it took me so long to finish) and just creating a black background in Photoshop. Thanks.

[reivax]

One thing I just realized that I forgot to mention is that this would be an order for about 12 families (with each one wanting me to order a poster for them). I think that's why I thought the recommendation of 50 bucks was a little low. Does the "12 families receiving product" aspect affect the price (not including the cost to print the posters)?

[halfspin]

$50-100 is way off the mark. Most decent graphic artists (not including photography) charge $50-100 per hour (assuming your end product is the same quality as the example).

---

Last edited by halfspin; 06-20-2013 at 05:17 AM.

[OrangeKx]

Hey, I was just throwing a number out there - I knew it was too low, and it's a big jump from FREE.

[reivax]

$50-100 is way off the mark. Most decent graphic artists (not including photography) charge $50-100 per hour (assuming your end product is the same quality as the example).

I would say it's at least as good as the example. Probably better (you can tell I put more time/work into the one I made).

It's not as good as this Cal poster, but I didn't have a bear laying around either:

[reivax]

Hey, I was just throwing a number out there - I knew it was too low, and it's a big jump from FREE.

I appreciate the help. I really dislike the charging part. Since this is my hobby, I never know what to charge. Every bit of input helps.

[halfspin]

I'm sure they'd be happy to pay $20 per family. That way it's cheap for them and gives you what you deserve.

[reivax]

I'm sure they'd be happy to pay $20 per family. That way it's cheap for them and gives you what you deserve.

If they really insist on paying, I guess that's what I'll charge them.

Just out of curiosity, if this were a non-friend job, what would you charge for the end result (not including prints, just work)?

[LaurenOE]

Business, kids and parents are tricky.
Parents - because their kids are part of the image will feel entitled in some cases with ownership of the images etc. Sometimes a "silent" parent with have problems with the image without you knowing it. I stay away from stuff like this. Maybe get every single parent that has a child in the image to sign something. Then, only sell the image/poster to the parent who signed whatever release form I gave them.

Personally, I would make a single poster for each kid, give it to them for free, and include a business card or paypal account and leave it at that. If folks pay, great. If not, then no one can feel you are taking advantage of their kid in any shape or form.

This is why I am NOT a child or family photographer unless I give stuff away for free.

[reivax]

Business, kids and parents are tricky.
Parents - because their kids are part of the image will feel entitled in some cases with ownership of the images etc. Sometimes a "silent" parent with have problems with the image without you knowing it. I stay away from stuff like this. Maybe get every single parent that has a child in the image to sign something. Then, only sell the image/poster to the parent who signed whatever release form I gave them.

Personally, I would make a single poster for each kid, give it to them for free, and include a business card or paypal account and leave it at that. If folks pay, great. If not, then no one can feel you are taking advantage of their kid in any shape or form.

This is why I am NOT a child or family photographer unless I give stuff away for free.

Parents are pretty fun to deal with (afterwards, not during). I didn't really have any issues the first time I did this. Since it was my daughter's softball team, I felt a little more comfortable asking the parents to go to another room after the third mom "asked" me to let her review every single one of her kids' photos.

This time around, I really don't know anyone (other than my friend that asked me for the favor).

At this point in time, I really don't have any intentions to make money off of my photography, but that doesn't mean I'll feel the same way a year from now. I like your idea -- about the card/paypal, and not working with kids. Hahaha. I don't think I have much of a choice when working with kids. My wife and close friends love to volunteer me to do things (that might change if I start charging). I usually don't mind either because it forces me to go out and take pictures when I otherwise might just decide to stay in, instead.

[carrrlangas]

I have no experience on your end of the bussiness but I´d say between $300 and $400 is a fair price for such a work. And I think your friend might be incharge of dealing with the families but that is not of my concern. He could also let you know if the price is ok. But man, 8 hours editing, shooting... Think of the flash batteries you have to restore haha