What Dave writes here is sound advise, based on what I would say is pretty common consulting terms.
Doing consulting work myself I would go along exactly the same lines.
Now on your issue at hand Stu,
I am not sure I would even attempt to salvage the job gone bad, unless you think there is sufficiently newbizz in it to make it worth while.
Offering to reshoot the thing and knowing you will have the base material done right will be a much easier/pleasant job.
Just my 2 cents.
Originally Posted by daacon
I agree with being cautious with undercharging....
It it were me - I would do the following;
An initial consult reviewing all the pcitures to get an idea of what can be saved and how many - this would be a $100 - $200 non refundable and applied to final charge.
Then you should have an idea of exactly how many pictures you are dealing with. From there you can do a per picture / hourly rate / fixed bid whatever. Most people would like a pre picture / fixed bid as opposed to a hourly rate (Time and Materials kind of thing) is too opened ended. You can put a max price to aleviate the hourly rate thing.
The finished product is yours until payment has been made or at least arrangements have been made.
It should be costly to fix someone else's misktakes. Don't undervalue the time you spend. This is your job. When I first starting consulting (side gig), my first contract netted me and my partner about $2k each - while we charged a resonable hourly rate at the time - the actual amount of hours I put in brought my true hourly rate to something like $5.00/hr - first and last time I made that mistake
You will have a good read on what they are willing to pay. I might say something like , ok to fix all 400 of those pictures is going to cost about $3000.00 to give them an idea this is not a trivial task and is a valued skill set.
Once they get over that shock you may be able to fix a few for good will (plus the intiial consult fee) and then just become their photographer of choice. Or they may be more slective in which ones and how many they want fixed.
Edit: What I do is usaully bid TM with an hourly rate. I also put a max hours/ price where the client can then decide if I should continue on or stop. I also indicate any roadblocks or estimates when / if I can. Sometimes I am well under the quote , sometimes unexpected events put me over - the key is communication. This approach (while not Photo shop skills , still consulting in general) has worked well for me.
Good Luck.