Quick question on what you charge for photo shoot pricing:

I've been asked to shoot a engagement and a engagement party of roughly 75 people (at the party).

I have very limited experience with this sort of shoot. How much would you charge for this and what would you offer?

Hello,

First off I am new to the charging part of this side of photography. with that said. my first question would have to be what does the client want from the shoot. is the consentration of photos being of the couple or of the 75 in the party. New question would have to be do you use a lab to process your photos, and if so what are your costs per print. you would need to establish a margin you are wanting to make from each print and book or package they are after. I have done several shoots that required me to establish different packages which offer different stuff in them. I currently am a zenfolio web page owner and using mpix for my processing have established that I have many opitions and pricing structures to accomadate most things I have encounters thus far. I have also through zenfolio used several of the vendors they use to make books and other products like coffee mugs and such.

Okay this is not a ploy to get you to try zenfolio or anything like that but just stateing my approach to this problem. You need to figure out what your worth is on an hourly basis also and charge for the so called setting fee which is really a charge for service rather than the setting. LOL anyway. I myself have caught myself saying I haven't done that so I am not sure I should attempt it. I am still that way with weddings as there are so many can't miss shots in a wedding I am not sure I could pull it off.... and I am looking for someone willing to let me shoot as a second so I can learn the ropes a bit first.

So what this all comes down too is ....... your value of your ability. ........ what you feel you can accomplish with taking on this task. and will it allow you to grow more in your endevors. you will come to find out just by doing you will come away with experience and know better how to approach it the next time. It has never been said that you start with a price and you have to stick to it for your career. Keep in mind it is just like education you have to pay something for it wether it be time or money. you are given an oppertuity to get experience and knowledge for your time....... that is a pretty good trade off..... so in my experience I would probably set a low established fee nominal depending on time of on location. and negate the processing time. the more shots you get to work with from a shoot means the better you get with the workflow of process. Okay I didn't give you a value to look at but maybe I gave you some insite to how I would approach it. Make expenses and take the rest as oppertunity. sounds like you have a bit of time working on pricing and value of your time dont fret about things if they have seen your products and have asked you to shoot their event that is already in your favor. Price is just a negotiation. smile say this is what I want to do it. you can read there expression and you will know if it is enough or too much. and remember you can barter just as well as anyone and get to their price range and still make money. well okay I let this drag on a bit but hope it helped I will keep an eye on this one just so I can see what others might think also so I can expand my thoughts about how to figure out what to charge.....

Jeff Frazell Photography

Charge per hour or charge an amount for the first 90mins and add an addtional cost per 30mins (or an hour) afterwards.

No one really can tell you how much to charge. Only you can determine that based on your experience. You could charge $25/hr, $50/hr etc...

You could tell the client, they can hire you for 2hrs for $100. If it takes longer then 2hrs, charge $25 per every 30mins you are there. (this price is an example).

Now how the client gets their pictures. It will be easier on you, if you do not print the photos. You may, but IMO, it's more of a hazzle now a days.
I have this feeling, the client would probably want pictures on CD. If you are ok with that, burn high res (not full res, never give the orginal size photo to the client). Charge a decent amount for that CD. Remember, they will have these pictures on a CD up until the CD is no longer readable (and if they copy the pics to the computer). So they can print and reprint as often as they like. So a min of $100 for the CD at best.

If they do not want the CD and want actualy prints. Either you can make a contact sheet, for them to choose what photos they want and then you get printed.

Or you can sign up to Zenfolio, place all photos on the site, make a client gallery, it can be password protected, and give it to the client. Anyone from that party can access this gallery and order the photos they want. Zen will print and ship the photos to the client.

No matter which way you go, put a time limit on when the client needs to order their pictures. 1 week before it expires, let the client know. When it expires (if you put the photos on zen or smiliar site) take the photos down or at least lock the gallery out from the client.

Make sure you have a contract. You want what you need to shoot, what you will charge, a deposit from them etc... all in writing.