Thread: How Much To Charge?

I need to figure out what a reasonable fee is for a photo shoot and don't really know where to begin.

A good friend of mine is a partner in a small insurance firm. They're re-doing their website and printing up some flyers and want head shots of all the employees in the firm (10 or 12 people).

All they want is some decent, straight-on head shots of each person - sort of a glorified driver's license photo I guess.

He's asked me to do the shoot at their offices in a couple of weeks. One of the people who works there has a backdrop I can use and I plan to rent a couple strobes with softboxes to take care of the lighting.

How do I figure out what a reasonable fee for this is?

Thanks for any input!

How much are the soft boxes to rent? How long will you be there? How long will you need to spend editing each photo? Drive time to and from shoot, how much time invested in driving to/from rental shop?

Not that I'm a pro or get paid, but these are the things I've seen suggested to take into account when trying to determine a price.

This is no where near the scope you are asking about but it may give you some help/clues.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...ight=employees

Personally, I think it's ridiculous to consider driving time as part of your "expense", unless it's considerably far away from your home. Otherwise, it's just part of doing business (especially if you're just doing this part time).

The most important thing to consider is how they're going to use the photos- do they just want files or do they want prints too?

It may help to ask what their budget is, and you can go from there. Judging by the info you've given already, I'd say something along the lines of $300-500 might be reasonable. If you do a good job and your price is right, they'll bring you back to do more work.

Actual shooting time shouldn't be too long once you are set up and post should be straightforward. Steve's figure sounded reasonable.

For the cost of your rentals you might buy some stands and umbrellas if you have 2 or 3 speedlights.

Lots of different lighting setups to consider also. Check out Peter Hurley for some good headshot info on youtube. I've been getting into this stuff and it's a lot of fun!

Thanks for the replies.

I only have one SB-600 speedlight. I was thinking I'd leave that mounted on the camera with a diffuser as the master unit then setup two strobes, one to either side with either reflectors or soft boxes to eliminate shadows. It's not that expensive to rent the lights for a day and I'm really in no position to be buying any camera gear at the moment.

mtcham - thanks for the youtube tip, I'll definitely check those out.

Originally Posted by Chainsaw_Willie

I only have one SB-600 speedlight. I was thinking I'd leave that mounted on the camera with a diffuser as the master unit then setup two strobes, one to either side with either reflectors or soft boxes to eliminate shadows.

Good lord why. Are you trying to post them on milk cartons? Nothing wrong with a well-lit (read: interesting/modeled) headshot. Shit, it'll make them look more professional.

Honestly you'd be better off with one soft box set up 45deg to one side and have a white foamcore sheet on the other. Use a grid on the softbox to keep as much spill as possible off the BG. If you really want to set them apart from the background use your second strobe set on low and with some diffusion and gel (orange works well) above and behind them to light the hair & shoulders.

Rule #1 of portrait photography: Get that strobe off the camera and to the side.

Edit: I shot this with one Fong-dong held 2 feet to my left... fill on right is from the white wall. Nothing fantastic (wish I could have given her a back/hair light) but you get the point.