I usually do event photography, so this one is a little out of my norm...I was contacted by one of my customer today and asked to do on site photos of construction at one of there hotels. They would like 10 sets of 20 pictures all 8x10s at the hotel plus some at there warehouse. The photos will not be used for commercial or editorial purposes. They will only be used for "scrap books" she said. They would like the shoot this Wed. with me doing all the post processing and printing with delivery of prints next Monday or Tuesday. They do not want the copyright. They would also like the estimate today.
Do they want 10 identical sets of 20 different pictures each (20 pictures copied 10 times) or do they want 10 different sets of 20 different pictures each (200 unique captures). Also, how far is the hotel from the warehouse? You might want to factor in some kind of transportation surcharge.
I can't advise you on a rate to charge as it is completely dependent on your perceived value, the conditions of your local market, approximate time required for this shoot, etc. The above are just some things to consider.
That's 200 prints. At MPIX'x price of $1.99 + shipping, your actual print cost is $401.00. Even if you used a conservative 25% mark-up, that leaves $828 for shooting, editing, travel, delivery, etc, or about $40 a shot. A very competitive estimate IMO.
Wow ! you didn't get the job ? Because you were too low I would guess. at $1330 that's on;y $6.65/ 8x10 print, and nothing for your time!!!! I'd be looking for $750 plus at least $10/ print or $2750. Just my thoughts !
fotodik wrote:
Wow ! you didn't get the job ? Because you were too low I would guess. at $1330 that's on;y $6.65/ 8x10 print, and nothing for your time!!!! I'd be looking for $750 plus at least $10/ print or $2750. Just my thoughts !
Well, technically it's $6.65 per 8 x 10 print, but since the client wanted 9 additional copies of each print, the price of additional copies should only be the cost to print and to ship them. Suppose the total cost to ship and print 200 photos is $410 ($2/print + shipping) then really he is charging $920 for his "time" if the total price for the project is $1330. $920 for 20 photos is $46 per photo to the client.
I don't see any reason why he should charge $10/print for 10 copies of one photo. That is like a 500% markup on the cost to print each photo. And people wonder why the copyright infringement pandemic exists.
mdude wrote:
"Well, technically it's $6.65 per 8 x 10 print, but since the client wanted 9 additional copies of each print, the price of additional copies should only be the cost to print and to ship them. Suppose the total cost to ship and print 200 photos is $410 ($2/print + shipping)"
Terrific...so you think that when you go to a store and buy 10 of whatever, you should get 9 at their cost!!!!I don't know what world you're living in, but it certainly isn't the business world. and even at that, in the commercial world of photography, $10 is a pretty low price for an 8x10 print.
I charge $110 hour for regular post processing. $135 for major retouching. Why did you discount post processing by 30%?
Back when I would shoot trans film it was marked up from like $16 (actual cost for film and processing) to $40 or $50 per roll. Prints were something like 200% - 300% mark up. So your $3.50 could have been $5 to $10.
Sometimes you can lose the job for being too low as the client knows how much it SHOULD cost. I like the clients who get 3 bids and take the middle one, eliminates the low baller.
OTOH they might just be cheaper than dirt and found someone else who was less than your price. Doesn't hurt to ask them.
In my area the economy is bad and EVERYONE is pinching pennies...My on line sales are down 75% from a year ago even though I lowered some prices and added some new products.
I quoted the job based on the economy in my area and what I needed to make it worth my time. The tone of the persons voice when I quoted the price was the tone of That much? They did not say it but...the tone was there and I did not get the job....and I highly doubt it was because my price was to low as The person looking for the price was familiar with my work but working within a corporate budget.
fotodik wrote:
Terrific...so you think that when you go to a store and buy 10 of whatever, you should get 9 at their cost!!!!I don't know what world you're living in, but it certainly isn't the business world. and even at that, in the commercial world of photography, $10 is a pretty low price for an 8x10 print.
Actually, this is pretty good business sense. Consider a store like Sam's Club or Costco, which sells a lot of items in bulk for a lower price than they would sell individually. It's the same general principle. Clothing stores do this often as well -- for instance, "buy two shirts, get the 3rd half off". These places take advantage of economies of scale to lower their price in order to be more competitive to the consumer. That is terrific to the consumer.
It's just not very competitive practice to sell a bulk of 10 prints with absolutely no discount, especially considering that there is little added cost to producing 5 prints versus 10 prints compared with the intrinsic value of one quality capture. In other words, the initial product has value, but the copies are only as valuable as the paper they are printed on, quite literally.
A similar debate is swirling around the music world, because for years record companies have been selling CDs at $10 or $15 a pop when really it only costs maybe a million or two dollars to produce and market the music on the album, but then each copy of the CD is cents on the dollar. That is one reason why the music industry is in the sad state it is in right now.
mdude85 wrote:
It's just not very competitive practice to sell a bulk of 10 prints with absolutely no discount, especially considering that there is little added cost to producing 5 prints versus 10 prints compared with the intrinsic value of one quality capture. In other words, the initial product has value, but the copies are only as valuable as the paper they are printed on, quite literally.
This makes perfect sense: I'm willing to bet that your lab charges you one fee for the first print of any size from a given image, then a lesser fee for subsequent prints.
I don't sell prints, but when I'm generating any kind of media for a client it's always a "setup fee" whether or not that's rolled into the line item for the first copy, then a lesser fee for every additional copy after that. Just like a lab or dupe house charges me. For a video DVD, for instance, I might charge a $250 setup/first copy fee, then $5/each for additional copies.
And I agree that the day rate/onsite labor charge is way too low. Were it me, I would have charged 2-3x that...then added a discount somewhere else in the budget to offset it if I felt the whole job needed to come in cheaper. Clients always respond better to something that's more expensive than expected if they think they're still getting a better deal than someone else would have.
