A long time friend of mine wants me to do some family-type shots of her, her husband, her dog and possibly her parents this weekend, probably outside at a nearby park. She refuses to let me do it for free, but how much should I ask?? I don't plan on being out there for hours, I'll just be bringing my camera, a flash, and maybe a ladder, this is not some huge production, she just wants some photos to put up on her wall.
I'm of the opinion that I shouldn't charge anything for friends and family when it comes to working once or twice with them. If they're constantly asking for my help or ordering my services, then I would work out a payment scheme with them.
Considering that's not an option and if they insist on paying you (which has happened for me from time to time), I would do the following:
A) Either tell her what your normal rates are. If you don't do this for pay, tell her what a typical charge is.
B) Show her the end result
C) Tell her to pay you what she thinks it's worth given your normal charges and how happy she is with the end result.
The benefit in this approach is that she is dictating what she thinks it's worth. This way, she doesn't feel gypped down the line. Business + personal relationships can easily sour if people feel there's some sort of impropriety.
I've done a few things for friends / family at no charge from family portraits to a wedding. The ones that insisted on paying for the services, I've just said to give what they feel it was worth to a local foodbank or charity. All of them felt that it was a fair agreement.
Are you going to give her a CD of the full-resolution images afterwards, or will she order prints from you?
If you're giving her a CD, and she's a good friend who you weren't inclined to charge to begin with, then I'd say charge her $50. A VERY reasonable fee for your time, effort and expertise.
If she'll be ordering prints from you, then don't charge her anything for the session and tell her just to order the prints she wants through you.
Whatever you charge, make it known to them what you would charge a usual customer.
You don't want the word spread that you work for free, and your friend will need to know what your usual rate is when spreading the word about your work.
Thanks for the advice everybody. I was actually already thinking about saying $50. And I do plan on letting them know what I'd charge normally, thanks for that reminder.
I don't believe in making a profit off my friends, so I do this kind of thing ONCE at cost. I expect them to pay any printing, framing, etc. costs but nothing else.
Dinner is a nice gesture, but you're still out of pocket for your hard costs.
kakomu wrote:
I'm of the opinion that I shouldn't charge anything for friends and family when it comes to working once or twice with them. If they're constantly asking for my help or ordering my services, then I would work out a payment scheme with them.
Considering that's not an option and if they insist on paying you (which has happened for me from time to time), I would do the following:
A) Either tell her what your normal rates are. If you don't do this for pay, tell her what a typical charge is.
B) Show her the end result
C) Tell her to pay you what she thinks it's worth given your normal charges and how happy she is with the end result.
The benefit in this approach is that she is dictating what she thinks it's worth. This way, she doesn't feel gypped down the line. Business + personal relationships can easily sour if people feel there's some sort of impropriety....Show more →
Pretty much on the same page here... it gets tricky mixing business with friends. How about dinner/drinks and they pay your standard print/frame rates?
Whatever happened to just doing something as a favor to a friend? Hard costs? what do they run for a DVD and some ink and paper...it just seems a little petty to me. Maybe I'm just a sucka but if it's a friend, it's a friend. And once in a while that friend has a business and I have gotten work for their business.
I say "hard costs" because I sell lots of my landscape photos to friends and it costs a non-trivial amount to print, mat, and frame a 12 X 18 print. Typical costs run $5-8 per sheet of archival art paper and ink, $11-20 for mat(s), and $20 and up for a frame. So my hard costs to put a print on the table run $40+, not something I care to give away when a friend asks "Can I buy one of your pictures?"
kakomu wrote:
I'm of the opinion that I shouldn't charge anything for friends and family when it comes to working once or twice with them. If they're constantly asking for my help or ordering my services, then I would work out a payment scheme with them.
Considering that's not an option and if they insist on paying you (which has happened for me from time to time), I would do the following:
A) Either tell her what your normal rates are. If you don't do this for pay, tell her what a typical charge is.
B) Show her the end result
C) Tell her to pay you what she thinks it's worth given your normal charges and how happy she is with the end result.
The benefit in this approach is that she is dictating what she thinks it's worth. This way, she doesn't feel gypped down the line. Business + personal relationships can easily sour if people feel there's some sort of impropriety....Show more →
I think this is the best advice, especially if your friend is not really keen on what the cost of a session would be. After you give them your rates to pass along they'll realize how much of a hook up you gave them, and maybe next time they'll offer to pay (one would hope).
p.s. "gypped" is not really nice, I think a lot of people don't realize that's a derogatory.
Don't undersell yourself. I made the huge mistake of waiving a sitting fee
for a friend, and then she further misunderstood, and thought that the DVD
was also free...and I drove an hour each way for the shoot. I didn't have the
heart to tell her I charge $$ for the DVD, so I was just like *f* it, i'll give it to
her...after all, shes a friend. She promised to buy some large prints from me
to make up for travel and doing it for free....
well so far, no orders from her. Big surprise.
Nov 18, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Jonathan Huynh Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
