okay, so my question is, as a day rate.. how many products on average do you guys shoot per day? of lets say a clothing line??...I'm meeting with a company and they want to know what my day rate includes..I've shot products before but have done them at home in a couple of hours...haven't really done them at their store or studio....what approach should I have?

I tell clients that I can generally get one setup per hour. But I don't do clothing, so I have no idea how difficult staging/styling is. A jewelry shoot this past weekend got us 4 setups in 5-1/2 hours, with someone else doing the styling.

I quote my day or half-day rate in response to how many setups I estimate there'll be. If there's more than 6 or 8, I generally add a half-day for post processing.

<Chas>

anyone out there shooting clothing? thoughts? how should i approach this?

I never shoot products by a day rate. I charge per item. Price varies as to complexity in shooting.

fotodik wrote:
I never shoot products by a day rate. I charge per item. Price varies as to complexity in shooting.


Yeah, I guess I'm weird that way

But it works for me and my clients. I seldom mis-estimate on my setup times, so I guess it translates to a per-piece rate.

My concern with a per piece rate is that if I estimate I can do 4 shots in a $600 half day and quote the client $150 per piece, and the client comes back with only one piece, I can't afford to do only one piece. Especially if it's a complex setup such as some of the medical instruments I've done lately. By quoting day and half-day minimums, I ensure that I won't have to eat the time for a complex setup, or get nickle-and-dimed by a customer who wants to shoot only one piece.

My $0.02 worth on the day rate question.

<Chas>