Help with pricing for photographs in advertising

[Medusa83]

I really need input. I was hired today to do photo shoots throughout the year at a local nursery for their brochure. I live in a small town and I sort of know the people who own the nursery but not well. I was wondering if I could get help in getting ideas for what flat rate I should charge for my services as well as what I should charge for the photos used. I was thinking around $40 per hour (canadian) plus costs of film, processing, printing and retaining full rights to the photos but they could have indefinite use of them. I also asked for full credit for the photos on everything published. The problem is since they will be using the photos for many years to come in ads, website, and other marketing things I don't know how to price the photos themself. Also they want me to come out at different times of the year to shoot and I just don't know how to draw up a contract for that or if I even should. Thanks for your help!
Fiona

 

[Dave Parker]

You might take a look at the link below, this is a calculator that I have used in the past for a few jobs.

http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm

Dave

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

You might want to check out Corbis and Getty. Try to find similar images, then use their on-line pricing to figure out what either stock imaging place would charge. Since you are doing custom and unique images for them, and not stock photography, you might want to charge somewhere near what Getty or Corbis would charge. I only mention those two since they have nearly 90% of the stock photography market owned between them.

You can also try your question on PDN Forums. There are many regular stock imaging and catalogue photographers posting there. Best of luck.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com>

 

[David H. Bebbington]

I really need input. I was hired today to do photo shoots throughout the year at a local nursery for their brochure. I live in a small town and I sort of know the people who own the nursery but not well. I was wondering if I could get help in getting ideas for what flat rate I should charge for my services as well as what I should charge for the photos used. I was thinking around $40 per hour (canadian) plus costs of film, processing, printing and retaining full rights to the photos but they could have indefinite use of them. I also asked for full credit for the photos on everything published. The problem is since they will be using the photos for many years to come in ads, website, and other marketing things I don't know how to price the photos themself. Also they want me to come out at different times of the year to shoot and I just don't know how to draw up a contract for that or if I even should. Thanks for your help!
Fiona

This sounds rather like a situation in which the client is not an experienced media buyer and may not understand or be able/willing to pay a realistic market price. What other factors are involved? Are you a full-time pro? Do you use the nursery as a mother?

Getting full credit is important, it is vital for you to emphasize this, and it shouldn't be a problem. Retaining full rights to the pictures would almost certainly involve obtaining signed model releases from the parents of any children featured in the picture - this could be (infinitely) more difficult, particularly given the general paranoia of the age in which we live.

If you do this job, I think you will end up trading a lower upfront price against the benefit of the pictures for your portfolio.

Regards,

David

PS: ***DISCLAIMER*** I am a media professional and have a good working knowledge of British law and practice - I have no specific knowledge of the situation in Canada (which I assume is where you are!!!

 

[Dave Parker]

I might be confused, but I think she may be talking about a plant nursery? If it is a nursery for babies, then yes you will need model releases and such for any pictures of babys you would take from the parents.

Dave

 

[David H. Bebbington]

I might be confused, but I think she may be talking about a plant nursery? If it is a nursery for babies, then yes you will need model releases and such for any pictures of babys you would take from the parents.

Dave

It is a well known fact that plants have a poor understanding of the media business and seldom hire a lawyer to recover modeling fees! If the nursery concerned is for PLANTS, this makes certain aspects much easier! It may well still be the case, however, that the owners may not realise what a reasonable fee for a professional photographer is, so the principle still applies that, if you cannot charge a realistic fee, you need to find some other trade-off that makes the whole thing worthwhile for you. If, for example, you were a flower photographer, shooting for a stock agency, and the nursery owners, in return for a low fee on this job, would let you go to the nursery and photograph exotic flowers free of charge, this could be very much to your advantage!

Regards,

David

 

[Medusa83]

Thanks for the info so far. Yes it is a plant nursery and the owners would not pay market prices since they are a small business. I am just starting out so I don't believe I should charge as much since this is my first job, I've only sold photos as fine art photos before. I was thinking of charginf $50 cdn a photo and after 10 photos purchased offering 10% off each successive photo.

 

[Dave Parker]

Thanks for the info so far. Yes it is a plant nursery and the owners would not pay market prices since they are a small business. I am just starting out so I don't believe I should charge as much since this is my first job, I've only sold photos as fine art photos before. I was thinking of charginf $50 cdn a photo and after 10 photos purchased offering 10% off each successive photo.

The one thing you want to be cautious of, is if you charge to low for your images at this stage of the game, and want to go further with your photographic endevors, you can get a rep as a low cost photographer which makes it difficult as you progress to raise your price on your images to be more inline with the current market trends. Underpricing as well as overpricing can both be bad for the client and you also. $50 cdn sounds low for this type of work, but ultimatimatly, you will have the be the final word on what you think it is worth.

Good luck..

Dave