Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi everyone,

A friend may have an opportunity to be an Event Coordinator which will be held indoors with politicians and established members of the community for the launching of a new building within the community.

They will need a photographer to photograph the "cutting of the ribbon", speeches and people in front of the "repeating" wall.

She has asked me, her friend, to quote on photographing this event.

I have no idea what to charge as a Photographer's fee. I can deal with collecting all the out of pocket expenses but to photograph the evening's event (maybe 2-4 hours) is where I draw a complete blank.

Does anyone have past experience and could share their expertise? Figures would be helpful too!

Thanks
Leesa

It's really hard to estimate something like this. All I can do is tell you how I would arrive at an estimate.

I basically give myself an hourly rate depending on how good I THINK I am. When I first started out, I would do something like this for free, in order to keep expectations, and stress low. Then I went to $40-$60 an hour. Now I would probably give an estimate based on $120-$140 an hour because I feel like I can deliver at least a $350-$500 job.

The type of event has a huge impact on the price as well. If I was shooting a wedding and it was 3-4 hours, I would charge at least $200-$300 an hour.

Basically, the more stress and expectations, the higher the cost. And that cost should be in some sort of correlation to your skill.

Based on feedback from clients, I find that I usually undersell myself a bit. So in my case it seems to work out. But if you take a photographer who thinks they're the best in the world, this sort of thinking wouldn't work out.

thanks for sharing your insights Bartimus.... that makes me feel confident knowing that I am pricing my fee on the range where I feel my clients were comfortable.... I think I am doing my work well because I get compliments of my work and most importantly, I am slowly getting referrals now...

One thing I am not sure if Bartimus ..mentioned including this ....
Is Post process involved in the shoot...
If yes ..thats an additional cost factor...
cheers

Yes! Definitely take that into account. Every time I quote someone around $100 an hour, I take into account the amount of work I have to do at home for that hour of photos I take.

This "event" would be my first official job. I've photographed my friend's annual BBQ for the past 4 years taking candid shots of people. I also did a birthday party in a club for someone my friend knew as well as a few office parties.

Other than that, I am pretty much a newbie at being paid for events.

There will be important people at this event and the pressure to make sure they are ALL photographed would be high. Then to make sure they look good would also be added stress. The media will be in attendance as well so I will be amongst other photographers. I think the Gov't of Ontario is footing the bill so quoting on the high end is not an option.

My initial thoughts were to at least establish an hourly rate, then figure out how many hours of my time it would take to setup, do the event, download all the photos, sort out the bad ones and upload to a website.

I would give them one flat fee which includes all the details of what they will receive.

Oh, and this event is out of town so there would be travel time involved too.

I was also thinking of asking one of my coworkers (who is also a part-time photographer) if he would like to join me. I would need someone to keep taking candid shots of people while I take photos of people against the repeating wall. This would ensure enough photos would be taken so everyone can get in.

Therefore, I would need to up the hourly rate to include a 2nd photographer right? I think he's done a couple of paid jobs so I'll also discuss this with him.

Overall, I guess it depends upon all the factors you mentioned. The most important one being how much YOU THINK YOU'RE WORTH with your level of skill.

Thanks for your input everyone.

Not to sound like an a-hole, but there have been about a million "what to charge" posts on various photography forums over the years. Nobody can give you a definitive answer because everyone's circumstances are different.

You have to break down your costs in order for you to figure out how much to charge to make a profit.

Out of town, where about? What are you pricing for mileage? Is there parking at the venue? Do you have to pay can you get it comped?

How much is gas going to cost you to get there?

How many hours are you guaranteed to be there at the event for?

Are you bringing extra equipment?

Do you need to rent anything?

Are you going to post process or just shoot and burn?

Are you going to pay your co-worker something as well?

Personally I would figure out what my costs are including how many hours are required and times that by 5.

Then if they require additional hours, I would charge an hourly rate beyond my base rate I quoted for the job, for laughs $75/hr or whatever.

Those are some of the questions I would ask myself first.

Because after all there's no point going into a gig charging and losing
money on it.

Loved your post! Thank You!

I didn't even get to insurance yet! lol

Just trying to make the point that there are a lot of variables to consider.

Hopefully everything works out well for you.

Cheers,

Scott

You have to consider what the market will bare.
What amount of Post work you might have to do.
How good your photography skills and photoshop skills are.

I too started out charging on a per hour rate of $50. After gaining experience and being able to demonstrate my creative and post photoshop ability, I upped it to $100. Now it's $200-$300/hr.

Having said that, I have billed $1700 and $700 for what was essentially the same service. To win jobs and sometimes just get work in, you have to pay attention to what clients are willing to pay, or have in their budget.

You don't have to make a killing on every job and if this is your hobby, enjoy the process and build your brand, the money will come.

Terry

You have to consider what the market will bare.
What amount of Post work you might have to do.
How good your photography skills and photoshop skills are.

I too started out charging on a per hour rate of $50. After gaining experience and being able to demonstrate my creative and post photoshop ability, I upped it to $100. Now it's $200-$300/hr.

Having said that, I have billed $1700 and $700 for what was essentially the same service. To win jobs and sometimes just get work in, you have to pay attention to what clients are willing to pay, or have in their budget.

You don't have to make a killing on every job and if this is your hobby, enjoy the process and build your brand, the money will come.

Terry

Thanks Terry for your input.

Very helpful.

My friend did get the gig and now I have to provide a ballpark estimate by Friday.

Wish me luck!

I may post more questions after I hear their feedback.

Cheers and Thanks to all for your input.

I used to charge $300+/half day for Corporate event photography. The company then marked it up to the company it was doing the event for. They supplied the film and handled processing, etc.

Maybe you can ask what the budget is?