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 Post subject: Pricing
PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:37 pm 
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A long time ago (last fall) I sent out requests to local wedding and general event photographers if they were looking for assistants. I got some wonky responses, ranging from the strange to the exploitative (and nothing panned out, so I'm still looking), but recently I got an email from someone who wants something else and I have no idea how to reasonable price this.

Keep in mind I am an advanced photoshop user, and am familiar with light room and phase one, but I don't know how to approach this opportunity.
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What would you charge me to convert from raw, enhance and crop 100 images to print files?*


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What should I look out for here? I know this can be pretty straight forward, if everything is ok with the raw files, but I don't know what the going rate for this should be.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:23 pm 
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$200-500.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:32 pm 
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But really you should figure out how much your time is worth and how long it would take you on average to process each photo.

If you take it seriously as a business, set up a website and pricing structure. There is a market for it, some photographers might be behind in delivery schedule or may not be the most tech savvy.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:37 pm 
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bhrm wrote:
But really you should figure out how much your time is worth and how long it would take you on average to process each photo.

If you take it seriously as a business, set up a website and pricing structure. There is a market for it, some photographers might be behind in delivery schedule or may not be the most tech savvy.


Thanks for that..There is a well known commercial photographer I know of who when asked how he created multiply layered images/advanced photoshop techniques, replied that he had no clue how to use the software and had others do it for him. I'm amazed in this day that less tech savvy people exist out there, but I'm gonna shop around tomorrow and see how much this is worth as a skill...I have a pricing schedule for weddings already, this seems like it could be a good niche to work in from time to time.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:41 pm 
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I'm pretty much a luddite compared to some of my friends. I used to know photoshop when I was in high school (oh, 10 years ago?) but now it's all foreign to me.

I enjoy lightroom a lot. But my editing never gets past tone curve, saturation and contrast/brightness.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 10:10 pm 
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Damn, that was exactly my business idea a while ago, some people from here probably remember me saying it :lol:


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:46 am 
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PotatoEYE wrote:
Damn, that was exactly my business idea a while ago, some people from here probably remember me saying it :lol:


http://photographersedit.com/


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:43 am 
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there are lots of retouchers out there. You need to find out what kind of editing he wants you to do. 100 images is a lot if you have to do any fine work on them and it could take you forever! However if he just wants you to do simple contrast or wb fixing which you can do in batches, then it should be fairly easy to do. Trying doing complex editing and pimple removal, skin reoutching on 100 images and it will take you over a month!


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:08 pm 
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chopper wrote:
there are lots of retouchers out there. You need to find out what kind of editing he wants you to do. 100 images is a lot if you have to do any fine work on them and it could take you forever! However if he just wants you to do simple contrast or wb fixing which you can do in batches, then it should be fairly easy to do. Trying doing complex editing and pimple removal, skin retouching on 100 images and it will take you over a month!


The conversation has turned interesting. He wants a mass cull and then general alignments, brightening, enhancing and thinks his rate of $1 is a good one. Thanks to the links some of your suggested I saw what was being charged by clearance houses with 1 week turn around times in India and its still about $3.25 asking what he requires. Much thanks to you guys for pointing me in the right direction.


So that won't be happening. a good signal for me was when he said there isn't a lot of money in it. I don't know, change your business approach then or go do something else? No one is running a not-for-profit enterprise in photography with the cost of equipment and specialized knowledge. Don't dump the most time intensive-aspect of your business on someone who wants 2000 or so images culled to 100 and then made ready for print for $100 when he has probabily charged full rate to consumer.

Aside: I wish we spoke more about pricing around here. I've looked at prices for other services and think is good to know what the going rates are so there are no exploitative predators cashing on your work(FLOW). :)


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:23 pm 
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I think it's not highly priced due to many people doing it themselves. This dude seems to be a black sheep for some weird reason...

I second your idea of more price talks! really helps


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:45 pm 
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PotatoEYE wrote:
I think it's not highly priced due to many people doing it themselves. This dude seems to be a black sheep for some weird reason...

I second your idea of more price talks! really helps


I think the best part is that we all learn what the actually rate is, and don't under cut full time professionals even if we are doing it part time.

I highly recommend the book : ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography

http://asmp.org/articles/professional-b ... -book.html

No discussions on pricing but just practices and approaches as well as how to deal and negotiate with people. I took out a copy at York U Library but they can be ordered as well.


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:52 pm 
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thanks, need to check out Toronto library


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