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Should I do it for money?

Started by bones615, November 08, 2010, 05:40:15 PM

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bones615

I recently bought some studio lights & background, my 3rd time of using them included my sisters dog, kids & a family portrait, now I have 6 offers of paid work from her friends to do kids & dogs. My initial thoughts are keep it as a hobby & do stuff on my terms when i feel the urge, if I am doing it as paid work there will be pressure to produce & time scales to meet that may spoil the enjoyment of my hobby & i already have a full time job so its my evenings and weekends that will suffer. On the other hand a bit of pocket money for kit would not go amiss.

I spent 5-6 hours on my sisters 100 shots including the taking & PP, what sort of money can sensibly be charged for a sitting & how many shots should be offered (30-40 would seem more sensible to me).
Anybody done it or seen websites that may offer advice?

Simon

irv_b

Simon  what I would say is give it a go but under your terms ie set the days and times to do it at your convenience
Obviously your work is of a high enough standard that these people have seen the shots and want you to do the same, so as a little sideline to earn some cash to splash out on some chrissy pressies for whoever, go for it (As for what to charge check round some website and see what they charge and adjust your prices as you see fit)
Irv
My Gallery

Don't count the days "Guest," make the days count!.

skellum

#2
When I do portraits I use the EOS Utility for remote shooting straight onto my laptop. This way you can view the images properly instead of relying on the camera screen and keep or delete as you shoot plus you will not end up with 100s of shots to go through. I usually end up with about 20 to 30.
Assuming you have a Laptop you will need a Firewire cable ( a long one to give you freedom to move about ). I noticed that you have a 400D so it may only work in Windows XP. If you have Vista or Windows 7 you will need to download a driver update from the Canon Site.
As for pricing it all depends on what you are offering ie: just images on disk, a few prints, prints mounted and framed or even canvas.

Bigbill

Hewwo Simon

Really there is no big problem here,,,your a photographer who wants to improve,,the fact that people want to pay you shows that you are indeed getting there,
As for price,,,what would you be comfortable with ?? dont rip anybody(including YOU) off and enjoy the experience.
All i would urge is DONT undersell yourself,,,,i have to smile,,years ago i fell into the trap of working for next to nothing on the Gig circuit,,,
ended up doing nothing rather than work for free,,,,
Good luck with it

Shine On

krennon

this is going in the WMMFGT thread as well

I have just done a photoshoot for a friend, I burnt about 18 shots to disk, and did about 8 7x5 prints and 3 10x8 prints for him, he said he would give me some money for them which I was happy to take as although he's an old friend I don't see him that often any more. He came and picked the prints and cd up yesterday and is going to give me £75.00 for them...now as it's a friend and I am nowhere near good enough to be a pro, I am very happy with that as I was thinking £40 - £50.00 would be ample and he is happy as he absolutely loved the shots so we're both happy..alas as we're skint at the mo I can't put the money towards new kit which I would have done otherwise but hey ho we're £75.00 better off (or will be next week when he brings round the money lol)...
So charge carefully you should of course make some money but cost does depend on print size are you mounting them or just giving them the bare prints etc...factor in all of this plus the taking and pp of course and see what you (and they) think is a realistic price.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithfransella/

"Everything in moderation including moderation" Oscar Wilde

picsfor

See it simply as getting some pocket money for your hobby.

Without a doubt being paid for your efforts will certainly provide an experience that is new to you - but one i would recommend trying out.
You may find you absolutely enjoy getting a bit of dosh for your efforts. You may also find that you absolutely loathe the whole experience.

Just out of curiosity - why did you get the studio kit? If not to do portraiture then why?

You won't be turning pro just by doing half a dozen family or pet shots and getting some pocket money in the process (maybe even get the cost of the kit replaced in earnings), but you will gain a whole load of experience and even a thirst for more...

As to how much to charge? What feels comfortable for you? £25 clear profit, £50 or even £200. It's what you feel comfortable accepting and they're happy to pay...

Jonathan

>> if I am doing it as paid work there will be pressure to produce & time scales to meet that may spoil the enjoyment of my hobby

That's a serious concern - I've often said that the difference between an amateur and a pro is that an amateur is allowed to fail.  Start taking money from strangers and you lose some of the opportunity to make mistakes.

Sometimes it puzzles me that people find photography so hard to price.  Imagine your boss said "can you come in on Saturday and work 5 - 6 hours?"  I bet you know what that would cost them.  That seems a good starting point for pricing a photo shoot (you can go up or down based on your confidence in your skill).

I don't know exactly what people are asking you for but 30 - 40 pics sounds on the high side.  If you shoot for an hour that's a different quality shot every 100 seconds.  Which is actually quite a lot.  It's not far off my run rate for weddings - but there tend to be lots of things going on there.

If you want to do it then why not book one client and take it from there?  A lot better than booking all 6 and finidng you hate it.
It's Guest's round

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