PHOTO PRO TIPS

Coming up with a your creative fee for commercial photography can feel a little bit like voodoo magic. But, unlike stuffed dolls or shrimp gumbo which have material and labor costs built in, creativity is a service that’s value goes beyond time and cogs. By learning some things the hard way, I’ve come up with a few techniques that help me figure how much to charge.

First off, you have to know your CODB. Once you have that, then that should be your minimum rate for any assignment. I sometimes do a half day rate of my CODB, if I can get it done in a few hours or if the experience is rewarding enough. Once you have your baseline price point, you can then start finding clients that will pay you what your worth. If you operate a 5,000 sq. ft. studio, your overhead is more than if you work from home. So a studio photographer’s base rate will be a higher than a location photographer. Depends on how you structure your fees, though. You could bill out your studio as a line item expense and keep your creative fee in line with a location shooter.

Your estimate should have two parts: Creative/Usage Fees and Production Charges. When working client direct, I’ve had better experience charging a single fee, rather breaking out the creative and usage fees. When shooting for ad agencies, break out your creative fee and usage fee. That way, their client can buy more or less usage and it allows you more flexibility in negotiations. “I’ll come down on the usage, if I can use the outtakes for stock”. Things like that. Always try to make it a win win for your buyer and you.

Creative/Usage fees are tough to calculate. With local clients, I generally stick with a single per day fee and that number is around my CODB. If the client is small, a one or two person shop, I charge my minimum. Bigger clients I charge 20% to 30% more. Not because I’m trying to milk them, but because bigger clients will probably get more use out of the photos than smaller ones.

With editorial, most magazines pay a pretty low day rate and then you bill for expenses. Lately though, this has shifted. I’ve been getting a lot more calls saying, “We need this shot and this is our budget. Can you do it.” If the fee meets my CODB minus expenses, I generally take it. You won’t make a lot of money shooting editorially (unless you’re a really big time sought after photographer), but it’s great experience and you generally have a lot more creative freedom. Plus, it’s great exposure and it’s great networking.

Working with ad agencies, you have to be more bold in your pricing. If you come in too low, they won’t take you seriously. If you come in too high, they’ll think your nuts. I usually use a big stock agency websites (like Photoshelter or Corbis), to get and idea of what a Rights Managed stock photo would cost for a similar shot. That helps me get the usage fee pricing. Stock is a little on the high side, because it’s riskier to produce and they have to make up for all the images that don’t sell.

I also use photo pricing software like fotoQuote Pro and Hindsight’s Photo Price Guide. I like having the software because it’s easier and quicker to find pricing.

Hope this article helps shed some light on pricing. Let me know your experience and tricks to pricing in the comments below.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Business, Estimating, Pro Tip, Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.