I need some pricing advice from the pros

[Blue_In_AK]

I was contacted tonight by a friend of mine who runs a tour guide business here (among the many other things that he does). He has some clients coming up early next June for their honeymoon, and he was wondering if I would like to fly out to a Denali glacier with them and take some photos. It's what they want.

I'm just thrilled for the opportunity and would almost be willing to pay THEM, but as long as I'm going to be a "real" photographer, I should probably "really" be paid. What is involved is me driving to Talkeetna, which is about 100 miles from here; flying up to the glacier on a Cessna or something; about 30-45 minutes of pictures; selecting the best ones and editing them; and then sending them the files.

I have no idea how much to charge for this. Do I charge for my driving time or just from the time when I meet them in Talkeetna. Of course, I could charge for the gas, but I don't know about the travel time. Wigi has access to the plane, so that part would be free, other than the time involved.

Please help - I'm clueless.

[elleng]

1. Charge for ALL your time,

+ gas etc, + the standard rate for a photographer doing what you'll do, about which I have no idea. My daughter + son in law did this (NOT flying around Alaska, just in Philly,( but I don't know what they paid. I assume others here will have suggestions.

HAVE FUN!

[JDDavis]

2. Many wedding photographers charge by the job

A large wedding photographer in the lower 48 charges $400-$500 for the day.

Don't break down your travel charges, charge for the work you are doing, since most of the travel is free for you.

Offer a 15% discount on the total bill if you can be given permission to use 3-5 of your best shots in further advertising for your services.

A day of photo shooting and several dozen fine photos, well presented, in paper and digital form, as a result is worth, at a minimum $300, and possibly as high as $500, as is what wedding customers expect to pay.

Nickle and dimming customers about travel, do so only if you spend several hours getting to and returning from the photo site, and keep that charge at a minimum, $50-$75 or something. It's better just to package the whole deal and say that you'll be on-site when you are needed and that's just part of the whole package price.

If your shots are spectacular, if you have the right equipment, (lighting, filters, camera options, spare batteries, other gear, etc.) they know what they are paying for is your expertise, time, equipment, etc.

Some NYC photographers charge twice those rates and manage to do two shoots at two weddings a day each weekend, spending 3-5 hours at each location.

[elleng]

3. 100 miles, 200 round trip, is not free,

so I disagree: charge for it, gas at least.

And 300-500 sounds cheap to me.

[JDDavis]

5. I don't live in NYC, I live in mid America suburbia

We have many weddings where the photographer is a family friend.

Perhaps $1000 is a fine price for the wedding day photography in NYC, but not in Iowa.

100 miles each way, many photographers here would be happy to travel that to get a job for the day at $500.

[elleng]

7. I don't live in NYC either,

but in MD suburbs. My brother lives in Iowa, but his kids have not married yet. We shall see!

I've asked my daughter, who was married in Philly 3 years ago, what's reasonable.

[JDDavis]

10. Costs in the East Coast area USA and some parts of Calif: almost double national average

For some specialized services like wedding photographers

I went to a wedding in Iowa last month, the reception caterer charged $1790 for 48 people, including a full course meal, appetizer to dessert. Wedding cake (3 tier) $140, additional. ($37 per person for dinner, including champagne toast). I was at a wedding in Baltimore and one in DC in the last 5 years, about $55 per person for a full dinner.

I track these things informally since my job is part time assistant to the professional photographer. I was at a wedding in South Dakota last summer, (2013), and they made their own food, decorations, etc, but paid $350 for the photographer's services and $250 to the minister. I think they should have paid the minister the same as the photographer

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

I think I would figure up the expenses and then go with a package price. I would not under any circumstances give it away for free or on the cheap.

Best of Luck and enjoy your day.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Thank you.

That is very helpful. I have the gear. I would most likely take my 1Ds Mark III (because the battery is great in the cold), maybe the 7D, a couple of wide angles, maybe the fisheye for fun, and the 70-200 probably. I think I may be getting some ND filters for Christmas which would probably really help with the brightness.

I think $300 is probably a fair price, maybe $400 (I'll see what the market can bear). Mostly, I think it will be a great experience for me, because I'm sure I'll get a chance to sneak a few non-honeymoon pictures for my personal use.

I'm thinking if they're coming all the way up here for their honeymoon so they can hire a guide and fly out to a glacier, they can probably afford to pay me well, so maybe 500. I don't know. I've also inquired of a professional photographer FB friend of mine here who might know what the going price is in Alaska. I don't want to sell myself cheap, but I don't want to be unreasonable either.

[elleng]

8. Right, if they're going all the way up/out there for a honeymoon,

they can afford you, Blue!

I've asked my daughter, who married in Philly couple years ago, so I may get an east-coast answer for you. They had a pre-wedding 'day in Philly' photographer do some very nice pics for them.

[JDDavis]

9. Don't undersell yourself

$300 for a honeymoon day in Alaska is a priceless gift to many who expect to pay for services.

$400 is more reasonably expected as a price for a day's work by a photography expert, which gives them dozens of good quality photos, perhaps 50-100 photos, candids and staged ones.

If you are being taken away from your residential/work location for a day or more, you must be paid for your time, travel, meals, and lodgings as part of the price. $400 in Alaska seems very reasonable for a first timer, as long as they know they are buying quality work, and that you want to build your career upon the fine quality work you produce for them, part of which you can use in promoting yourself elsewhere in future work.

Don't undersell your talents, don't short-change yourself. With some customers coming to Alaska to honeymoon, $600 would not seem an outrageous fee.

Are you on-site for one honeymoon trip or for several couples on the same honeymoon trip? You could offer a special rate per couple if several are there; perhaps $250 per couple for 3 couples on the same trip.

Do let us know how this works out.

[Celebration]

11. How exciting!!

I have no idea how to answer your question, but it sounds like a great gig for you. Congrats! You deserve this break.

[NV Whino]

12. Estimate all the time involved, including travel time

Then pick an hourly rate, say $50/hr. See what it adds up to. Cost for flight would be on top of that. $500 seems cheap, but then I'm in California. Giving them a discount to use a few photos is a good idea, but not if you don't want to do future weddings. You might also set a limit on the number of photos they get.

There is a video on the OnOne software site promoting Perfect Photo Suite, of course, but also a book app. This one was putting together a wedding book. I'll see if I can find the link and send it to you. It's a nice service to offer. Put together a book, which looked really easy, and then they order as many as they like.

[Solly Mack]

13. No clue what to charge. Just don't sell yourself short. You're a fine photographer.

How exciting it is?!?!

So cool!

[NV Whino]

14. Here's the link to the wedding book

http://www.ononesoftware.com/training/creating-beautiful-photo-albums-andrew-funderburg-onone-software/

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Thanks, NV

I'll check that out.

[CC]

16. How long arer you going to be away from home?

I would have them pay all expenses for the trip including meals and a room if you need to over night. That is standard here for "away" photo shoots. Around here a photo shoot is going to start at $50 to $75 and hour usually with a 2 hour minimum charge. You are worth that and more. A decent wedding photographer is going to run you $1500 and up for just their time/skill, not counting prints or files. They would cost more on top of that. Come up with a contract though and get a nonrefundable deposit if they do hire you. CYA plan on at least an hour of work on the computer for every hour you spend taking photos minimum. You could estimate the time involved. I have no idea how long you would be traveling but just an example of a way to get there.
Travel time up 2 hours
Meet & greet, out to the spot they want to do the shoot, 1 hour
Shoot time 2 hours
Travel back 1 hour
travel time home 2 hours.
That would be 8 hours. At $50. an hour that would be $400. plus all travel expenses. You will spend another couple hours at home sorting, retouching and packaging their photos for delivery.

Contract. who, what, where, when and future rights. If they are only going to use the photos for personal use make sure it is in the contract. You should retain ownership rights and say so for any other use. Sounds picky but you just never know.

Also I would seriously think about providing at least 1 8x10 free print from SmugMug with it all. Maybe even a couple small prints too. On the lustre paper. Those prints will be professional and many people just don't understand the difference until they see it, even some photographers. You want at least one print that looks professional all the way through to a print. It could lead to future sales as they may try Walgreen's. WalMart or (ack!) their own printer, see the difference and choose to buy more prints from you. A crappy print can make you look bad so at least be sure there is one good print. You already have a SmugMug account so can have them there and ready if they do want prints from you without any extra hassle.


I didn't really give you a set price because there is so much variety depending on where you are.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Thanks.

It won't go overnight. It's a matter of driving to and from Talkeetna (3.5 to 4 hours total), flying out to the glacier, which won't take long since Talkeetna is basically base camp for climbers, maybe an hour shooting and then back down. An all-day thing, but certainly not overnight. I'll keep in mind about the prints. That sounds like a great idea.

[DrewFlorida]

18. I would come up with a package price which included all of your time and expenses plus

a profit for your expertise. Figure out a cost which you would be happy to do if you had 100 more clients who asked you to do the same thing. It's easy to under price a package like this because, by the time you deal with all of the details you can end up putting in more time and effort than you realized would be needed, and that can lead you to cut back on your service to them. Most clients for a job like this, are more concerned with getting the best service and a great documentation of their trip than they are with cost. Of course be fair, be fair to you and to them, then bend over backwards to make their trip memorable.

Good luck, it sounds like fun!