Price for Photos: I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on...

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

4 @$59 each

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

If you can afford to, give them the photos with the understanding that you must get visible credit for them. If you are just starting, often advertising is more important than income. Otherwise, take the cost of the equipment you use, add travel expense, $100 per hour, and divide by 4. Otherwise, it's not worth doing. And this is assuming that you supply them will digital files rather than actual prints. To quote Gypsy Rose Lee "it ain't cheap."

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Someone on their side should know that licensing a stock image from someone like Getty Images is about $500 per image for unrestricted usage. So, whatever they can knock off a potential price of $2000 is a benefit to them. You can decide what to charge for the local grocery discount, with the realization that asking too much and they can go elsewhere. $100 per image is quite reasonable, falling at the very low-end of them going to an actual stock image service.

Be sure to get payment first. If they wanted an actual stock image, again someone on their side should know full-well that you pay first, then receive the image.

And, it's $100 for a full-resolution JPEG, no restrictions. If they want the RAW (if available), that's $400 per file ...

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

The going rate for PROFESSIONAL framed images is cost plus 3 times your cost.
For example, my framed prints cost $125.00 to produce, my selling price is $375.00 + $125.00 = $500.00.
And, by the way, if your images are for publication, only sell them FIRST PRINT RIGHTS, it protects you from them using your images over and over again.

w00dy4012 Loc: Thalia, East Virginia

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

I don't make my living from photography, but a neighbor who is president of an organization asked me to supply a photo for the cover of a membership directory. She said she'd pay me for it. I told I'd do it, but wouldn't accept payment. All I had to do was send her an image of an existing one suitable for printing at 5X7. I told her I'd do it gratis. She insisted on paying and asked me to name a price. Finally, I told her I'd do it for $100, which I thought was ridicules and would discourage the offer of payment. Without batting an eye, she agreed. I sent her four images to choose from and a week later, she stopped by the house and handed me $100.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

The multiplier of cost and "going rate" suggestions are well-intentioned but ill-informed. Paul (CHG_CANON) has the correct answer. And people who suggest that you do the work "for exposure" is exactly what is wrong with this industry - giving work away for promotional consideration has the undesirable effect of ruining the marketplace for working professionals making a living doing this work. The one exception is when you decide to gift away some work to non-profits, in which case you make an invoice up for your services and use it as a tax deduction against your taxable income.

The true going rate is the cost of a stock image. And you should be about 75%-80% of that cost for jpeg, and I would not provide a raw file. You should copyright anything you give to them, and have a clearly written use license. Anything less and you are being taken advantage of. Custom photographic services should cost more than your average stock photo.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

IMO, the size of the food chain and the usage rights (one time vs unlimited) should influence your charges. I would also consider a small discount for visible credits ......and, of course this should all be in writing !
.

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

Thank you for all of your information, I had asked the company what their budget was and they told me it was around $50 per photo and they would include a credit line on each photo.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Gene51 wrote:

The multiplier of cost and "going rate" ... (show quote)

I have lots of friends that are photographers, artists, musicians, and they all share the universal truth, if you work free for “exposure” it just exposes that you’ll work for free.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

toptrainer wrote:

Thank you for all of your information, I had asked the company what their budget was and they told me it was around $50 per photo and they would include a credit line on each photo.

They wanted them for free as $50 is unrealistic. You should charge $100 per image or let someone else give them for free. Of course, $200 total is better than nothing and can pay for something nice, as well as generates a learning experience.

User ID

toptrainer wrote:

I was asked by a food chain to supply four photos of a local area, and asked @ pricing. I have never supplied such photos before, and don't know where to be begin on pricing. Any suggestions would be appreciated...Thanks in advance.

Depends ... organic or industrial food ?

User ID

cahale wrote:

If you can afford to, give them the photos with the understanding that you must get visible credit for them. If you are just starting, often advertising is more important than income. Otherwise, take the cost of the equipment you use, add travel expense, $100 per hour, and divide by 4. Otherwise, it's not worth doing. And this is assuming that you supply them will digital files rather than actual prints. To quote Gypsy Rose Lee "it ain't cheap."

So your suggested transaction is whoring for no charge as long as it’s performed in the public square, and then you die in the gutter. Cool ! Great romantic screenplay potential there. Thaz where all the *real* money is these days anywho.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

SuperflyTNT wrote:

I have lots of friends that are photographers, artists, musicians, and they all share the universal truth, if you work free for “exposure” it just exposes that you’ll work for free.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

User ID wrote:

Depends ... organic or industrial food ?