Product Photography Pricing

[JMM]

Can someone tell me how to set pricing for digital image for use in brocures and on website. It is food photography and they have agreed to buy the props.

[lockedillusions]

You could go one or two ways.
You could sale a CD in digital collections to help meet a sale min... OR
You could sale the files independently.
It really is hard to tell someone else what to sale there files for you just need to work it out on how much you are ultimately wanting to make.

[bigjon0107]

What is going to be the print run of the brochure? How big are the images? How many hits does the site get? How/where are the brochures going to be distributed? Etc...

Lots of questions before you can accurately price something like that.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by JMM

Can someone tell me how to set pricing for digital image for use in brocures and on website. It is food photography and they have agreed to buy the props.

Either price by the image or by half day/full day. Up to you. I tend to go more for "by the image" route for products. And if they decide to add products last minute, your covered, even if it ended up taking less time than you initially thought.

I know I'll get chewed out for this but "usage" is a dying practice.
No one expects to pay for anything but full usage rights anymore because most photographers don't charge that way anyway anymore, except internet photographers apparently. Just figure out your hourly rate, include processing time and everything else it will take you to make the final image, and that's the price. Doesn't matter to you whether they are using it in a b/w newspaper ad or on a freakin billboard. It's all the same to you. Same time, same skills.

And this advice is coming from not only a photographer, but a full time graphic designer who needs to buy photography.

[Nikonfan]

I agree with you Dennis. I don't think it's ethical to charge based on how many prints a customer will be making or how they plan to use an image. It doesn't cost you more to allow them multiple uses and it doesn't take more time or skill. Just because other photographers charge a particular way does not make it right. If everyone jumped off a bridge... I say come up with a price that you feel is fair for the work you will be doing. If they will pay it great, if not move on.

You may try to figure out how long the process will take you and compare that to the effort and processing time of a portrait session. If you will being double the work and processing of a normal portrait session, charge double your portrait session rates, etc..

[bigjon0107]

So, yall are saying that you would charge the same amount for a local, small-ish town client that is going to be using the images on a catering menu vs. a national client that is going to be using the images online, in the menus and an ad campaign?

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by bigjon0107

So, yall are saying that you would charge the same amount for a local, small-ish town client that is going to be using the images on a catering menu vs. a national client that is going to be using the images online, in the menus and an ad campaign?

Your mixing two different factors.

Big client vs small client: Depending on how bad I want the job I may massage the numbers to fit a smaller clients budget. But since this is not a full time gig for me, I have the option of passing on any job I don't feel is worth my time. But really, why should you pay more for the same product just because your company makes a lot more benjamins per year?

Usage: As stated above, i don't really care how you use the images. I would if I could, but realistically, it's not going to happen. The only time I charge "usage" is if I do a job for one client, but then someone else from a different company happens to see them and wants to use one or two shots because it showcases their product too, then I will negotiate that. But that's a whole separate deal and I'll still sell them full usage rights as outlined in my contract. But price may vary widely from one example to the next.

This is just how MY pricing has evolved. YMMV.

[Nikonfan]

Yes, I would charge the same for a local coffee shop as if Nike were hiring me. However, Nike wouldn't likely be hiring me. They would hire someone with a ton of past experience on large ad campaigns such as Chase Jarvis. Chase is very in demand due to his experience and skill level. He therefore is able to charge much more because he is in demand. If Nike wants him as the photographer they will have to pay. This is why the big companies pay much more. The local coffee shop can't afford the big name photographer so they go with a local guy that doesn't charge as much. Now, if you are booked solid and then you can obviosly charge more for your services. But I wouldn't charge more just because a company has more money.

[J Eddington]

Joyce I price by the photo AND usage.

Read this it might help. Photography Pricing

[bigjon0107]

Ok, I suppose I should explain the way I price a touch more. Like it has been mentioned, YMMV.

I charge a same flat rate for the day, only variance is on if i was shooting sports vs a corporate headshot assignment, etc... Not between one corporate shoot and another.

Now, my variance in pricing comes in with the usage. Best explained like a copy of software, if it is going to be used multiple times, you have the initial cost, but you are going to need to buy additional licenses for it. And depending on your usage is how much you pay (student vs professional editions, etc...). A company like Nike (example only) is going to have way more computers and need many more licenses then what a local furniture manufacture is going to need. I lumped in the client size and usage since the majority of the time they are so closely related.

Rights are your biggest asset, so it should also be the biggest expense to the client if they want to have them (at least in my opinion).

It may be becoming dated, but the art directors I have worked will still understand it.