Hourly rates

[KeepsakeGirl]

Are your hourly rates different depending on the type of contract work?

For example:

Would you charge the same hourly rate for someone who wants a custom wedding package of 3 hours for a small wedding VS 3 hours coverage for a casino party celebration?

I'm struggling on making my decision and am curious what you all do.

[Bruce M. Morris]

I am sure others will comment on this as well, but my thought is that an hourly rate is to cover YOUR time for being there and bringing your expertise to the situation. That shold be a seperate item completely on the invoice from the pricing for whatever prints, albums, CD's etc that the client is going to get. If you are giving them a total price, then at least for yourself, figure out what your time is worth and then all the other elements that they want or that you are offering.
Not sure what others feel on this. Hope this helps some..

[merock]

Prices fluctate depending on the job. You wouldn't charge the same for a national ad campaign as you would model headshots. To me, my hourly rate is just a basis to begin with and then I adjust accordingly depend on the size job.

[KeepsakeGirl]

So if you shoot a casino party with 200 guests and you shoot a wedding reception with 200 guests you would vary your rate?

[merock]

My hourly rate would probably be the same for the two. I can't see much of a difference in shooting the two parties. It all depends on the job though and what would be expected in post.
p.s. I am no expert in this field. I lean more towards commerical.

[adirty1]

events normally fall under the same pricing as a wedding.

commercial work falls under a whole other price. Normally it's a day or half day. commercial usually takes longer than a couple hours. then you sell the usage rights which is another fee.

so to answer your question yes i would charge the same price for the 4 hour wedding as i do for the 4 hour party.

[LadyShutterBug]

Mine would be different.

Most likely, casino-party-client is going to require a LOT less of my time than a bride in the grand scheme of things. Brides want meetings, samples, advice, and are overall higher maintenance than a general event client. I spend more time and money marketing to brides, and more time and money on my portfolio and sample products where weddings are concerned. This is why I have wedding "packages" and if anyone inquires about events, they get an hourly rate.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the bridal aspect of wedding photography-- I love meeting them, working with them, etc... but the fact of the matter is that I seldom have to set up a meeting with event clients-- they just look at my work and I send them a contract... whereas with a bride, I almost always have to have a consultation with them before I'm hired, facilitate them throughout the wedding process, work with them on lists for posed formals, have a meeting two or so weeks out from the wedding to nail down timeline and finalize details... etc.

With event clients, they generally just want someone there to take pictures so they don't have to, and it's left up to their guests to order pictures after the fact.

[ndsimm]

I agree, most parties don't require nearly as much time as a wedding would. If someone wants just an hourly rate for a wedding vs my package prices I would charge more. I've done parties and just charged an hourly rate but uploaded the images online and always generated more sales.
Besides, parties are a lot more relaxed and more fun and the people are always ready to have their pic taken and candids are always great...

[MyKey]

We charge $1000 min. for any event we shoot, if they want to go hourly after the 2 hours min that will get them it will be $175.00 per hour per photographer. However they can set up a package deal for anything if set up before the event happens.