What to charge (jewelry photos).

[Nocturnus]

I have some people that want me to take pictures of about 100 items of jewlery (necklaces, earrings, rings, etc) and really have no idea what I should charge. I'd be doing all the post work on the images and giving them a cd of the images to use. My first thought was to do a per item fee, like $3-$5 item (includes all post work).

[bondarnes]

That's commercial work and I always charge by the hour. Highest rate for photography time and a little less for post process time. Do you have a light tent or are you familiar with lighting jewelry?

[Nocturnus]

Yeah, I have a homemade light tent. Havn't done alot in the way of jewelry, but they gave me a few pieces and i've been messing around with it. Tried hot lights for a bit, but decided to fire my stobes though the tent. I've been picky about my test shots, but they seem to really like them all. Most of the shots will be sized down greatly for a catalog.

Just a test from today (just picked up the Canon 50 1.8 and tried it out), no real post work other then fixing the WB on the background.

[LadyShutterBug]

funny... my uncle has asked me to do the exact same thing and i have really got no idea what to charge.

he offered to pay me in jewelry.

that made me say yes.

i like to photograph it on my window sill using natural light (most of his pieces are smaller rings and necklaces)... like this: