Please Help unusual job needs urgent pricing

[shannyp]

Hello All

Can someone please please please help me price the following:

I need to come up with 10 or more images to be used as a pattern for baseball caps it's an unusual job and as such I have no idea what to charge, they will choose one image and want to hold the rights (unlimited ) however I also want to offer an alternate option such as limited per year..and really need advise on this (price wise)

I already have some images just sitting on the hard drive that may be suitable and as such I was just going to set a price(again I have'nt a clue what to charge ) other than that I would need to bill for time shooting/post processing etc and would love to hear from anyone as to whats a fair rate.

Sorry to ask so many questions however I have to have an estimate in by the weekend I only got word of the job an hour ago.

As you can tell I'm a newbie to this I would really really appreciate any/all advise

Thanks in Advance
Shanny

[dbphotos]

First if they are asking for all rights to the image they plan on doing more than baseball caps, so don't sell all rights. License the rights based on the # of items they will be printing them on. I know our very own Captain Tom here has sold his images for use on marketing materials so he may have a good answer for you.

[shannyp]

Thanks David, you've made a good point!

I've sent Captain Tom a message so thanks for the heads up!

[CaptainTom]

I'm leaving town in ten minutes so no long involved answer.

Ask them what their budget is. If it's reasonable to you, take the job. They may try to low ball you and if you think that's the case increase the price and if they say no then back away and keep in mind you don't want to do business with someone who doesn't appreciate your costs and talents.

Google commercial photography pricing guide

good luck. and do what David B says about finding out the usages. Don't sell all rights.
Limit their usage either to a specific product or for a specific time, or both.

[canoflan]

I will only add that you should already know a good $ to charge for your time/experience level. This could be between $50 and hour to $200 an hour.

If you are selling images that are already done, then you should develop this "labor" charge/hour based on what it would take you to recreate the shots, etc... based on what it took at that time, not what it would take today at your expertise level today.

It really is quite fun to figure these things out (Sorry, I like math and finance).

Pat

[shannyp]

Thanks Tom and Thanks Pat!

Both sound advise. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I've emailed them in regards to budget and usage, no reply as of yet.

I have been checking out what other photographers are charging here in New Zealand and the prices seem ridiculous (for the photographer) one said (and shes a professional) that she would charge $500 NZ ($390 US) as a half day rate then charge $50.00Nz ($39.00 US)
per image and that there would be no copy right on any images purchased.

And theres little ol me thinking of charging something like $5k for unlimited (10 year) or
$1k for unlimited 1 year for the usage.

I know I'm probably way off the ball with my pricing ( really crap at that type of thing) however $50 seems ridiculous in terms of giving away the rights of your work.

[canoflan]

One thing to realize. Under US law, if you sell the copyright (which you have at the point of taking the picture), then you are giving up the rights to the photo and you have to ask permission to do anything with the photo from the one you give the copyright to.

Therefore, I think when most places are asking for the copyright, you have to clarify to they mean "usage" or the actual copyright. Usage and licensing agreements control use, but you still own the copyright.

You will want to keep this clear since if you want to use any photos from the shoot in your advertising or portfolio, or print a 16x20 later for your studio, if you sell the copyright, then you have to ask permission and they have a right to charge you for that use.

Be careful...
Pat

[shannyp]

Hi Pat, Yeah the law is the same here, theres no way I've hand over copyright (I've been stung in the past) Still no word from them.

I'm getting impatient at this point as I have the work here, I'm going to send them some samples and quote a high number I think.

[canoflan]

yeah, when in doubt, if you are not desperate for the work, I would quote high and go from there.

Pat