Event Photography Pricing

What do you charge for a digital file for personal use only.

And where are you located.

Thanks.

Small town low income in Missouri
so events such as reunions, 50 th birthdays

I start at $100 min. or $60 first hour $40 after that. $25 per cd plus shipping which I get another $5
I print mailer forms and put them out at the party.

The last party was 3 hours and I sold 12 cd mail outs. 10 cd pick up total post time 1.5 hours
total time 2 hr post & mailing 3 hr party .5 hr driving total 5.5 hours
360
250
140

$750 total for 5.5 hours work. postage was under $2 bucks each. mailer cd and case about $2 each. It is good money for where I live. It may be really bad for someone else.

I shoot minor hockey, at tournaments I charge $5 for the CD and $2 per photos, so if a parent pick 3 photos they want as digital versions, it would be $11.

I live in a small town east of Ottawa, Canada.

Bernard

--

I measure my success in life not by my awards, but by the amount of smiles, hugs and kisses I get from my family on a daily basis !

Wow, huge range just in the first 2 answers - and both from photogs in small towns. To the OP, just goes to show that you need to really know what your local market can bear, as well as pricing for the type of event. Seems to me asking "what do I charge" on a world-wide internet forum is like asking "what color do you like".

Mark

and brown

Mark, you're right, I sat down for over a month before starting my business, working on my business plan, which included, seeing what other doing the same thing as me in my area charged for the similar products I would be offering, and what it would cost me to produce these products, I made sure I wasn't in the hole, and that it would provide me with the profits I was looking for.

This is a business, in such, you have to threat it as is.

Bernard

--

I measure my success in life not by my awards, but by the amount of smiles, hugs and kisses I get from my family on a daily basis !

You must stay in buisness and also compete in business
My Cd would have around 50 to 70 files on it for $25

I have to compete with studios doing shoot and burn weddings for $600. I make more money in less time doing a birthday or reunion and have 10 times more fun than a wedding. I really do not care about weddings anymore. I will do one if offered the job.

Just got a facebook flyer on the newest photographer in town. Get this one, his weddings range from $500 to $700 yet his senior pacakges are $350 to $500

I found weddings a lot more work and expensive to do than seniors. Thank god he posted his work. I am not worried about this guy at all .

Rdefen said:

What do you charge for a digital file for personal use only.

And where are you located.

Click to expand...

Located in the Philadelphia, PA area.

My answer should be considered in light of how I define personal use, which is a use that has no business, trade, advertising, public relations purpose and by an individual human (not corporate) person only.

The following prices do not reflect cost of production or creation. I charge for that separately. I do not shoot weddings and events, and the prices apply to work that invalid photographing people for other reasons as news, sports, portraits, etc.

Internet file at 100 dpi and up to 640 pixels on the long side costs $25 while 1280 pixels on the long side costs $40. All delivered by email.

Printable file at 300 dpi at 11 inches on the longest side costs $95. Delivered on CD with license on the disk and permission for photofinisher to reproduce.

Other file sizes available on request and are quoted based upon specifications.

--
Richard Weisgrau
http://www.weisgrau.com
Author of
The Real Business of Photography
The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating
Selling Your Photography
Licensing Photography

"how I define personal use, which is a use that has no business, trade, advertising, public relations purpose and by an individual human (not corporate) person only. "

So a photo of a musician on their personal site you would charge more for because it has a promotional purpose than a photo of the same musician purchased by their friend to put on the friends personal website ? What if the friend puts it on facebook and links to the musicians page ?

Or is any photo of a person doing what they do for work promotional ?

Rdefen said:

So a photo of a musician on their personal site you would charge more for because it has a promotional purpose than a photo of the same musician purchased by their friend to put on the friends personal website ?

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I consider the use of any photograph to advance a person's business interest to be a business use. If that musician's "personal site," as you call it, is in fact serving the purpose of getting the musician work, then I would not consider it personal use. Instead I see it a business use. The prices I quoted in my original post would not apply and the fees I would require would be higher.

The "friend" you mention would not be able to purchase a copy from me. I do not sell person A's image taken for personal use) to person B. Any license given to the musician for personal use (as I define it) would not be transferable to a third party without an additional license to that third party. The fee for that license would be based upon intended use. If the third party wanted the rights to publish the image on the Internet while linking to a site I deem not to be a personal site, then the fee would reflect that fact.

Rdefen said:

What if the friend puts it on facebook and links to the musicians page ?

Click to expand...

That would be an infringement unless licensing arrangements were made.

Rdefen said:

Or is any photo of a person doing what they do for work promotional ?

Click to expand...

No picture is promotional in itself. It is the nature of the application in which the image is used that defines whether the image serves a purpose other than personal (as I define it.)

--
Richard Weisgrau
http://www.weisgrau.com
Author of
The Real Business of Photography
The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating
Selling Your Photography
Licensing Photography

Bernard, are you in Hawkesbury?!

Bernard D said:

I shoot minor hockey, at tournaments I charge $5 for the CD and $2 per photos, so if a parent pick 3 photos they want as digital versions, it would be $11.

I live in a small town east of Ottawa, Canada.

Bernard

--

I measure my success in life not by my awards, but by the amount of smiles, hugs and kisses I get from my family on a daily basis !

Click to expand...

--
"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

It always helps to DEFINE your terms and create the marketplace you wish to work in, and you do it well. All too many pick numbers out of the air and leave the terms unclear, and money on the floor.

Rdefen said:

What do you charge for a digital file for personal use only.

And where are you located.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

-$29.99 with my company maintaining all ©

-I allow newspapers to use files for one time
use (unless it's a celebrity) for the same $29.99 fee.

-I discontinued selling "web resolution" digital files
for $14.99-$16.99 which people used for farebook
since it seemed to eat into the high priced product.

Any other use of my digital files are subject to who
the company or client is. On average the price is rarely
over double the cost for personal use since they usually
are paying for multiple photos.

Sports Events Photography in Austin, TX but do work
around the US and sometimes abroad.

Bernard have you considered registering as a charity? It would get you tax exempt status.

--

Appreciative student of the late Joan Wakelin. 39+ years later still enjoying it!

Beware, often B&G have proven that price is more important than quality when selecting photography

Bernard
--

I measure my success in life not by my awards, but by the amount of smiles, hugs and kisses I get from my family on a daily basis !

And those are the customers probably best avoided.

Zoooming

Bernard D said:

Beware, often B&G have proven that price is more important than quality when selecting photography

Bernard
--

I measure my success in life not by my awards, but by the amount of smiles, hugs and kisses I get from my family on a daily basis !

Click to expand...