what is a fair price to pay a photog?
 

If I am to hire a photographer to take one set of 30 photos of myself and deliver them edited (tattoo removal) what would be a fair price? That is I am paying him to take photos of me which he can not use nor watermark and the price should include editing.

Now, what is a fair price for the raw photos without editing?

Keeping in mind I'm talking about competent photographers with proper lighting, etc.

The reason I am asking is because I have the most wonderful friend. He is a professional fashion photographer (ie that is his job) and he has worked on really high level campaigns in Italy, etc. He has just returned to North America. He wants to do my photos for free as we are friends however I know things can happen and I don't want problems later, especially if my the photos make a lot of money, so I want to pay him the going rate to avoid any complications later and keep our friendship good.

I'd charge approx. $850 Cdn. for the edited pics (based on 2-3 hours studio time @ $300/hr. and min. 3 hours @$80/hr. for editing. For that you'd get the pics on disk only. Additional charge for prints/matting, etc.

Just a ballpark estimate. The editing time could vary depending on the complexity of the tattoo removal and any other cleanup of imperfections.

Day rates are around $400-1000 I think depending on the photographer (not including make-up, editing, or location).

Postem when ya gottem :winkwink:

It shouldn't take 2-3 hours of studio time to make one set of 30 photos. 3 hours editing I can see though.

right but I'm asking per set of 30 photos. In a day you could get a LOT more than one set of 30.

All depends on quality.

$500-$1K for a Day rate.
$30-$80 an hour for editing, depending on quality again.

Then any other expenses, like location.

Remember, just like housing, prices are different in every city.

A better question is what do you want to pay a photographer?

Are you guys not reading my posts? I already have a photographer, I want to pay him the going rate. He would do it for free but I don't want to deal with the hassels that could bring later so I'd like to pay him what I would pay if I hired someone else.

And I am asking about per set of photos, not a day rate. I know what day rates are but you could get a LOT more than one set of 30 photos done in a day.

That depends. Do you want 30 photos or do you want 30 USABLE photos? Keep in mind that the actual number of pics may well be higher than 30, just to get the 30 good shots you need.

I never pay cash to my friends, I buy them a great meal and drinks. When they need me to help them with something I don't expect to get cash.

I think if its something you're going to be selling you should pay him. It's not a easy question is he a Dean Capture type of photog with all that equipment or is here a prosumer with some decent gear or is he a guy with a rebel that likes looking at you naked?
That would make a difference on what is fair to pay him.

Even though 30 photos shouldn't take 2 - 3 hours, any photographer charging the going rate would expect to get paid for at least that much of their time. There can be a lot of setup involved if they are doing a pro shoot with pro lighting... as opposed to just point and click amateur style shots.

However, you need to figure out a price that you are happy with, that you feel will make your photographer happy, and it may not be exactly the going price that does this.

another question to ask is who is going to hold the 2257 records?

Why don't you simply this and figure $10 per photo. $300 gets you his time, studio, equipment, and editing time for your 30 photos (probably out of a larger number of unusable photos -- say 300 photos and you pick the best 30).

Furthermore, there is no such thing as a generic "going rate" and anybody who tells you otherwise is full of shit. Photographer rates are all across the board depending upon their experience, their equipment, if they have staff on board (lighting, makeup artists, etc).

I don't think there is a standard going rate. Photographers have different levels of experience & skills and charge differently for their goods & services. What's a fair price to get a website built? What's a fair price have your house painted? What's a fair price for a heart transplant? See what I mean?

Your better off to ask your friend what he would normally charge a client for something like this and then you'll have your answer :thumbsup

$500 USD + image airbrushing. if he can do the images in a few min, $2-$5 per image, if it takes an hour + per image, $50-$70 per hour. that would be for a 2-3 hr shoot. porthole to porthole as they say. you pay MU/hair and location. -bmb

First to avoid any future complications you will need a contract that he is willing to sign.
Its always better to pay a person even if they are friends this way the project doesn't get put on the back burner in favor of paid projects.
As many people have stated rates are all over the place. I think a fair price would be $500.00 to 1000.00. It really depends on how much work he has to put in on re touching the images. I know a few photographers who will spend literally hours on each image to make it just right. :winkwink:

You are asking him to sell his rights to the photos?
Regardless of the length of the shoot or number you want edited, the major point is these photos will be worthless to him.
It's impossible to say though without knowing the photographer...
Not less than $800, and depending on his level of talent, that could be much higher.

That's a good point...it's just for the pay scheme we are working out a per set thing as we are just taking the photos one set at a time whenever we have the time. Sometimes they will be studio photos, sometimes they will be "hey come over I'm taking a bath" but I want to have a flat fee the same for each set.

This actually is the best suggestion yet and is actually right around what I was thinking for costs, pre-editing. It's really hard when one person wants to do it for free but I been around enough to know all the shitty things that can happen when people don't keep business separate.

He just wants a hummer.

Let him do it. It's not that big a deal as people are making out. Just have him sign a simple contract that you are the producer and own exclusive rights.

There is not a photog in this thread that would not do 30 pics for a blowjob from you. :2 cents:

No need for me to chime in. It looks like you have allot of good answers already :winkwink:

Good luck :thumbsup

While you're correct in saying it "shouldn't" take that long, it *could* take that long depending on a variety of factors. We generally book studio time in increments no less than 3 hours to include setup time, lighting changes, wardrobe changes, makeup touch-up, etc.

To a layman, 30 photos doesn't sound like many. But in actuality, it can often take 4x that number (or more, depending on the photographer's skill) to produce 30 of excellent quality to satisfy a paying customer.

Since the photographer won't be having use of the photos, he has no way of partially recuperating his costs through resale or distribution...so the cost to the customer would be substantially higher.

lol yes I'm sure that is true...infact I could probably do things a LOT cheaper than I currently do however I DO NOT TRADE SERVICES no matter what. In fact when photographers give me their rates and then add "or we could work something else out... ;) " I delete their email immediately. I mean, geez, I can't get a tax write-off for a bj.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh I almost fell out of my chair just now!!

but ya it looks like you have some good answers already in this thread.. Good luck!

maybe you can deduct your lip gloss?

Everyone's talking about 2-3 hours or a whole day for a shoot but she said she only wants 30 pics. Shouldn't that be less than an hour?

yah and a blowjob only lasts a few minutes if she's good :1orglaugh

ah now we are getting somewhere! there is hope for the bj after all! don't forget to write off mouthwash for the taste and eye drops if he gets it in your eye :winkwink:

was gonna reply...then thought better of it lol

OT: You have a website yet kisskatlyn? Need advice or help, drop me your email or ICQ..

Alternativly...

Pick up a phone book, and ask 3 other local(ish) togs for a quote... Work out the average price, and pay him that. Simple and clean...

I have many websites ;)

hot diggity dog. Why is it the most logical idea is never the one we think of? *embarassed*

Exactly. It's the getting set-up and breaking shit down that takes the most time and energy. Maybe it would make more sense to pay for a decent block of time and include a few sets of pictures if you really insist on paying him. Still, if he travels to Europe for his job and is as much of a pro as he sounds like, any amount you can afford might actually be more of an insult than just accepting the favor/freebie. I don't think paying him is going to avoid complications; it could actually create more depending on what he's like and the nature of your relationship and personalities.

I'm with the folks pushing for a contract to avoid a mess later rather than thinking paying him will solve potential problems.

Three guys in the phone book that she doesn't know jack about the quality of their work and level of professionalism? Again, I think this could just be insulting to the guy.

Actually this is a very good point I had never thought of. I definately will have a contract / release with him but I didn't think it was fair for me to profit from photos and him get nothing. But looking at it from the other side, as you have done here, maybe he truly wants to do it as a nice gesture for me and me paying him would insult him. I'm going to have to talk with him more...I don't want there to be any problems on either side of things.

Have to agree.
If, as you say, you want to absolutely avoid any future complications, that is the best way of doing it.

Make sure that you get the photog to sign a work for hire agreement that specifies that you are paying him for his work and that all copyrights to the photos belong to you, the model.

I am a fashion shooter like the dude you are talking about. Buyouts are expensive. He is giving up his copyright to the images, and you are going to be making a ton of money off those images. What is that worth.

In the fashion industry, you triple your rate for a buyout normally. I have no idea how porn shoots pay.

It just seems like he is doing all the work and you are getting all the gain. It's his equipment, time and retouching time. $300 -$800 is a slap in the face imho if he is any good at all.
my 2:2 cents:

In porn movie or web site production, all crew people including the photographers are generally working strictly for pay and pretty much every producer or company hires them only on a work-for-hire basis for a rate x per day or half-day. A model or a director or a company can hire a talented photographer for a few hundred bucks per day, despite what price that same guy might be able to command on a fashion shoot or for some mainstream commercial job. So Katlyn, if you really want to use this friend of yours, ask him if he can work with that rate and come to a fair price on the photo retouching or better yet give it to someone else if it is too time consuming for him. Your photographer friend might just say yeah sure why not, and help you out.