[violentmonkey]

need some opinions from those of you who make a living off photography (or even those of you that dont, any opinions are welcome)

The head coach of my football team asked me if I could do the headshots and team photo this year, and I eagerly agreed. My setup will be very professional rivaling that of a company he would have to hire to do the job, so the work will be top notch. We have about 85 guys on the roster, so I was thinking about 3 different photos for each guy and about 5 total of the whole team on the bleachers.

Now here is my question: What would be appropriate to charge him for a job like this? I could do it all for free since I'm trying to get a starting job, lol. I am struggling with paying some bills so I don't want to let any opportunity for a paycheck to slip away, no matter how small. How much do companies charge for this service, and how much could I charge to hook up the team while also fairly compensating me? I still need to plan the logistics of this shoot to see how much time its going to take me to help determine if I should charge a flat rate or by the hour or by the head.

thanks for any responses

[outkast kid]

Originally Posted by violentmonkey

My setup will be very professional rivaling that of a company he would have to hire to do the job, so the work will be top notch.

You're set up to do professional photography and produce top notch work but haven't ever actually done any? Pretty contradictory story bro....


Anyway, if you're doing a studio setup with very controlled lighting and a controlled environment, post processing won't be very hard. Batch it all and then go through and tweak anything specific. With that said, I would probably charge a decent amount (couple hundred), 85 people with 3-5 shots per person is going to take a little while along with setup and teardown.

[violentmonkey]

I don't claim to be a professional, just a hobbyist with a few years of experience. I have never actually charged anyone anything, just shooting friends and family, parties, street shots, etc. I have helped other photographers with weddings in the past. I have the lights, stands, and umbrellas from my video work, which are awesome for indoor lighting.

The only reason my coach asked me was because I brought my camera to a team bbq and he liked the way the pictures looked, and coaches working on tight budgets automatically think of ways to save funds. lol

[Striker9]

I'd do $1,250 as your day rate. Should take 1 full day to shoot and edit

[fainerbainer]

I do this, however, I don't charge and then I pass it on to the parents. Last time I did it I did probably a 1/3-1/2 of what you do and made $700 and it took me about 1.5 hours to do...and much longer to sort, package, and distribute the photos to the right teams (little league).

Just depends on what model you want to do. Paid up front to give the photos as a day rate or to do the photos and market them to the parents (keep track of file numbers, jerseys, paperwork, etc.)

I'm super curious as to what you are using to shoot since it rivals a professional. Care to share? Just to give you an idea of what I show up with I won't list all my gear but it's upwards of 6grand worth of stuff. 1k in lights, 3k in camera bodies, 2k in lenses or thereabouts.

[violentmonkey]

lol, maybe i shouldnt have compared myself to pro. using a 5d, carrying along a t4i, a few prime lenses, and about $500 in lighting equipment.

[fainerbainer]

That should work. It's comparable to what I have (d700 and d5100), just more lighting and what not. When I did little league I just had my canon stuff (5d, 60d, 85L and a backup).

[violentmonkey]

I think I might ask for a flat rate of $200 (is that selling myself short?).

For the headshots that go on the school website, I think I'm going to do that indoors, basic 3-point lighting. Have them sit on a stool or something similar. Have them turn their bodies at a 45* angle with their head facing me.

I am second guessing doing more individual portraits with unique poses and props because of the logistics of it all.

I will do one for each position with the players in their position groups with their coach. And snap a few of the whole team on the bleachers. Should I go by numerical order (left to right, front to back) or by height (shorter guys in the front)? A 50mm should do fine for this right?

Suggestions?

[fainerbainer]

logistics suck if you want to get creative. 3 point lighting headshots is the way to go unless you want to do some unique lighting (such as wraparound or standing w/seamless BG). Always do team photos by height. It doesn't matter what their number is.

My favorite BTS for individual sports portraits is here:
http://blog.craigmitchelldyer.com/20...s-photo-shoot/

2 strip lights, 1 beauty dish and then bleed light from the accent light cutoff from coming to the camera. This is the setup I'm going to use for the cheerleaders when I do their photos next week.

[violentmonkey]

thanks bro. I appreciate the input!

[fainerbainer]

I added more to my last post

[KnightsPaintball]

$200 is a bit low really.. My minimum is $350 for this kind of thing to be honest and I don't have nearly as much gear as you do. Really I'm thinking about $450-600 would be a good ballpark rate for all the time and editing it would take for such a shoot, I mean 3 pictures per person would be 255 pictures so you'll probably have 260 there. That is a lot of photos to weed down and THEN edit and even with basic retouches would take a long time to do. I did a maternity shoot this past week and charged her $150 and I only worked an hour and a half with basic edits (probably a total of 30 photos taken, gone through, edited, and given to her on a cd. Photography isn't a cheap thing and if you sell yourself short people will hear and take advantage of low prices.

[wafflecakee]

$2000.

[p8ntcheck45]

Ask if they don't mind sharing their budget, then adjust based on that. I generally give them two numbers, and say somewhere between those two, based on their needs, image use, and other factors.

I did a 34 person team and individual shoot for a local large college and their budget was around five hundred, and I charged five hundred. It just varies shoot to shoot if its not a Standard service you offer.

[QuencyJones16]

Jimmy has it right. Everyone has a budget to go by and once you know what that is it makes negotiations much better. This goes for a lot of different types of shoots.

So first I would ask them what their budget is in the first place. So you know where to start. Not only do you get an amount that you are happy with in many cases, but the customer will be more inclined to pass you off to other individuals. If you're happy to negotiate with in their budget then they will be more lenient with you.

Unless they want you to shoot 200 kids and will pay you $100 that a stretch.

[wafflecakee]

Don't include your expenses within their budget, if they have $1000, they have 1100 to cover lights or whatever else.