[ApparentlyNothing]

I recently had someone ask me to take promo pictures of their band and asked me how much I charge. I've never charged before, and I don't know how much would be a reasonable price and how much would be too much. I know this largely depends on how good I am, so you can judge that by my deviantART page if you want. But basically, how much should I charge for something like this? What's a general price range out there for semi-pro to professional photographers?

[Brent]

I would just charge them a flate rate, especially if it's people you know. Until it becomes a business for you I don't think it's completely reasonable to demand an hourly fee or anything like that. Set a time and location limit, though. Like $150 for 2-3 hours and up to 4 locations. With a time *and* location limit that will reduce the amount of driving because they won't want to stray too far from where they started when time is money. The time limit will keep them from piddling around and the location limit along with the time limit will keep them from trying to cram 12 places into the time they have and running you ragged. If you're doing digital stuff it won't matter as much, but if you're using film be sure to take the cost of the film into consideration when naming a price or charge on a per roll basis for the raw film. You really need to do both film and digital so the film can be scanned at ultra hi-res if they are serious about what they're doing. That way it's good for posters, banners, billboards or whatever else comes up.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Brent

I would just charge them a flate rate, especially if it's people you know. Until it becomes a business for you I don't think it's completely reasonable to demand an hourly fee or anything like that. Set a time and location limit, though. Like $150 for 2-3 hours and up to 4 locations. With a time *and* location limit that will reduce the amount of driving because they won't want to stray too far from where they started when time is money. The time limit will keep them from piddling around and the location limit along with the time limit will keep them from trying to cram 12 places into the time they have and running you ragged. If you're doing digital stuff it won't matter as much, but if you're using film be sure to take the cost of the film into consideration when naming a price or charge on a per roll basis for the raw film. You really need to do both film and digital so the film can be scanned at ultra hi-res if they are serious about what they're doing. That way it's good for posters, banners, billboards or whatever else comes up.

No, I don't know these guys, so I don't feel as awkward for charging them. Usually when my friends ask me to take pics of them, I don't feel comfortable asking for money. But these guys I don't mind at all since I don't know them. They seem like a young band, the guy who contacted me is only 19. I don't know how good they are or what level they're at, which I think would influence my asking price. It would be all digital, so I don't have to worry about film except for the blank disk to burn the pics on for them. I'll ask for gas money for sure if I have to drive a considerable amount. Is $150 really a reasonable price? I feel like that's too much. I was thinking like $50. And even that felt a little high. Of course, I want to throw them a high offer just to see if they'll go for it, and if not, then lower my price to accomodate their budget, but I need a limit for how low I should really go. I am pretty new to this. If $150 is really the going rate, then I'd definitly go for that. But I guess I need to find out more about who these guys are and what they want done first.

[zekthedeadcow]

I would agree ith the $150 range to start at. I _think_ a average hour is around $70...but I'm new myself ... I really like your architecture pics.