Expert: Tricia Scott-Sahler - 3/21/2008

Question
I am a photographer, I have my first real paying project with a very large company, and I need to have an idea of what to charge them.  I will be doing anything form, food photography, to architecture and advertising.  I am not sure if I should charge hourly or just a lump sum...  I don't have experience with what to ask for. if I work an 8 hour day taking pictures, then go home and spend 5 hours editing and working on those photos, what would be a good cost for that?  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Congrats on your first job!  Whew, this requires more questions to answer.  Are you working for them full time or on a free-lance basis?  Free-lance is usually time and usage.  You need to figure out what your cost of doing business is and that will help you determine how much your time is worth.  You should also join a local ASMP or the APA. APA has tons of information on estimating projects and the correct paperwork and a great professional photographers forum:
http://www.apanational.com/index.cfm

You also have to determine what your crew expenses, sets, props, food etc are and include all that unless they are supplying?

They are also asking you to do many different types of photography, architecture and food both require pretty different photo skills, be sure you don't say yes to something you are not 100% sure you can do a great job at, it usually will bite you in the long run. :)

Hope this helps.

Tricia