I get it, photography is a competitive field, and these days when every mobile phone has a camera, clients sometimes think photography is much easier than it is. I am sure all of us have had client asking/demanding totally unreasonable and sometimes downright stupid things.
Let me start this thread off with one of mine.
I was recently approached by an old client. Her family used to run a night club and I used to help them out with party club shots. It has been a few years and she was asking me to help her out with a new client. Apparently she was not in the party scene any more and was helping a client build a website and needed jewellery shots done. Here was the conversation via whatsapp
Client: I need some jewellery photos for my client. Are you still doing photography?
Me: Yes I still do.
Client: I just need some simple ones will do. About 20-30 photos. I think 2 hours should be enough to finish.
Me: (I know 2 hours is ridiculous for so many pieces but before I start asking for more money, I wanted to know what her expectation was. Maybe it is a blogshop for costume jewllery) ok is this the kind of photo you want?
Client: No not must have diamonds also.
Me: Like this?
Client: No not enough effect.
Me: Effect?
Client: Must see the diamond bling. That one no effect
Me: U mean like this?
Client: Yes like that very nice
Me: ok this will be $1000 per piece. (honestly I was not interested in taking up this job in the first place at this point of time, I knew she thought this was super easy to do and thought I could do it in like 5 minutes per photo)
Client: Why so expensive!
Me: Because it is very hard to do. It takes at least 1 hour to shoot each piece and still needs a lot of graphic design and layout. If you want I can do for discount, $15,000 for 20 pieces. This is super hard to do. Very few photographers in Singapore can do this professionally. I need to hire a specialist to help you do this. And there is a lot of specialised equipment that need to use to do this job. And we also need to do graphic design for all the pieces. (this is the truth)
Client: What is the market rate?
Me: $1000 per photo
Client: How about the basic one?
Me: This kind I can do. I can do 20 pieces for $1800
Client: What is your best price
Me: $1800 Cash before delivery
END
Let me start this thread off with one of mine.
I was recently approached by an old client. Her family used to run a night club and I used to help them out with party club shots. It has been a few years and she was asking me to help her out with a new client. Apparently she was not in the party scene any more and was helping a client build a website and needed jewellery shots done. Here was the conversation via whatsapp
Client: I need some jewellery photos for my client. Are you still doing photography?
Me: Yes I still do.
Client: I just need some simple ones will do. About 20-30 photos. I think 2 hours should be enough to finish.
Me: (I know 2 hours is ridiculous for so many pieces but before I start asking for more money, I wanted to know what her expectation was. Maybe it is a blogshop for costume jewllery) ok is this the kind of photo you want?
Client: No not must have diamonds also.
Me: Like this?
Client: No not enough effect.
Me: Effect?
Client: Must see the diamond bling. That one no effect
Me: U mean like this?
Client: Yes like that very nice
Me: ok this will be $1000 per piece. (honestly I was not interested in taking up this job in the first place at this point of time, I knew she thought this was super easy to do and thought I could do it in like 5 minutes per photo)
Client: Why so expensive!
Me: Because it is very hard to do. It takes at least 1 hour to shoot each piece and still needs a lot of graphic design and layout. If you want I can do for discount, $15,000 for 20 pieces. This is super hard to do. Very few photographers in Singapore can do this professionally. I need to hire a specialist to help you do this. And there is a lot of specialised equipment that need to use to do this job. And we also need to do graphic design for all the pieces. (this is the truth)
Client: What is the market rate?
Me: $1000 per photo
Client: How about the basic one?
Me: This kind I can do. I can do 20 pieces for $1800
Client: What is your best price
Me: $1800 Cash before delivery
END