How to charge for interior photography?

[Jimmy81]

Hi need some help here, i have a fren who`s an interior designer and he wans me to help him take pictures of some of his client`s house for his portfolio. Bascially its a photo of before/after renovation. So whats the market rate for these kind of photos? And how do i charge? Per photo? Per unit? Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[foxtwo]

You can charge by the hour if it's only 1 house you are going to or figure out a half-day/full day rate for more than 1. You should also try to do a recce of the client's house to check lighting, compositions, etc. Just 30-45mins should be enough, good if you can go with your friend so he can direct you what's important to photograph. Take snapshots, notes, go home and plan. You may need a stylist/or your friend on the actual day if you don't want to try styling on your own.

Actual shoot hour(s) + recce time/planning + post process + transport/prints/hiring extra equipment/hiring stylist with surcharge. Provide an invoice at the end.
That's the whole routine, if you're afraid of charging your friend too much then adjust your shooting rate accordingly, but at least recoup on money spent. You're doing this for his portfolio, and could become your portfolio as well.

 

[Jimmy81]

Hmmm how about charging per photo? Any idea on wats a reasonable price for tat? Coz from what i heard from my fren, he wans me to take pictures of different places in the house, after tat we will go to another client`s house for another shoot. Coz i dun really noe hw to guage the price by per hr, thanks for the reply anyway foxtwo

 

[catchlights]

the total charge of total hour spend on this project if is less than you day job OT for the same hour spend, might as well just do OT on your day job.

a simple interior shots for an hour or two, can ask for $300 and above.

don't think you friend will pay you this money for his portfolio, anyway, you can propose to him a barter trade, shoot for him free now, next time he design your new house for free.

 

[foxtwo]

Well it's just a gauge on how much you are worth an hour. Heh. You should do a spreadsheet and get some hard numbers down first then work backwards.

If by per photo, how many is your friend asking? A portfolio could go by 10-15 images, at $50 per shot (that's pretty low & inclusive of after post process) it's $500-750. After taking in the other charges so you might hit $800++ at the end of the day. If he's asking for less/more pictures then charging by half-day/full-day might be more attractive to the other person,

Example for 2 places, maybe you can put down $300 (low end) for a half-day rate (assuming many things like pre-planned compositions etc), and a professional practise (not sure if the same is implemented here) is to charge recce rate by half-day rate (if you paiseh then charge lower). Then for post processing say $50 (low end) per hour. Depending on the photos (troublesome exposure, perspective correction, colour correction, etc) and your PS skill level, for simplicity's sake say an hour total. After including the other charges, maybe $700++.

So... it's pretty flexible, you have the hard task of deciding how much your time is worth. And how much is your friend willing to fork out. Start with something simple first, like transport and meals. Then figure out how much post process to charge per hour. Then how many pictures he wants. Finally your hrly shooting rate which is highly dependent on your photography expertise. What you charge will also affect your friend's expectation. So be honest there.

 

[Jimmy81]

Hmmm okok i tink i noe how to work it out now thanks for the advice :thumbsup:

 

[tommon]

In the heydays of the 90s, I charge almost $1000 per house