I have been asked by one of the local dance studios to shoot portraits before their recital. I have put together a package of
one 8×10, two 5×7’s, and 12 wallets. Approximately 20 to 30 dancers total.
What would be a fair price, without scareing anyone off?
"What would be a fair price, without scareing anyone off?"
That’s the $50,000 question in business…what will the market bare?
I would say there is no right answer here. Have you done this sort of thing in your area before, maybe for a school or some other subject? Do you have any idea what the photographers in your area charge the local sports leagues for this kind of package? If so, this is a good place to start getting a ballpark figure. If you don’t know, or want more info, you could research online to see if you can find someone in your area doing this kind of work and see if you can figure out what they charge. A good place to do this is photoreflect.com. That is a site where professional photographers can sell prints, etc. If you go there and do a photographer search for your area, look through their events and see if you find one that isn’t password protected. Go into their gallery and see what they are charging for prints. This should give you SOME idea of what the market is used to seeing and price yourself accordingly. Realize that if you only find one photographer to look at, that may not represent the whole market.
You could also just determine your TRUE cost of producing these prints (true cost means including your equipment investment, time, hard cost, etc) and then mark it up to get a profit that you would like. You also have to factor in the fact that you will not sell 100% of the group so you can’t base what you want to make on 100% of them buying.
By the way, it also matters if you will be taking orders to deliver later or printing on-site. I assume you will be taking orders. Make sure if you have not done anything like this before that you are EXTREMELY organized going in, taking care to get the correct files associated with the right dancer(s). It sucks to have to go back to the school to figure out who’s who afterwards.
Good luck!
December 30th, 2009 at 9:56 am
"What would be a fair price, without scareing anyone off?"
That’s the $50,000 question in business…what will the market bare?
I would say there is no right answer here. Have you done this sort of thing in your area before, maybe for a school or some other subject? Do you have any idea what the photographers in your area charge the local sports leagues for this kind of package? If so, this is a good place to start getting a ballpark figure. If you don’t know, or want more info, you could research online to see if you can find someone in your area doing this kind of work and see if you can figure out what they charge. A good place to do this is photoreflect.com. That is a site where professional photographers can sell prints, etc. If you go there and do a photographer search for your area, look through their events and see if you find one that isn’t password protected. Go into their gallery and see what they are charging for prints. This should give you SOME idea of what the market is used to seeing and price yourself accordingly. Realize that if you only find one photographer to look at, that may not represent the whole market.
You could also just determine your TRUE cost of producing these prints (true cost means including your equipment investment, time, hard cost, etc) and then mark it up to get a profit that you would like. You also have to factor in the fact that you will not sell 100% of the group so you can’t base what you want to make on 100% of them buying.
By the way, it also matters if you will be taking orders to deliver later or printing on-site. I assume you will be taking orders. Make sure if you have not done anything like this before that you are EXTREMELY organized going in, taking care to get the correct files associated with the right dancer(s). It sucks to have to go back to the school to figure out who’s who afterwards.
Good luck!
References :
16 years as a professional photographer.
December 30th, 2009 at 10:17 am
it determines what state you’re in and how much its gonna cost for you to have these photos printed. For a package of this magnitude i’d charge $20, but thats just me. It wouldn’t cost me no more than $3 to get these printed, but you also need to factor in time and delivery cost as well. Delivery cost meaning, if you’re gonna mail them to the customers or if you’ll take them to the dance studio you’ll need to factor in gas.
References :
December 30th, 2009 at 10:53 am
My cost for a package like this is $4.40. I usually charge $18-$20 for this package. I also have 3 larger packages to choose from and have individual sheets to choose from too. Individual sheets I charge $8 for the whole and $4 for the half. Send me an email and I can send you a copy of my price list for dance if you like.
References :
firey_cowgirl@yahoo.com