Amatuer...what to charge a friend?

[sher811]

I am not a professional photographer by any means

My friend asked me to take portraits of her beloved Doggy...

She wants to compensate me for my time and efforts

What should I charge her?

It will take about 2-3 hours total including editing after the shoot.

I will put all the pics on a cd for her and she is going to order whatever prints she wants on her own.

What is a fair / reasonable fee for this?

[andrys]

I am not a professional photographer by any means

My friend asked me to take portraits of her beloved Doggy...

She wants to compensate me for my time and efforts

What should I charge her?

It will take about 2-3 hours total including editing after the shoot.

I will put all the pics on a cd for her and she is going to order whatever prints she wants on her own.

What is a fair / reasonable fee for this?

For a friend I'd just do it as a gift.

For an acquaintance or a co-worker I don't know well, that's another
matter.

[sher811]

its actually a "friend of a friend"

its my best friends stepmom...whom i have only met once before

i have only done photos for my friends for free before

[ghsmith178613]

so, what do you earn on your day job? do you see any reason that you are not worth at least that?

[sher811]

that's a good way to look at it...

i make 40$/hour teaching piano

[ghsmith178613]

well, there you go. my physical therepist charges $90/hr.

[jude_53]

I like how you explained finally how close your "friend" was to you..lol. You see, this is a huge part of the conundrum of taking photos for people you know (and their friends, and their friends, etc.)

I always give family free pics or charge them just what my online printer charges - the work I do is free. CLOSE family that is... My best and very good friends get a discount (sometimes a freebie just because I want to give a gift ..). Aquaintences and people who know people who know me are charged exactly what I make on a shoot.

When I started out I didn't think I was worth much. A sitting fee for doing portraits was $25 (I groan when I think of it). My first wedding I only charged $200 .. then next $400. Then I realized I was foolish, foolish, foolish because I made NOTHING on it really after 20 hours of processing/posting/sizing photos. I decided my time and talent were worth being compensated. People expected a discount because they knew who I was. I soon realized that most of the work I got was from friends, acquaintences, or people who knew them. To always give discounts was to never charge a full price for work I thought was excellent and time consuming.

I recently offered to do wedding photos for a co-worker for $500 just because she hadn't found anyone yet and said she didn't think she could "afford" me (my usual rates are $1200 for wedding and reception). I offered it also with a small package of prints as a gift. She said she had to ask her fiance.. of course we've worked together for 3 weeks and she's not said a word to me about it. Another co-worker just asked her yesterday if she had a photographer and she said "no.. I'm looking for the cheapest one I can find"..

Well, you get what you pay for when Uncle Joe is your photographer just because he owns a digital camera and will do it for the fun of it.

My point is (I think I have one) that I finally learned to sum it up in a single thought that I would imagine posing to a client:

"Take what I make on a shoot, divide it between the hours I shoot, process, interact with client, get prints, deliver and I make about $2.50 an hour if I charge low rates.. would YOU work for that?"

Truth is, I believe I'm worth every penny I charge (and then some). And if you don't have faith in yourself, you've already been f**ked.

[sher811]

Jude: you make a very good point. thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

I am starting to think I should just do it for free...but if she wants to "reward" me with monetary compensation...she can decide the amount.

(it might just end up being more than I would have suggested anyhow)

LOL

I dont want to do this professionally...I just want to do it for fun