Nominal Fees?

[sara]

So I am going to shoot some jewellery for this company and someone said I should charge a nominal fee, since they emailed me and said "it would be great to have unlimited, worldwide rights to use them for our PR purposes as well."...which I'm fine with obviously but I don't know how much to charge. Infact, I wouldn't say my photos are 100% fantastic, because they're not. I don't have the best digital kit, just a normal one.

 

[charjohncarter]

Listen, the best digital kit isn't any different from any other digital kit. So forget that. Number two, you should figure driving time, cost of equipment (amortized), time spent doing this job, etc. Then you should practice on some cubic zirconiums before going. If I were you I would make a light box (simple, I made one in 25 minutes) and then do very much digital shooting with it and the cubic zirconiums. Here is a shot I made with my 25 minute light box, maybe this isn't what the client wants, but you can do it:

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Nominal fee? Jesus, they asking you to do commercial photography. I'd charge $1000 a day for a shoot that required as much work as good jewelry photography does plus unlimited rights. Tell them that's what it costs and if they say no, walk. They're not benefiting you by working you for free or nearly free, and you owe nothing to a profit making business that sells stuff worldwide.

 

[charjohncarter]

Nominal fee? Jesus, they asking you to do commercial photography. I'd charge $1000 a day for a shoot that required as much work as good jewelry photography does plus unlimited rights. Tell them that's what it costs and if they say no, walk. They're not benefiting you by working you for free or nearly free, and you owe nothing to a profit making business that sells stuff worldwide.

He is probably right, but be sure to make a detailed invoice.

 

[Shac]

Sara - if this is your first commercial job I have to disagree with Chris. You need to build creds and a commercial portfolio and charging $1K a day to start with will quickly lead to no work IMO.
As to what to charge - maybe if friends are involved - explain that "unlimited, worldwide rights" is asking a lot for a freeby and also means you are selliong your "sou" so to speak. It's also the most expensive deal - which is why Chris prob. suggested such a high day fee
Edit - I don't disagree in principle with Chris and bjb - but I still believe that charging as if you are an established commercial photographer (which obv. I am assuming you're not) isn't necessarily the best strategy, especially when they seem to realise you are not.

 

[bgb]

They most likely asked you as they think you will work cheap ! Follow Christopher's advise and charge them like a real photographer would because that's what you will be. A photographer going a professional job.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Sara - if this is your first commercial job I have to disagree with Chris. You need to build creds and a commercial portfolio and charging $1K a day to start with will quickly lead to no work IMO.
As to what to charge - maybe if friends are involved - explain that "unlimited, worldwide rights" is asking a lot for a freeby and also means you are selliong your "sou" so to speak. It's also the most expensive deal - which is why Chris prob. suggested such a high day fee
Edit - I don't disagree in principle with Chris and bjb - but I still believe that charging as if you are an established commercial photographer (which obv. I am assuming you're not) isn't necessarily the best strategy, especially when they seem to realise you are not.

If you start out charging nothing, you'll never be permitted to charge more because word gets around FAST and you'll find no one is willing to pay you much. The demand for full rights does raise the price though, I'd not charge as much if they didn't want so much. Keep in mind that this is hard work too. Jewelry requires a lot of care to keep it flawlessly clean while working with it, etc. and you need to keep in mind all that extra work when you price a job. Unless they have hired a stylist to do that, but if they're wanting someone to work cheap, I'd not count on it..that will be YOUR job too. I know what I'm talking about, been there done that, won't do it cheap...it is real work and you deserve to be paid real money.

 

[Pablito]

unlimited worldwide rights to are only as valuable as the photos. If you are photographing commercial jewelry, what value could those images to be to anyone except the indvidual who wants to sell the jewelry? So the rights are not really a big deal in this case. Just figure it so you make money. If you are not experienced, price your service accordingly. If you are doing mass production product shots you can do them very fast in a light box.