Concept: Still life images of products on a white background
Licensing: Collateral use of up to 22 images in perpetuity
Photographer: Portraiture specialist
Client: Manufacturing Company
I recently worked with a photographer to help them estimate a project that was a bit outside of their comfort zone, but definitely accomplishable given the scope. While the photographer primarily shoots portraits, they were asked to capture a few macro images of products on a white background in a studio. The photographer had a great relationship with the client from a previous project, and while the intent of this project was much different, both the photographer and the client agreed that it was a great project to collaborate on. The shot list was pretty standard, and it included multiple angles of a few small products on display.
Here is the estimate:
Considering the simple nature of the shoot, and that the creative needs were a bit outside of the photographer’s specialty we wanted to keep the fee modest, and landed on $5,000. The licensing included perpetual collateral use, however the target audience for these marketing materials would be relatively small. I felt that this fee, which roughly broke down to a few hundred dollars per image, was appropriate given these factors. We also included $500 for a pre-production day, to cover the photopaper’s time booking crew and pulling the elements on the shoot together.
We included one assistant and one digital tech for the shoot day, based on appropriate local rates.
We added $750 for a very basic lighting setup and to rent the gear that the photographer owned, as well as an additional $750 to cover the digital tech’s workstation.
While the shoot was simple, it did require some helping hands to position the products in various ways. We, therefore, felt it would be advantageous to have a prop stylist on hand to help with this process, and included them for the one shoot day.
We included $500 to rent a small local studio that fit our needs for the day.
Because the shoot was relatively small, we included $200 for lunch, and anticipated ordering in delivery from a local restaurant, rather than a full catering order.
Because the logistics and setup were simple and straightforward we felt that $100 was appropriate for various unforeseen expenses.
Typically we would include a couple of hundred dollars for the photographer to give the images a first pass and provide a web gallery to the client, but we decided to waive that in order to keep the bottom line as slim as possible. We included $150 for each of the images that would be retouched and noted that this included up to 1 hour per image.
The photographer was awarded the project and continues to build upon the ongoing relationship they had with the client.
Need help pricing and negotiating a project? Reach Out!