How much to charge?

Should have gotten an agreement on a fee and a signed estimate before the assignment. Best is to get paid a day rate (15 minutes or 8 hours, there are no half days) + a usage fee + post-production fees + expenses.

Hi Bjarki,

how are you? First is not the time you need to accomplish the work, but the work itself that need to be agreed upon before starting to work. If it is corporate need a pricing, if it is editorial need another. There is much more to agree beforehand as well. There has been many posts on similar things before, and the bottom line was that you give something more worthy than time if they want you as a photographer, so they should pay at least for a day fee. Not enought details to give you a price though, apart from the fact that I am only working editorial for now, maybe somebody else can advice you on the rates.

Hope this helps,

Best,

aLex

I hate to say it, but I agree with M Scott Brauer, you really should have got an agreement and signed estimate before the assignment. You may find it hard to get the full rate on this job, but that’s how we learn, from experience. Hope you get your money soon!

As for the rate to charge, it really depends on you, how much do you need to live on?

There’s a great rate calculator here, that will help you work out your hour or day rate, based on YOUR overheads and income needs, as there is no flat rate for everyone. It all depends on what you need to run your business, and then once you have a rate, is it competitive in your area, or area of work.

I’m sure other folk will chime in on this shortly…

You say ‘international’,’Norway’and its not editorial so I would ask between 500 to 1000 euros. Then give them 10% on the next photo-shoot if they complain.

Thanks bunch for all your replies, i guess you learn by slamming your head against the wall! This assignment was on a very short notice, but that is probably always the case.

Blue Perez, you mentioned a rate calculator, where do i find it?

ps. Is anyone out there generous enough to send me an example of what an agreement and signed estimate looks like, so that I can be better prepared next time. Please send to br@bjarkireyr.com

Thanks, Bjarki Reyr

I’ve just started using Blinkbid It’s by the same people who make fotoquote and it takes a lot of the difficulty out of making invoices and estimates. Free to try for 14 days, I think. I just used it on a stock estimate and with the money I made from the sale will purchase the full version.

I think there are also some online options. A couple years ago, I remember looking through SideJobTrack but never really spent any time with it. It’s not explicitly built for photographers, though, so you might need to do some work coming up with terms and conditions, etc.