Saw this on A Photo Editor and thought it was so well done I wanted it on my blog. The first few minutes are golden in explaining how much to charge.

My only critique is that he’s basing is Cost of Doing Business on number of work days (250) but most photographers don’t shoot every business day. I shoot 50 to 75 days a year, so my CODB is much higher than his example.

The photographer, Bill Cramer, estimated total fees and charges at $32,525 (he got this job, by the way). $18,000 of that was his creative/usage fee. The usage was for unlimited local advertising, web, local collateral, and local publicity use of four (4) images forever. Bill’s been a photographer for over 20 years in Philly. He’s really good at what he does. I’d say that fee sounds pretty good. But, what’s interesting is that he based his fee on suggestions from BlinkBid and fotoQuote. Both those software programs based their suggested fees on averages of past sales all over the country.

In his explanation of how he got to his fee, he talked about how the client wanted to use the shots for billboard advertising. In Philly, one billboard ad costs $8,200 for 4 weeks (or $106,600 a year). In Portland, one billboard costs $10,500 for 4 weeks (or $136,500 a year).

When I originally started this post, I was going to try to justify why creative fees in Portland are (in general) so much less. I thought, surely advertising is less expensive here, thus fees here are less. But, in fact, it’s more expensive to advertise here. Overall, I feel that photographer fees here should be much higher than they are. Photographers are giving away shoots at less than $10 an image. It’s nuts.

In Portland, we are on a dangerous path. A lot of photographers are moving here and a lot of them are young and naive. I was one once, too. But, even then I knew my Cost of Doing Business and priced myself accordingly. Now that I have more experience, my rates have gone up. But my local rates aren’t even close to what Bill is getting

Food for thought.

If you’re an ASMP member, there are discounts for BlinkBid and fotoQuote. Visit asmp.org/articles/member-benefits.html for more info.

(Estimate by Bill Cramer via A Photo Editor)

Link to my website:

All my contact info:

Just scan with your camera phone and viola! All the info you need. Here’s a great free iPhone App for QR Scanning.

This is a great tool for business cards, promos, whatever! Technology RULES!

UPDATE: I found another QR Generator site that does vCards like this:

I won’t do that.

If I’m hired to create images that are like those in my portfolio, then I have to be the one to do the digital processing. It’s part of my creative vision. I’ve spent years honing my look and style and I’m not willing to let go of control of that.

For example, here’s what one of my shots looks like before I put my touch it:

Gross, huh? But I see a RAW file with potential. Here’s what it looks like after:

Much better! Could someone else do this? Possibly. Would it look like my work? Probably not.

There are many reasons to charge for digital processing. The main reason is to recoup the costs of owning the fastest computer, the latest software, and the best camera. It’s expensive. I’d say to keep up with it, I spend an average of $5,000 to $10,000 a year on it. And that’s just me. As my business grows, I’d like to hire an employee to do the post work and so the digital processing fees will have to pay for their salary in addition to adding a second fastest computer with another copy of latest software.

The problem is there are few standards out there for digital processing. And so, many photographers don’t charge anything for it or pull numbers out of the air. We need a standard folks!

In the old film days, you would charge for film and processing usually with a significant markup. Shooting film was a profit center of the business and you needed to mark it up to cover the overhead of keeping film on hand. If you also scanned the film, you would charge for that too because of time, equipment, and labor. Either way, you were charging and getting paid for the image in its final form. Just because a digital file is ones and zeros, doesn’t mean it’s cheaper.

So, here’s my standard digital processing: Feel free to use this, tweet it, whatever. Just spread the word.

$1 per capture to shoot digital
$1 per MB of final image(s) delivered

Don’t charge by the hour. Charge by the unit.

Here’s how it works in practice hypothetically:

Say from the shoot above, I shot 108 RAW files and delivered 6 final RGB Tiff files at 60MB each. I would bill:

$108 – Capture and Processing (108 x $1)
$360 – Final Image Delivered (6 x $60)

$468 – Total Digital Processing Fees

To help you explain what all comes with digital processing, I would say it’s anything you do to create your vision plus captioning and keywording each file for you and your client.

I don’t do a lot of Photoshop, so $1 a MB covers my editing time. But if you do a lot of heavy Photoshop and compositing, then you might need to charge more. Like a $2 a MB. If you shoot a high volume of RAW files (fashion, lifestyle, kids, etc) maybe you charge $.25 a capture or just charge $1 for the selects. My point is that you should charge something and you should charge by a unit, not time.

Does that sound fair? Does that make sense? It works for me and if everyone did something like this, it would become a standard.

Fingers crossed.

In July of 2009, I photographed the cover of Portland Monthly for a feature story on rivers and river activities. It was definitely one of my favorite shots from the year and a great tearsheet.

To my surprise, that issue of the magazine just turned up in a hilarious trailer of Portlandia. Look for it right past the 1 minute mark.

About Portlandia

The 6-part IFC Original short-based comedy series PORTLANDIA, created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, WILD FLAG, Sleater-Kinney), premieres on IFC Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM ET/PT. Each episode’s character-based shorts draw viewers into “Portlandia,” the creators’ dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon.

Read more about Portlandia here: http://www.ifc.com/portlandia/

There is definitely a fair amount of work here. But, there are a lot of assistants and probably more assistants than there is work. So you got to do something special to get my attention (and every other working photographer here).

Here’s an example of what not to do:

First of all, the email isn’t even to me. I’m BCC’d on it. Strike One! Mike mentions they are a graduate of a Canadian art school, but doesn’t tell me if he still lives there or in Portland. Strike Two! He also attaches a resume which really is pointless unnecessary as far hiring an assistant goes. I would have like to seen referrals. Strike Three! I don’t respond to Mike’s inquiry.

On the other had, here’s a great example of what you should do to get my attention:

First, a great subject line and I immediately opened the email. Dan then pretty quickly sums up who he is and why he’s contacting me. What sells me is that he specifically points out something I shot and that he shoots interiors, but wants to see how I do it. I would hire an assistant who likes to shoot interiors 10 to 1 over an assistant who is more interested in something else. I’ve hired Dan five times since he first emailed me and he’s been great. I highly recommend him.

The lesson here is to be straightforward and show genuine interest. It’s a huge mistake to feign interest in what I do, just to get assisting work. Always try to work for photographers that shoot what you like to shoot. You’ll enjoy the job more, learn things that you want to know, and connect with the person you’re working for. It’s a win win.

…music. You hear a pop song in commercial, but that company doesn’t own the song.

…software. You buy software, but that doesn’t mean you own the code.

…blueprints. You may own the building when it’s built, but the architect owns the design.

…sculpture. You can buy art, but you can’t copy and sell it as your own.

The intellectual property is an intangible asset, that is, it is intangible as well as it cannot be defined or specified by its physical parameters. It is created by human intellectual or inspirational activity. Therefore, the intellectual property must be defined in some discernible method to be protected by the laws.

via Intellectual property valuation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

What’s your simile for photography licensing?

I was alerted this morning by ASMP that (unfortunately) part of the new healthcare reform legislation will seriously create a huge and unnecessary amount of paperwork for photographers or any small business.

As of now, for any sub contractor (assistants, stylists, producers, etc.) that I pay over $600 in a year, I have to write a 1099 for. I have to put together about 10 to 20 of these and it takes me about a half day. Also, for every 1099 I write, I need to have the sub contractor fill out a W-9.

Starting next year, the new legislation would require that I/we write a 1099 for any purchase of goods over $600. New camera? 1099. New lens? 1099. New Computer? 1099. $600 in props? 1099. CS5 Upgrade? 1099. Any amount of goods purchased over $600 will require a 1099. So, if you buy a lot of office supplies at Staples, you’ll need to write them a 1099 for everything. Every pen, pencil and ink cartridge will have to be accounted for.

I, like many photographers, usually purchase stuff through a variety of retail spaces. So, I will have to get every single retail store I shop with to fill out a W-9. Can you imagine B&H filling out W-9 for all their commercial customers? What about Dell or Apple even?

It’s a tremendous waste time, energy, and paper. Yes, paper, because you can’t file 1099s electronically.

TAKE TWO SECONDS AND PROTEST THIS NOW.

Click This Link to Email the Form Letter Below to the IRS

To: Notice.comments@irscounsel.treas.gov

Subject: Notice 2010-51

Message:

RE: Notice 2010-51

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a professional photographer and a small business person. I have virtually no administrative staff to handle my record-keeping and reporting responsibilities. The new requirement under Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code would place impossible burdens on me. The exemption for credit card transactions was a great step toward reducing the impact of this change in the tax code. Unfortunately, it does not go far enough.

I often pay for computer and camera equipment, studio and equipment rentals, catering services, and other items by check or cash. Those expenditures often total more than $600 per vendor in any given year. Having to keep separate track of each of these items — and then to issue Form 1099’s to each vendor — would simply take more time than I have as the owner of a very small business operation, and it would require back office support that I do not have and cannot afford.

Please change the requirements so that they apply only to larger business entities, such as persons or entities that employ more than 25 people.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

UPDATE: I read in to this a little closer and there is an exemption for credit card transactions, but that doesn’t apply if you paid by cash or check.

This was the magic bullet that the other canons were missing. His reasoning was that it sits within the Fibonacci Sequence, as well as the Golden Ratio, and establishes that the textblock will be harmonious and proportional to the page — it’s how the height of it equals the width of the page.

via The Secret Law of Page Harmony – Retinart via A Photo Editor.

Accidents happen. And when they do, it’s good to be prepared.

One thing I recommend is becoming a Canon CPS member. They have different levels of membership, but the biggest advantage is that you get priority repair turnaround over the average Joe. You also get discount on repair (up to 60% for you accident prone shooters).

I always misplace my printed repair forms that Canon sends you. I found one on Google that you can fill out using Acrobat. I thought I’d put it here for everyone and also so I can find it again easily.

Click here Canon CPS Repair Form (PDF)

If you’re not CPS member, don’t use this form for repairs. They might send to Nikon for a laugh.