What can I charge?

[Dr.AK]

Ok,

so I was approached by a guy asking if I could take pictures of his car and he said he's willing to pay as well.

Since I'm always broke, I naturally want to take him up on that offer.

I just dunno, what would be a reasonable amount of money to charge him? I'm by no means a professional, yet I do know that my pictures are pretty good.

I was thinking around 50€ or something, does that sound reasonable? Too much? Not enough? I dunno.

For a look at my picture quality if that is relevant to this take a look at the recent galleries galleries on www.bochmannphoto.net

[Dutchy]

I'm not sure what a correct rate would be, but I would factor in prints/posters if you are providing those also.

[Pswirley]

Base the charges off of how many final edited pictures he wants. I would let him handle his own printing and put the shots on a disk.

$50 is fair. 25 for your time and equipment and 25 for the photos. This would get him 10 edited photos on a disk and then $2 per edited photo after that.

[mojocoggo]

You could use my labor rate which is one #11 w/Sprite from Jack in the Box for the first hour, and $55 per hour after that.

[WhiteStripes]

Do they have Jack in the Box in Germany?

[Dr.AK]

I've never seen it, so I don't think so.

Thanks for your opinions. I got a deal with the guy worked out.

[dinanm3atl]

If you have never done this before I would highly recommend asking what type of photos he is looking for. Kind of 'what do you want exactly?'. Ask for examples that he has found of stuff he likes.

If you cannot provide that end result then you will not be helping him out at all. If you are charging you need to know without a doubt that you can provide what he wants.

Sorry to sound negative but you just don't want a customer that feels 'meh' about the results and the money he spent. Not saying your stuff is bad but just make sure you know you can provide what he wants.

[wkohler]

If you have never done this before I would highly recommend asking what type of photos he is looking for. Kind of 'what do you want exactly?'. Ask for examples that he has found of stuff he likes.

If you cannot provide that end result then you will not be helping him out at all. If you are charging you need to know without a doubt that you can provide what he wants.

Sorry to sound negative but you just don't want a customer that feels 'meh' about the results and the money he spent. Not saying your stuff is bad but just make sure you know you can provide what he wants.

That's exactly right. I've run into many a situation since most of my clients seem to be incapable of visualizing a final result - even with a sample. Fortunately, I've only had one where my client expressed confusion when I delivered their final product. What I did was make up a second set of what I provided one of my clients and I just tell them x, y and z will be different since you're not them. That worked well. Fortunately for me, I've been able to retain repeat business and since everyone talks to everyone else, that part has become a lot easier. Of course, no one has any money here, so work is kinda thin.