Pricing a large family shoot

[movingex]

How would you guys go about pricing a large family shoot. Basically it's the grandmothers 80th BD with about 20 -25 family members each getting in a shot with the grandmother.

I estimate the time to probably be around 2 hours from start to finish. It is set to be at an outside location to be determined.

Any help appreciated. I don't really see this as a family shoot, but more as an event shoot.

The way I see it is either:

I can charge for my time and let everyone order afterwards from an online gallery.

Or I can charge for a given number of prepaid packages of prints.

Please let me know what you think. I've done events and small families but not a family shoot like this before.

[KmH]

Originally Posted by movingex

How would you guys go about pricing a large family shoot. Basically it's the grandmothers 80th BD with about 20 -25 family members each getting in a shot with the grandmother.

I estimate the time to probably be around 2 hours from start to finish. It is set to be at an outside location to be determined.

Any help appreciated. I don't really see this as a family shoot, but more as an event shoot.

The way I see it is either:

I can charge for my time and let everyone order afterwards from an online gallery.

Or I can charge for a given number of prepaid packages of prints.

Please let me know what you think. I've done events and small families but not a family shoot like this before.

Are you selling yourself and your talent, or pieces of paper with ink on them?

You can do it any way you're comfortable with, but there are ways that will make you more money in the long run and result in very happy clients. It's not so much about the quality of your images but the perception of the quality of your images.

That's also called salesmanship. Generally, one of the least developed of the essential successful photography business skills.

It sounds like you're going to shoot it on spec? (speculation).

I would suggest getting paid up front for all your time, talent, business expenses, post processing and a basic print package for everyone prints. If anyone wants prints beyond that, they order a-la-cart.

[tbergphoto]

I'm in the Dallas area and I charge a $250 session fee for this type of session - and love doing them. The sales from these sessions are usually some of my best!

Be sure to leave plenty of time for all the "smaller groups" -- you'll sell alot more prints.