Every week, we ask our eclectic group of writers to weigh in on a question that is asked in the comments from our own readers. The questions can be anything relating to photography, and we invite everyone to participate in our segment called "Fstoppers Answers". This week, we ask "Corporate Headshots for Local Realtor Firm. Ten Clients, One Headshot a Piece. What do you charge and why?"
James Robertson Staff Writer | Commercial Photographer |
My base cost for this would be $1500 flat for my local market. It may be one headshot per person, but that doesn't mean we're taking one photo per person, it probably means we're taking more than 10 per person. Realtors are usually fairly extroverted people, so I wouldn't anticipate too much of a struggle for that "confident yet approachable" look, but there's still a decent amount of setup time and effort involved..let's say two hours start to finish. Beyond the shooting, I still have editing, for 10 people that's another hour at least if I'm lucky, but could very well be closer to two as well. Once everything is finished and delivered, then we come down to what they had their photos taken for in the first place - advertisement. These photos are going on bus stops, billboards, brochures, business cards, websites, Facebook pages, twitter accounts, email signatures, event notices, etc. etc. That's a whole lot of a marketing budget, thousands of dollars - $150 one time for the photo for all of it isn't bad at all. |
Peter House Staff Writer | Commercial Photographer |
For a job such as this I would start by estimating the amount of time it would take me. Simply going from experience I know that I wouldn’t be there more than 4 hours including set-up, taking the headshots, and then setting down. There would be no point to charge the client a full day rate, so I would offer a half day rate instead to cover the 4 hours of work. In my case I charge a half day rate of $1000, so that would be my starting point. In addition to that we would add our retouching fee of $100/hr for about 5 hours of work. Lastly we would go over any usage terms the client might need and bill appropriately for those. Depending on the size of the firm and the kind of marketing campaign they expect, this would most likely not exceed a couple hundred dollars. So in total, for such a project, my estimate would probably come in around $1500-$2000, or about $150-$200/headshot. It’s always up for negotiation however, especially with smaller local businesses. |
Rebecca Britt Staff Writer | Commercial Photographer |
Just this last Friday (10-04-13) I did a headshot shoot of this nature. A realty firm with 10 realtors. I charged them $100 a piece (plus sales tax). I took my set-up to their office and did the shoot there for their convenience. I usually charge more for a single headshot shoot so I offered a discounted group rate. Each session actually came with two edited shots, one a Peter Hurley style shot and the other your typical vertical portrait. It's an easy and fast way to make a good profit for an afternoon's shoot while still giving the client a nice rate. |
Mike Kelley Associate Editor | Architecture Photographer |
$250 a piece + licensing. That's only after I try to get them to use someone else. That being said, I'm showing up with thousands of dollars worth of gear, taking a picture that they'll use to make a profit with for years to come, and hopefully capturing them at their absolute best so they can appeal to their potential clients. A headshot can stand to make someone in real estate thousands, or lose them just as much. This would be for one finished file that they will hopefully use across multiple media for years to come. Licensing fees are, of course, variable, and to be honest I'd probably have to come up with some licensing scheme for this on the fly because corporate headshots are not my forte. |
Rich Meade Staff Writer | Fashion Photographer |
For that I'd actually have a couple different prices depending on the logistics. If I could set up one day to get them all shot, and only incur one day of production costs (assistant). I'd charge $500 a person for Unlimited Promo use for 1 year. That would be for one finalized shot, and I'd charge something like $100/shot thereafter. If I had to break it up, into separate shoot days I'd bump the price up to $750/person to account for at least my assistants rate, and the potential jobs I'd be missing out on by scheduling the headshots. |
Zach Sutton Associate Editor | Headshot Photographer |
I'd likely charge around $125-$150 per headshot, which is still a bit of a discount from my standard price (And I'd make that known in my estimate sent to them). I'd also have a $100 set up fee for a studio. Depending how they handle that price (Around $1350-$1600), I'd lower the price accordingly, but wouldn't go below $1000. My local market sometimes goes quite a bit cheaper, so I will sometimes have to lower my price a little bit to stay competitive with them. |
David Bickley Staff Writer | Fitness Photographer |
First off this would vary greatly depending on the region. Obviously different markets require different rate considerations. Here in the midwest I would most likely charge my standard day rate of $1,700 plus licensing depending on the usage. With small businesses or start-ups I will sometimes build this into the day rate given budgetary constraints. My goal especially with small start-ups is never to break the bank and in some cases I've even opted for equity in the company in lieu of immediate compensation. In the end, everything is negotiable and I love that process of finding the right compromise. |
As always, if you have a question to ask, feel free to comment below.
I shoot employee of the month headshots/portraits every month for a large casino here in Vegas. It usually contests of 8-10 people and the casino uses 1 photo from the shoot edited for there in-house news letter of the winner + 1 of each nominee at the luncheon blown up to a 8x10. I charge them $1000 per month. It takes me about an hour or two total and is a easy 1K$ extra in my pocket every month. From this I have gotten food and architecture shoots from the hotel/casino that pay a lot more than $1000. So with my experience I say remember this, you might not be making a lot of money for the job but what could come of you meeting all of the people you photograph.
I get a lot of repeat headshot business by adding a group photo service. Shooting all the individuals portrait and full length. Then creating 'team' photos combining the full length images. There is always a constant stream of staff changes meaning the group photos is consistently needed to be updated. To ensure the same style - they have to come back to me.
Interesting that despite responding without knowing what your co-workers would say, everyone came up with very similar estimates. And a very decent one at that.
I've never made more than $100 on a headshot session. I get a lot of calls/emails and have had people call and just ask "how much", then hang up on me when I tell them. Since according to photo websites, anyone can be a "professional photographer", I've found most people expect no more than 10 minutes, all the images edited or not, they don't care, and a charge of no more than $25. Everyone has a mirror and cell phone for free right?
Seriously dude? Like nobody knows how to use Google Translate?
I don't know if anyone pointed out the price difference between regions and geographical markets. Also a lot has to do with the size of the company. For instance a fortune 500 companies corporate head shots are much more expensive. There are usually license and usage fees in there. For local corporate head shots and actor head shots there are much less expensive and there is not a fee for license and usage. I have seen in the article and in post photographers pricing local head shots like the do regular corporate jobs with license and usage fees. This is not done. I guess some people will pay for anything.
To me it seems like the higher profile the client is The more money you can get.
Can we get a similar article to this but with usage on images. I often go to events to shoot photos and get a fair few companies just after one or two images, either for print or web.
I have a bit of understanding about pricing for different usages, but it can still seem like i am just picking a figure out of no where.
I wish I could charge such high 'american prices' here in Denmark. Living costs are even higher here, but still rates for a shot like this would only be around 400us all included.
Thats what I charged for the last company shot I did og 10 people for a company flyer.
See the images here.
Would love some comments!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.233402423477452.1073741830.152...
Cheers
Peter
Peter, I like the black and white. It has a very classy look and the tones are very nice. And I think the lighting works, it is very natural looking, yet interesting and flattering. There are only two things I would change if I were doing them.
1. I would be careful not to get the area where the wall meets the floor in the shots (it is distracting). I would also spot remove the stains(?) on the backdrop near the subjects' head for the same reason.
2. I would work on posing the people, mainly work on the asymmetry of the photos. If they have two of something (hands, shoulders, etc.) make sure each one is in a different position. I think the most successful of the shots is the one above for that very reason-- her hips and shoulders are cocked, her head is at an angle, one arm is out and one is in. Hands are always difficult, but placing both of them in the same way makes the person seem uncomfortable.
http://www.professionalphotography101.com/Posing_models/posing_asymmetry...
If you cropped these to an actual head shot, the posing wouldn't be as much of a problem, and I am a fan of people looking square into the camera rather than a 3/4 profile shot, so I like that part of it. As I said, I think the technical side of it is very successful, but the posing lets it down a bit.
Hi, Thanks for your great detailed comments.
I actually agree on all your points. Hadnt thought about the spots on the wall - but I agree!
Posing people who are uncomfortable infront of a camera is so hard I find.
And having only 30 seconds with each person makes it even harder. The shot were done when people was in a meeting that was interruped for the shot, and they all hate getting their photo taken.
The shots are not for a website but for a company flyer. And the girls in marketing wanted a more fashionable look to the images. Hope I achieved that.
Here is a page from the flyer.
Thanks again.
Peter
I have been in those exact same situations. I think you were successful. There is something very classic (and classy) about these photos, but not at all clichéd.
great article and point of views.. based on the experiences. Yes, take in consideration your skill, time, post production and the size of the job taken. Well written and explained entry!
... and then you have Thumbtack service, where realtors, various consultant firms, and medical offices posting requests for group and individual shots for each of 10-20 team members with budget $200-400. That's for entire job, not per person. And if you place $400 bid - you will never hear from them. If your bid is $300 in 25% cases they will call or email to ask why you charging so much, and why do you think you're so much better than everyone else who willing to shoot it for $200.
I need to up my prices. I charged about $75 each for about 15 of them.
This is an informative post greatly appreciated. Please keep these coming and if you have one on how to incorporate and create the licensing fee please share a link or consider for a future post. Thanks.
I live in a small town. I wasn't popular in HS and it is the kind of town where you are judged pretty much your whole life by your HS years. I've been shooting for 10 years (since I was 15) but professionally since I was 18. I recently had some realtors ask me for 1 headshot each (4 people) and 2 group shots. I quoted $125 and they booked. I feel my work is of professional status and compared to others here near or at my level of experience they charge at least double what I do but I still have trouble booking sessions. I have tried new marketing techniques but due to not being able to book as much as others I still worked a "real" part time job until a month ago when I resigned to give it all I've got. I don't understand what I could be doing wrong. I've been told on countless occasions that I am too expensive. I have tried to "break out" and book gigs in bigger cities (I am 1 hr from Atl and 45 minutes from Chattanooga) but no one there takes me seriously b/c they see me as a "small town" photographer. What can I do to get out of this funk? I know I still have a lot to learn to be as great as some of y'all but I am 100% self taught thus far. My email is bmpga@yahoo.com if anyone wouldn't mind sharing some tips. I will attach a few of my images below so you can see some of my work. :)
Here in San Diego, I did a executive portrait session for an investment firm. I based my rates as follows: $250 set-up fee which included 2 final images. In an effort make it more profitable for me and cost effective for them I offered to add more heads to the schedule for $125 per head for up to total of 9, from 11-20 I'd lower it to $100. Beyond 20 heads became a negotiated item. They had their own in house marketing department and requested the raw files of which I obliged. I shot each head and allowed them to make their selection off the monitor and that was the image delivered. The attached selects is my renderings of that session. -jon
ps. don't know what happened to the image add...
I lot of people here talk about undercharging. Is not that simple. Some clients specially real state agents don't have huge budgets. I will be up to the photographer to choose his market and wether or not the time spent is on par with his expectations of profit. I determine my fees based on the client:
large Agency/corporate/10 shots: 1500+
Local agent: 10 shots 750
Small Mom and pop shop: Wont do it.
There is a market for everything. You cannot assume that everyone will pay your fees; yet they still need the head shots done and some one will do them. Offering high prices is not the same as offering value.
This is fantastic! Fstoppers answers, great! Fstoppers answers "what do you charge and why," brilliant! Yes....more please!
Two excellent posts from you guys within three days of each other?
Unheard of!... but thanks.
In the future, could you also do an article like this for product photography? I love this site! This is very helpful for up and coming photographers. Thanks for this.
poor Rich, I don't think he understood the question.
Nice to see I am near the top but not out of the ballpark. I would have charged $2500 including licensing for a 10 person corporate headshot shoot. Here is how I do corporate headshot pricing: It's a per person price and the price ranges from $650 for one person down to $200 per person (but plus an assistant) for up to 20 people. I include one final retouched image delivered digitally and I include the licensing. I include the licensing because corporate clients like to not have to worry about policing their people (someone might not realize and accidentally use an image somewhere) and it also helps them feel like the deal is a bit better even though I am charging a higher price than many other photographers. I also include the licensing because it's almost always going to be marketing usage and the price of a license is likely covered by my fee anyway (vs a lower upfront cost & licensing).
For what it's worth, I believe it's always better to price near the top of the range and be seen as someone who deals in quality rather then pricing at the bottom and competing based on price.
I shoot a lot of corporate portraits www.atempletonphoto.com and try to educate clients on the importance of representing themselves and their business with quality images. I find in the last couple of years especially people are very concerned with price. They go on craigslist looking for a student or just do a selfie. If I am doing 10 headshots at a large corporation I generally will not get a call back from them if I charge more then $75.00 per person including retouching. Licensing fees? Forget about it!
So I just caught this article, verrrry interesting. I might be doing a company shoot of 200-250 people soon - quick and simple, probably just a couple of shots of each person, for use on their office wall and nothing else. I expect it'll be like a school photographer job, doing all the kids in one day. Questions in my mind are whether it's feasible that they step into the shot space, I take three photos of them, the next person steps in.....; and how to charge for it, of course?
I know this is an older article but, I hear (in the comments) a lot of talk about licensing which is what I am trying to find more about. Specifically, what type agreements are used? I have seen some that are 1 paragraph "you have the right for this, this and this" and I have researched others that are 14 page legal documents. I am asking because I am getting more and more inquiries about commercial work, i.e. billboards, food/menu photography, music cd covers, autograph books, etc. Do you just give your images to a client with a small paragraph saying how they can use them or do you issue a legal document? What do you do when they look at you like you're crazy and say "I just want a picture and be able to use it however I want"?
Hi good day colleagues, I have a question regarding this topic, but just on how much do you recommend I should be charging to retouch photos for a client. He use to send me from 3 to 15 or 20 files to be finalized. general skin retouching, sometimes light shadow correction (blow up skin or divided shadows), and garmets correction. Ill wait your answer. a general file retouching may take from 15 to 1 hour, plus feedback correction. have a great day.
i hear a lot of folks talking about length of use. like the one above "Unlimited Promo use for 1 year."
how do you manage THAT? i mean how do you even know? do you check up on their website and send collection letters if it's still up after a year?