Hello all,
Anyone has an idea of how much to charge for a company that organizes an all day congress for their employees, and they want a photographer from 8 am to 9 pm, with group photos, and individual photos of all 75 employees...

Also, Anyone has an example of a contract for this kind of thing?

Thanks!

That's a shit load of pictures and a lot of time. Are you bringing a second shooter or just yourself? I'd say nowhere under the $1500 - $2000 range.

I've done quite a few corporate event jobs which have included group shots/head shots and candid stuff during meetings/conferences.

Will it be constant working from 8-9 or will there be breaks inbetween?

Will you setup a proper formal lighting scenario for the portraits/groupshot or is it a quick informal snap shot?

Are you comfortable with lighting and posing groups or corporate style headshots?

I usually had two different quotes in my packages

- Hourly rate ($150p/h) + unretouched high res (colour corrected) jpegs ($600)

- Hourly rate ($150p/h) + unretouched high res (colour corrected) jpegs ($600) + $50 per portrait/groupshot retouched (these are formal shots)

Let me know if you need any other information?

This post was edited by lithfkn on Oct 21 2012 04:38am

ok that's what I had in mind, over 2000$ for sure (that's 15 hours including getting there.... ouch)



I am absolutely NOT familiar with studio lighting, and that makes me a little nervous.... but they are asking me and also asking for a referral if I can't do it....
It is a huge opportunity to get a good name, but also a big risk of screwing up....

I have an umbrella, a tripod (just haven't used the umbrella yet) a flash...
I'd rent the 5D so I am not stuck with only my 7D and risk a problem.....

Posing groups is fine, individual, any tips for formal poses?

Thanks!!!

Directing 75 people, of all shapes and sizes, most likely never been in this situation before with no idea what to do. Not going to lie, it will be a hard gig, even for a seasoned photographer. This job is a very steep learning curve for your first time.

The flash gear you have won't cut it if they're after proper formal portraits.

For corporate headshot posing.. hmm.. I usually get the person to sit straight, turn body right so that they are between 45-90 degrees to you, face straight at you, hands in lap and shoot slightly down on them. Group shots is the same thing.

When is it?

This coming Thursday.....
They obviously know this is not my specialty, as they have seen me on FB and on my website, and already bought a photo from me for a calendar (agricultural)...
They are looking for someone (I think) who works legit cause they need the tax numbers and all to declare on expenses..... and I do have a registered company... but nowhere in my job description I include corporative photography...
I might have a helper who used to have a studio but changed line of work due to kids and all..... hopefully she can get the day off to be my helper!
As what to do, I have a pretty good idea and know very well how to get the coverage needed... the big stress is the lighting and the contract....

Also what deadline would you give to hand out the dvd?

What are you shooting the people on? A custom background or inside a room?

What are you willing to include in the contract? Retouched images or just high res colour corrected jpegs? I've found the client always wants portraits retouched. The other shots no biggie.

Do you know how to retouch portraits? If not you could probably outsource to an agency if it's many and they will usually do a good deal for you because of the quantity. Being corporate shots, it will be basic skin retouching and blemish removal so you don't need to approach a high end agency.

I usually give 2 weeks if it's a corporate job. But it depends on my work load at the time. Give a broad time (2-4 weeks to save your ass if something happens)

This post was edited by lithfkn on Oct 21 2012 01:45pm

I always retouch every single photo I deliver.... some need more than others..
My worst of all worst, was a woman who had really high expectations on the results but was 50 pounds more than what whe wanted, and hadn't done her hair color, so all the gray was showing in one spot..
I couldn't fix the weight issue, but I had to fix the hair and skin .... and of course she wanted everything for yesterday (figure of speech)..
But I think I am ok with the editing part, with LR and PS.
I will not use a background, will find a nice spot in the hotel (big place).
I will say 3 weeks for deadline to be safe... I work load at this moment is horrible.... not enough hours in the days and I have to get some sleep hours for my own driving safety

Ok gotta go (I also have a full time job and I'm on nights atm... grrrrrr bad timing... but one week off starting tomorrow )

There's a lot of tricks to slimming in camera, jaw position, shooting down on the person to hide their chins, type of light modifiers, use of shadows around the jaws, and lens choice. The hair colouring is usually a simple fix in PS. So is liquify.

Just shoot it on a white wal so everything is uniform. Use one powerful strobe on the background to push it white, make sure the whole background is slightly clipping white (turn on your highlight warning so it flashes when you shoot)

3 weeks should be enough. 75 portraits is a lot though.. I'd give 30 mins per shot to think about how long it really takes to retouch it.

Update:

I didn't get the job...
Was all ready for this, had a written contract done, found an assistant, knew everything I was going to do, and fixed a price of 2500 plus tax (that is 13 hours on location, plus 2 hours driving and all the post processing!!!)
They found someone who will do all this for 800$
Sorry but at this price, I'd rather stay home and do nothing!!!
My assistant was costing me 300$ for the day, that leaves 500 for everything else...... no thank you!