What fee should I charge?

[Milton Tierney]

Hi all,
I am a member of a small local art gallery and have been asked by one of the painters to photograph her work and burn it on a CD. Others arts (painters, sculptors, potter, etc.) may want their work photographed also. What would be a reasonable price to charge?
Milton


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Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

[NathanShanahan]

If you don't feel comfortable charging your normal day and usage rates then I suggest you pitch at a percentage of the artworks going price. It is no lite undertaking shooting and a creating an archival copy of artworks and your rate should reflect this. After the painting is sold the artists sole example of the work will be your images. I would charge my normal rate and do a very good job so I feel justified in what I charge

[Jim Jones]

As someone involved in my local art community, I would charge fellow artists the least possible amount. I also do pro bono work to support education and the arts. If I was in upper management in a corporation receiving government handouts, I might stick the suckers for all they could pay. In either case, as Nathan says, do a very good job.

[Kirk Gittings]

As someone involved in my local art community, I would charge fellow artists the least possible amount. I also do pro bono work to support education and the arts. If I was in upper management in a corporation receiving government handouts, I might stick the suckers for all they could pay. In either case, as Nathan says, do a very good job.

I did this as part of my living for many years before I had enough architecture to do that exclusively. I don't think artists deserve a break just because they are artist. Like it or not art is a business and they need to be realistic about what it costs including having their work properly documented. If you want to do this as a public service at least make it clear what your time is really worth and take that in trade or that you are doing them a favor. When I was doing it many years ago, I was charging $100 an hour plus all expenses like film (including markup braketing exposures etc.) and Polaroid.

[Martin Miksch]

Without some more information its hard to say.
Depends IMO on:
number
size
typ (eg oil or watercolor)
shooting in studio or gallery?
equipment
your skills
and maybe some other questions.
I have done this for a not very rich artist here around.
about 100 pictures, oil, all nearly the same size about 50x70cm, brought to studio.
It took a little time to setup the lights and adjust the polfilters, place camera on tripod and the first picture on a stand, after that just 100 klicks, than created an action in PS, batched and burned; I charged about 500$ alltogether- but I wouldnt do 1 pic for 5$.
Regards
Martin

[NathanShanahan]

Kirk, well put. Art is expensive to produce and charging appropriatly for your time, effort, experience will still only account for a reasonably appropriate portion of the final sale. On the other hand doing any kind of job cheap hurts your future prospects for getting paid well enough to recoup your costs of doing business which in themselves can be prohibitive if you simply don't have the passion or willingness to make sacrifies for your art / career.

[Michael N. Meyer]

Milton,

I do this for artists on occasion and bill in this way:
• Base fee
• Fee for each view--if shooting slides then additional copies of the same view have a reduced fee. Each format has its own cost: I charge more to shoot a 4x5 than a digital image.
• Film and processing cost, CD/DVD prep fee and/or other consumable costs.
• Per slide or per scan fee to go from digital to film or film to digital.

E-mail me and I can send the rate sheet I give to artists. Like Kirk says, its a business on both ends. Artists need this done if they're going to make it. And, I need to bill my time appropriately if I want to keep doing this. I'm based in New York, so most artists understand that getting photographs of their work is necessary, worth having done well and costs a bit of coin.

[Toyon]

Its a steep learning curve to photograph artwork accurately. I suggest you give them the first hour or shot at low cost, and then figure out an ascending price scale for revisions and re-shoots because that can take a long time.

[Milton Tierney]

Thanks for everyone’s input. Most of the arts are amateurs and can not afford high fees. I do not have room for a studio at my home so I’m using the gallery space when they are closed. I’m shooting digital only at $40 an hour and burning the images on to a CD to keep costs down. Yea, yea… I know I’m giving it away. I’ve shot some weddings and a few studio, but I’ve mostly shot nature & wildlife for the past 30 yrs. Besides I could use the coins. I need to pay my taxes so the fed.gov can give it away to the banking & auto maker CEO’s.

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[dsphotog]

Hi Milt,

Have you shot artwork before?
If not , practice on some at home. Take your exposure reading off a 18% gray card.