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Party Photographer
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Hi,
a bit of advice please.Recently I covered two friends birthdays (40th & 50th). As a present I gave them each a hundred 6*4 in an album. I really enjoyed doing this and they were very pleased with the photos.
I was thinking of advertising my services as “Party Photographer” (18ths, 21st etc) in the Finglas and Cabra areas to start off, offering a photo DVD (set to music), one 10*8 print and an album with a 100 6*4 prints.
I was wondering how much I should charge and how long should I stay at these parties to get the shots. Should the charge be by the hour or a set rate?
Thanks in advance,
RobFirstly, I’ve not done this sort of thing before, but I’ve been keeping a keen eye on Wedding Photography work in terms of prices and packages. Anyway, that aside, I personally think committing to supplying 100 prints is way way over the top. Firstly, you’re putting yourself under pressure to supply 100 QUALITY pictures. Quality being the operative word here. If you supply 100 images of the quality shots will be lost in with the dross and ppl aren’t gonna use you again. Unless you feel you can cope with shooting 100 good shots.
IMHO supplying 40 images of variety would be much more realistic, putting you under less pressure and keeping the punters/viewer interested.
Re: rates. I don’t think ppl will pay big bucks for this kinda thing, so don’t be expecting Wedding Photographer kinda money. I presonally think in the 300-400yoyo bracket. If you’re getting bookings, sure then put the rate up. Also, get a website up too, you don’t have to sell from the website but it just makes the whole operation look more professional. Also, get some business cards printed and possibly some headed papaer. I got mine at Vista print.
BTW: make sure you have 2 camera bodies, 2 flashguns and spare batteries. You don’t want a camera or flash to lock up in the middle of a job. You’ll have punters looking for money back.
Also, get the punters to pay a booking fee, say 20% or 25%.Good point Brian about the number and quality of the photos. I was thinking of charging around the €400 mark so its nice to hear you confirm that.
I have some business cards printed up by Vista already but think I’d leave the notepaper and website until I had been at it a year, so I’d know where I stood.
How long should I stay at one of these parties? These things usually start around 7.30/8pm and go on all hours. Would three hours be enough and €50 per hour after that?
Cheers,
RobRe: the website, have a scope at clikpic, I host my website with them and it’s only £35 a year, that’s about 50yoyo’s. It’s very easy to set up too. No need to go overboard with it, just having prices, packages and some party shot examples. don’t see it as an expense it’s advertisement and you could even get a couple of jobs from it.
Personally I wouldn’t stay after midnight as you’re liable to get some drunk falling on your camera gear. But yeah, a base package of 400, up to 11:00, 11:30 or 12:00 and 40-50euro there after.
Good idea but I personally wouldn’t commit to 100 photos, it would put you under serious pressure, if you think of how many images you take for a wedding and how many you eventually use, and you probably have more time to get the lighting ready at a wedding. I’m just back from infocus in birmingham and saw some nice stuff there including a photocube, basicaly a box made from photos to whatever size you want, make it from some of the party pics and stick some streamers and your photos in it and tell the client to keep the birthday cards in it and you have something unique and more saleable too.Cant remember the price off hand, i can find the company contacts if you want, just give me a shout.
good luck with it.
garyIf this is the kind of thing you want to make some real money from, consider getting a dye-sub printer and printing the images more or less as you take them and sell them at the event itself. Most people will be in a happy mood, will probably be under the influence of alcohol and won’t mind spending a few Euro on a shot of themselves at the event that they can take home with them on the night. Think Santa photographs, but on a different level!
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