Article:		Tasteful Food Photography
Subject:		Food Photography
Date:		2006-06-05 14:20:54
From:		3RC
I am new to the Chicago area and have never professionally done food photography. I have however been a photographer for over 10 years with experience in still life photography. I have the opportunity to photograph menu items for a small Chicago restaurant's website, but do not know what to charge. The owner of the restaurant may want to use the images for other reasons as well, so keep this in mind. He also wants shots of the interior of the restaurant. I plan to give him a CD with high res. photos but keep all copyrights. Anyone have any idea what I should charge?

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• Food Photography
  2006-06-05 16:15:00  enomis [Reply | View]
  
  
  Pricing photography is a strange beast, and there are no firm guidelines to what you can charge.
  
  Factors include the kind of licensing rights the customer wants and for how long; the kind of work, hours and equipment you think you'll have to invest in the project; and of course where you are located geographically. Usually, photographers in large metropolitan areas can command more money than the ones in suburban or rural aeras.
  
  And last but not least - what kind of expectations and marketing budget your client has. Sometimes, if you mold your price to someone's budget and they are happy with your work, they'll come back for more projects. If you see no chance for more work or a referral, I'd price the project a tad higher. In any case, always make sure you keep the copyright, and get a property release if you're shooting a building (especially an interior).
  
  Given that you've never done any commercial food photography before, you won't be able to command the price a more experienced shooter can - but please make sure also you don't undervalue yourself and unwittingly put other professional photographers (who need to keep their pricing at a certain level to be able to put food on the table and pay rent) out of business.
  
  I'd start by thoroughly quizzing your client - and then consulting the invaluable "Pricing Photography" book to gain an approximate idea of how much you should charge.
  
  Hope this helps.
  Good luck.
  
  - Simone