An "Event Photography" Rate Calculator

One of the biggest challenges for a freelance photographer in getting your client to agree to pay the rate that you've quoted them is that they don't understand why you want them to pay that amount.  Most of the public seems to believe that artists just make up a number for what they want to be paid and then ask for it.  Granted, some artists do but in a heavily equipment based field like photography, we are quoting a number and that number needs to be high enough to support all that expensive equipment we use to shoot those events.  If it's not, we simply cannot afford to keep shooting.  It's that simple.  So I have developed and decided to share the calculator I use when creating quotes for events.  But FYI - this calculator is for general events ONLY (not photoshoots and not weddings).  Photoshoots and Weddings require A LOT more work than just coming to your event and taking pictures.  Each involves scoping out locations, more equipment, insurance, and a lot more time in post processing.  So again, use this calculator for events only.

First, let me explain how these are basically calculated.

Time = Event Time (how long the event is) + Post Processing (Event time x 2) + Travel Time (add 1 hour locally for roundtrip travel + gas + car usage.  Add more for travel out of the area)


Rate = usage rate + photographer average rate for your state (can be located here http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm 


Usage Rate = (Camera value/annual work time) + (Computer value/annual work time) + (Software value/annual work time) + (Photographer years of experience*value photographer invests annually in classes, conferences, other education) + any other misc. value (i.e. number of years experience, etc.)


Discount = if you apply one, factor that in there at the end after you have calculated your Time * Rate

And after you do all that, you have got the number you should be quoting your client.  You also have a transparent formula that you can show your client so that they really understand what it is that they are paying for exactly.

To access the spreadsheet I created that calculates this, click here.

Good luck! :)

How much should I charge for my photo / design work?

The basic formula that I keep hearing is this:

Time + Experience + Value of equipment = what you should expect to receive for your work

This meaning that the amount of time you spend on the project comes into what you charge.  The years of experience and amount of education and expertise you have accrued also impacts your rate.  The kind of and amount of equipment you use also impacts that number.

But most people just want to know what hourly rate is everyone else charging so that you know what you are competing with.  Well, that information is readily available online at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  You can get the mean and median hourly pay, weekly pay and hours worked, and annual pay listed there nationally and by state for almost any job out there, including photographer and graphic designers.  These numbers are not what people necessarily want to be getting paid, but what people are actually being paid or at least what they are claiming on their taxes.  This information is available annually.  Oddly, more people don't know that so if you didn't, you are not alone at all.  Here's how you find your numbers:

National Data

1. Visit the National Compensation Survey at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ 
2. Scroll down to the tab labeled NCS Publications
3. Under WAGES, click on the most recent publication (NOTE: as websites are updated, these screenshots may change)

4. Under CONTENTS, click “Print the entire bulletin”
5. DO NOT ACTUALLY PRINT.  This publication is approximately 800 pages.  Clicking this will only bring the entire publication on the screen as a .PDF so you may view it.
6. Scroll through to the job areas that interest you. 

State Data

1. Visit Wage estimates by state http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm 
2. Select your state of interest
3. Scroll down and view the average (mean) hourly/annual pay for the respective jobs in that state.

So for example, the average hourly rate for a graphic designer in California (as of May 2009) was $27.49.  Now, what I don't know is what proportion of those wages is attributed to freelance designers and what proportion are graphic designers staffed at an agency.  What the consumer pays between the two are likely to be more similar than what a designer can expect to be paid.  But regardless, this information is invaluable and every employer and employee should be aware of what these numbers are.

Hope that helps!

New Project: Salton Sea Faded Oasis

Ok, taking a break from photographer-awareness/griping/complaining, I am posting the link to my most recent project.  I kept hearing things about the Salton Sea and being an East Coast girl, hadn't really seen anything before like what people were describing.  So I decided to head out there.  Salton Sea : Faded Oasis is 20 pictures of what I found.

Can you come out and shoot my 5 hour event? I'll pay you $50!

I recently spent some time watching the 3 day free tutorial in nightclub photography offered by http://www.nightclubphotographyonline.com. If you have any interest in that area, I really recommend checking them out. They have some great tips and are really the only guys I have been able to find that have any information on being an effective club photographer. One of their tips was that if you are interested in breaking into the nightclub photography scene, to offer the club promoter or owner your services for free for a few nights so they see how you work and what your product is. This is something that I think is a great tip and that I myself have done before. So if you want to get into that field, give that a shot. It would probably pay off more in the long run.

When I offer or agree to shoot an event for free, my reasoning usually falls into one of two categories.

1. I have extended the offer because I want something out of this deal
This would absolutely be the case where you offer to shoot that nightclub for free as a deal to possibly be hired for work in the future. It's like all those free samples at Costco. They aren't just handing out those samples to feed their customers while they're shopping. They hand them out to get them interested in things they might not have bought without having tried. It's a small cost to pay to increase sales. I actually have 3 pounds of italian sausage still sitting in my freezer because of just this. If I approach someone and ask them if I can take their picture at no cost to them, it's because I want to try some new technique out, or get some particular type of photo in my portfolio (i.e. maternity, fashion) to show prospective clients, are working on a personal project, or want to initiate some kind of mock interview with them or their company. The reason for my offer is ultimately self-serving because I, like any business person, wants to stay in business and sometimes that means giving out free samples (within reason and moderation). The biggest diversion that I have from this is when I shoot photos for documentary work. The goal with that work is to educate and ignite social change. The goal is not self serving to my business efforts or to roll a profit for anyone. In those cases absolutely, I work for free but it's also a project I myself am pursuing and as is the case with passion, cannot have a price tag. But if someone contacts me and wants me to go somewhere to cover some subject for them, that falls into the "I'm working for you, you need to pay me" category. Plan on compensating a photographer for that.

2. I have accepted the offer because I want to help someone out
I have friends. Everybody has friends. Sometimes, you may have a friend who is not going to have professional wedding pictures taken at their wedding because they simply don't have the funds. Sometimes, you may have a friend who is a part of a non-profit charity event that relies on the giving and donation of other people and want a photographer to capture the event but doesn't have the funds for it. In these cases, I could absolutely see the logic and reasoning in working free of charge. I have been helped left and right in my life and as is the premise with "paying it forward," honestly enjoys when I can give back to a good cause doing something that I love to do anyway. So in the sense of giving, give back when you feel that you can really do something great for someone who needs it and would otherwise be unable to have it. However, even in the sense of giving, I cannot make charity work the basis of my business because then I will be unable to stay in business. Therefore, invitations to shoot for free with no benefit to my business need to be accepted in moderation. If I always worked for free than I could not afford to work. Interesting paradox but all too true. Yet, a free event here and there for someone who could really use it, if you feel that it's a good use of your time, go for it.

All in all, photography is a business. Whether you work for yourself (freelance) or work for a studio or agency, it's still a business. Programs and transportation and equipment cost money - a lot of money. So in order to keep working at a professional level, an income has to be obtained. We as photographers, especially those of us that have developed a desirable product, get lots of invitations to shoot events and get special access - for free. Most often, it's disguised in some sort of, "you can work on your portfolio!" language. If you need that kind of shot in your portfolio, go for it. But usually, when the free invites for that type of event or subject start rolling in, it's because you already have great shots in your portfolio in that area and they just want free services. Be selective and don't become known as the free photographer if you want to be paid.

And lastly, to the public: really consider what you ask us when you ask us to work but offer us little or no money for the gig. I recently was asked about shooting an event and the event ran over a long period of time, would have required me to travel downtown on a busy night of no parking or paid parking only, and I would have to be stuck on a boat for hours with lots of really drunk people and about $2,000 of photo equipment. I was offered $50 for the event. For me to take that, I would be working for less than minimum wage already and after gas money and parking, would really be taking away something closer to $35 for 5 hours of work. And that's not including post processing. That's also assuming that no one drunk bashes my equipment while I'm there. The logic in the offer? Who knows. I was offered the gig by a dear friend who was just relaying what the party host was offering. But really - for $50, I could bring a point a shoot that would fit into my pocket and take some shots but mostly just hang out and drink. The shots would probably turn out pretty decent, but anyone can do that and most party goers will do that for free. Save your $50. Think about what it is you want to buy when you consider what you want to spend. So please respect photographer's time and efforts, we're just trying stay in business!

The public value of intellectual creativity is $0.00...

There must be some blog or some manual or something somewhere that lists, as a suggestion for cutting start up costs, to enlist an inexperienced designer to create your design package for FREE with promises of future paid work when (if) the company takes off.  In reality, most companies are not successful and most designers know this.  So basically, this invitation to become a part of "something incredible" is really an invitation to donate time and resources to someone who's basically out for themselves and doesn't plan on giving you anything for the effort you've so kindly doled out for them.

You will find funny (hilarious) blogs all over the internet written by frustrated designers who have to deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis.  Even though my primary work is as a photographer, I have had people ask me to do work - for free - with some future promise of business if "things go well."  Most designers have a story about somebody trying to get free stuff.  The comic I listed above courtesy of designer James Tadeo's Lunch Time Comics and David Thorne's 27b/6 blog are possibly the funniest, most creative illustrative descriptions of the kinds of crazy things designers have to go through with clients.  If you got a minute and want to laugh, I highly suggest checking those out.

So what does this mean for you as a designer?  This means that you need to make sure you are compensated fairly for the work you have done or are being asked to do.  Creative Opera's blog lists 10 Reasons Freelancer Designers Get Screwed and you may be having trouble getting your business off the ground because - you are getting screwed.  The unfortunate reality is that the only way you can be in business as an effective designer is that you have to be able to financially support your efforts.  When clients look for a designer, they look for a designer.  They don't look for a police officer or an English teacher who does design on the side.  Unfortunately, many of us have to have that primary income to support our second job but the problem with that is that the second job is suppose to be supporting the second job and if it's not, you're getting screwed...

So what does this mean for you as someone who needs a design and doesn't want to spend a lot of money?  If your budget is really $0, then you need to become a designer yourself and do your own work.  That will involve spending time drawing out and doing research/getting ideas on what to make your design convey/look like.  Remember, if it's a logo you want, then it has to communicate what you are about in one image.  Decide what that looks like.  Mayhem Studios has some info on the Value of a Logo.  I suggest checking that out.  Doing your design also involves buying the hard materials to create your image be it studio arts or computer graphics programs.  You will need to purchase and learn how to use several computer programs, so plan on spending around $1,200 just to buy them and then either sign up for a class or buy a book (or find a really generous designer friend) to teach you how to use them.  It takes most people years to master these programs and the things related to them (hence the availability of bachelors and masters degrees in fine arts), but it may take you less.  Good luck.  And then make sure you understand what you need to know about formats, printing, what files to send to printers, what image formats will allow you to use transparencies, colors, the impact of vector and pixels on the transferability of your design, design trends, legal concerns and copyrighting, intellectual property, fonts, and a few dozen other vital elements to remember when creating and disseminating your design.  You may be an amazing designer and just have yet to discover your talents, so if you are trying to save money then I suggest giving it a shot.  And then if other people begin to like your designs, then after you have done all this work and learned all these things about being an effective designer, you can do theirs for free too.

Basically, services are things that are paid for.  Commissioning a designer (or hiring a photographer or videographer or DJ, etc.) is requesting a service.  The general public either doesn't know what goes into making these things happen or they have chosen to devalue, yet still want, those services.  Interesting.  Creative Opera also lists 8 Common Misconceptions about being a designer that we all should know.  This info is great for both designers and clients.  Design work isn't as cut and dry as some would like to believe.  So spend a little time today hugging your local designer.  They probably need it.

Removing a photo watermark: flattering, but still stealing

We as photographers take risks whenever we share our work with the world online.  Copy and pasting runs rampant and between illegally downloading music, illegally stealing and modifying copyrighted images, and illegally downloading/viewing/uploading copyrighted material on youtube - we live in a culture that values a creative's hard work enough to collect it and surround oneself with it, but not enough to pay them or credit them for their work and to really just steal it.  So why do people do that at all?  They're just cheap, most the time, and don't want to pay for the full image, some going so far as to even poll the web to find out the best way to steal it.

When I upload anything to the web, I place my logo on my work which also includes the (C) copyright embedded in it.  That means that I own the image, you do not.  Don't steal it.  That also means that if you are going to take it and put/post it somewhere else, do not alter the image unless you communicate with the photographer (me) about that first.  If it is an image that he or she wants to share but may choose to enter into a contest or publish somewhere else and now you have done your fancy work and removed their watermark and reposted the image, regardless of how you decided to credit the photographer.... that is 10x not cool.  Now what you've done is just helped put the photographer's work in a vulnerable position.  Whether it's an image of something you like or even you at a festival, party, or club event: the decision of the photographer and/or event coordinator to place those watermarks on those images is usually for promotional reasons and cropping the credit out is a pretty heavy slap in the face.  That's like me going to write an awesome article that everybody loves and becomes the talk of the town, but you whited my name out of the "author" line because you felt the piece looked better without it.  So now I did the work and get no credit.  That's kinda f***ed up.

But you may say, ok then - if you're that worried about it, don't post the images at all!  I totally agree and keep a good amount of my work offline and shared only in print because of that.  It's a tough balance trying to share your ability with your community as an advertising tool and not being taken advantage of.  At the end of the day, don't steal someone else's work and just be nice.  :)

Same Blog, New direction: What you should probably know about being a photographer

I am noticing, more and more, that the general public just haven't got a clue (not even a little one) about what goes into being a photographer.  Probably the biggest misconceptions are (A) how much it costs (the job expenses are astronomical), (B) how much you really have to learn to be somewhat decent, and (C) how important skill and ability really are.  Granted, all of these elements will vary depending on what kind of photographer you are, but really not that much.

For example, if you are a mid-level sports photographer, you have to factor in the equipment you are carrying onto the field (approx. $3,500), your post-processing equipment (approx. $2,000-$3,000), and then added liability/risk if you or your equipment get ran over or hit with a ball.  If you are one of the higher-level sports photographers, add $30,000 to your equipment costs and you're all set (more info here http://www.sportspictures.com/sport/sports_photography_equipment.html).  So, if you want to be a sought after (aka working and hired) professional sports photographer, you have to shell out more money than the average American makes a whole year.  If it's your "hobby," then going $7,000 in the hole is pretty average.  But regardless, most people don't know or take the minute to figure out how much all this costs.  And while sports photography may be on the high end as far as cost goes, their midlevel standard is what you can plan on spending to be a professional photographer in any arena.

Now, you may be thinking, "Well, my cousin so and so and his friends just went to Costco and bought a $600 camera kit and they take really beautiful pictures.  I don't understand why some photographers go and spend thousands of dollars more if they don't have to.  So, I'm not paying all this money for a photographer, my cousin can cover my event for free and the pictures will look the same."  Ok, good for you - so lets look at this a few ways.  Your cousin may be a part of what I call "Fad Photography."   You may have seen what I'm talking about.  American Apparel clothing company uses this style of photography almost exclusively.  What these photographers do is cover their subject simply, plainly, non-flattering, and realistically.  They use the kit camera, the built-in flash, and usually no other prop.  This is pretty much as bare bones as you can get these days in photography.  So, maybe your cousin may be wanting to be a part of this trend and honestly, in my own opinion, this style is a pretty cool style.  What these photographers do is capture the moment and make it look interesting.  But wait, listen to what I said.  They make it look interesting meaning they don't do a bunch of fancy camera techniques to get the "right" image - they make sure their composition is effecting and attractive to the people they want to see them.  Random guy and photographer CobraSnake is a prime example of what I'm talking about.  This falls into (C) of what I mentioned before: raw talent and ability.  Not everyone's "Fad Photography" looks great, you still have to shop around and hire somebody that knows what they are doing.  They gotta recognize a moment, be able to be in the right place at the right time, get around rules and regs for places that don't allow photography... they have to sometimes be creative rebels in how they work.  For some, all of this comes naturally.  For others, they gotta work at it but either way, an effective photographer makes an image interesting one way or another and not every Tom, Dick, and Nancy can do that. 

So, from here on out, I'm not going to post that much of my personal work on this blog.  I post some periodically on my facebook page and my website, so posting them here too seems a little redundant.  If you are interesting in seeing my work, head over to one of those.  Instead, I'm going to focus a little more on being more informative on what at least I go through in being a photographer.  And that's ranging from public misconceptions about being a photographer (that you don't really get until you are one or until one explains it to you), some of the difficulties I run into in my on-site workflow (which usually involves oblivious people), equipment issues you probably wouldn't know about, and just the general effort it takes to do what I and so many others do.  This should be an interesting discussion...!!! :)

Event: Barona 40th Annual Pow Wow

Barona Indian Reservation, every year, holds a huge Pow Wow bringing together tribes from really all over the nation.  From food, fun, and tons of vendors selling Native jewelry and clothing, I highly recommend putting the next one on your personal to do list.  

Romeo's 30th Birthday Party

We all threw my husband a SURPRISE 30th birthday party.  It was a total success, he had no idea and was totally surprised.  The night was full of fun, dancing, talking, drinking, playing with the dogs lol and just an all around great time.  Much thanks to everyone who came out, we had a blast! :)

Happy Birthday Romeo!! :)

The Camera doesn't matter...

... it's your photographer's eye that does!

Yes, fancy cameras give us more options. Tons, even. But not having one of those $1,000 - $5,000 cameras should not stop you from still going out there and making your art. These are from my Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. I like this camera a lot because of the bunch of point and shoots I've had, it takes the best quality pictures I've seen. It's small, about the size of a box of cigarettes and costs about $150-$200 depending who you buy it from.

Travel: Baltimore :)

I went home!  Home was well missed, everything from the trees to the people to all the bug bites I came back to California with were each lovely and missed in their own ways haha.  I went home to pick up my new child (dog named Sooki) and to also see my family and catch up with the friends I had time to go see.  It was an amazing weekend and I took some nice shots while I was there.  

Event: Sankei Shodo-Kai Japanese Calligraphy

Today, I went by the San Diego Japanese Christian Church to see the calligraphy display and demonstration by instructor Sankei, Hirotaka Sakai. The amount of attention to detail, tradition, and commitment to the art is incredible. The exhibit and demonstration was held in a small room in the church, about 30-40 people were in attendance. The exhibit hosts approximately 30 pieces, most by calligraphy students and some by the master calligrapher. The master calligrapher gave us a beautiful explanation of what he was doing, of course in Japanese, and then created a few pieces for the room. In speaking to one of the church members, I found out that this man is one of the premier calligraphers in Japan, adding to the honor of having him show us his technique. He teaches calligraphy classes in his San Diego home when he's in San Diego (evidently he's one of many Japanese people who lives in San Diego during particular seasons and flies back for others). If you go to the church's website, I'm sure they have the information listed there. I highly recommend, this is an annual event and will actually be going on tomorrow too.

Photojournalism: Del Mar Del Sol Competition

I went up to the San Diego Botanical Garden the other day to walk around/take some shots and stopped by Del Mar on my way back to San Diego and came across the Del Sol Horse Competition. This, while still not super exciting, was much more interesting to me than the Dressage show I had been there for last week. These horses weren't as primed/prettied up at the Dressage horses (the Dressage horses had braided manes, fancy) but they were just as beautiful in their athleticism.

I wasn't expecting to be going over there, so I didn't have my telephoto lens with me. I happen to have my 18 - 55 mm handy, so that's what I used for these. Since I consider these types of things such "classic" proper sports, I did apply a filter to these photo to make them look aged. They just appealed more to me that way. :)

You own your photos and can get paid for their usage... right?

A big question (really, sad sad issue more or less) in photography surrounds around money: can we really afford to make a living as photographers? So many photographers have a 9-5, daytime job in addition to their photo exploits because the answer for most is no.

But why? Why can't photographers make a living doing what they do best? Many reasons, which go basically from how difficult it is to get paid work when every Tom, Dick, and Nancy has a friend or cousin who just bought a fancy camera and "for their portfolio" is willing to do the job for free to you, photographer, invested the $ in better equipment and in becoming an accomplished professional and then some bigger fish just comes along and uses your work without telling you or without your permission. That sucks.

I have recently started watching a lot of Current TV (great TV channel, by the way) but in a google search, I came across this post that just about made me gag. The story goes along the lines of a photographer, upon discovering that his photo made its way unknowingly onto the Current TV website, demanded some kind of action. He wanted to be compensated for the work that he had done which is fair, right? If a surgeon does a surgery, he/she expects to be paid. If a chef cooks a dinner, he/she expects to be paid. If an actor stars in a movie, he/she expects to be paid. That's the only way we, in a capitalist society, are able to have doctors, chefs, actors, etc. etc. - because they get money to allow them to keep doing the things they do for us. Apparently, photographers are somehow different. Long story short, a judge granted the photographer his $588 claim but Current TV appealed and ended up getting their money back on appeal.

What does this mean for us? This means that the quality of such an expensive industry to be a part of will continue to separate... one on end, the "working free" amateur photographer with the time and drive to be amazing but without the equipment and investment to really get there and on the other, the "working non-photographer" who can only afford to be in photography because another (time consuming) job pays for it. Either costs need to come down or pay needs to go up. And I'm not saying that talent is secondary to what equipment you carry - if you suck, you suck no matter how great and/or expensive your stuff is. But you can be the greatest DJ in the world and have the greatest mixing abilities ever to be seen - but if your mixer can't process the music and your speakers sound like crap, your final product will not do your ability justice. This is just one of those kinds of industries allowed only by advancements in technology and innovation. That is, unless we're all going to revert back to pinhole camera photography, try selling a client on that. But either way. a big thank you is owed to the photographer, Mr. Ken Light, for speaking up. It's pretty ugly how Current TV went about devaluing/not paying for someone's work that they used (stole), but if photographers continue to see this type of thing going on and don't say anything - it's only going to get worse. Stand up for your work, you worked for it.

Imagery: Belmont Fairgrounds

If you are a photo enthusiast in San Diego, I strongly encourage you to look up the San Diego DSLR Group. They're not some kind of meetup, but rather a really cool information center. Almost every week, they post info on events that may be interesting to shoot during the upcoming weekend and have group shoots. I have been checking their page pretty religiously and getting some really fun ideas from photos other members have posted. On their most recent "Group Shoot" I went down to PB with the hubby (for protection, it was dark) and took some interesting shots. But why even go on a group shoot? I have noticed how much attention being in a public place with a fancy camera can get. You get a little less attention when you have got 20-30 other people with big fancy cameras and tripods too. :)