I learned something today!!

In the past I have done some commercial photography for a health club that my family belongs to. In the next month they are going to re shoot all of the photography for future advertising and brochures.

I was among 5 photographers, and they asked us to make a bid for a two day shoot.

I made what I thought was a competitive bid of $800/day plus expenses. They are taking care of all of the post processing, so I didn't need to charge for it. To my surprise, I got a call immediately asking why my bid was so low. They were worried that low money = low results.

Lesson learned = you must have confidence in bidding according to the market. Luckily, they still like my portfolio and I still in the running vs. another photographer in the last cut.

Have faith in yourself!!! My wife laughed because she has told me that for a long time.

Loren

Good advice Loren.
Not just in photography but in life itself.
You are a great photographer and deserve good money for your photography.
I hope you get this job.
Brian

That's great - and you're right!

I have to learn how to listen to my own advice though...

Loren,

That's great news that you in the running for such a good gig. Pricing a bid for such a job (as you found out) can be tricky.

I've recently started using the PHOTOBYTE photo studio business software that Tom Zimberoff created (http://zimberoff.com/photobyte.htm), and in addition to essential forms and networking tools, it also (along with his companion book, Focus on Profit) outlines a very strong business model and pricing guidelines to assist both established as well as emerging pro shooters.

While your bid may have seemed like a fair amount of money for you, you need to realize that pricing these kinds of jobs should not be about TIME, but rather based on client USAGE.

IOW, you need to establish how exactly your client intends to use the images, where and how often, then come up with a rate and fee structure that is in line with that usage in the market you're in.

How long it takes you to plan, shoot, and produce these images is an entirely seperate thing, and really only plays a smaller role in your bid.

So, in that sense, if this is a full-blown ad campaign with all that entails, yep, the $800/day rate is definitely quite low.

Anyway, good luck with it...