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Costs of digital photography
Example 2 Location Photographer
Background: This experienced corporate/editorial shooter makes high-quality portraits for magazines, brochures, and annual reports. He added digital as a capability of his business in the summer of 2002.
Charges
Capture: In this case, the photographer rolls up all of the shoot/archive/edit/delivery charges into a Capture Charge of $2/image. This includes shooting, archiving, and preparing for client edit. The edit form may be web gallery or contact sheet.
Minimum Charge: His standard Minimum Charge for capture is $250.
Finished Files: This photographer will then charge for Finished Files accompanied by a Guide Print. He charges $75 per image to prepare an RGB file and an Epson 870 print. He indicated that he would give a volume discount for file prep if enough were ordered at the same time.
Retouching: He charges $125/hr to retouch files with Photoshop.
Client Acceptance: Up to this point, he has had no difficulty with client acceptance of his prices. In his first eight months since buying a digital camera, he has billed $23, 888 in digital production charges. The most he had ever billed for film, processing and polaroids in one entire year was $24, 613. His equipment and software costs for going digital were about $13,000.
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Example 3 Studio Photographer, Low Volume
Background: This photographer has been shooting digital for more that a decade, developing a sophisticated advertising style. These images can command a premium in the marketplace because they are unique and really good. The photographer uses many techhniques in the creative process, and digital capture and manipulation are but two tools in the box.
Value Added Pricing: No, this is not WalMart, this is value as in high-value. The photographer recognizes that what the studio offers is unique, and a premium can be added to the charges based on what it is worth to the buyer, not based on what it costs to produce.
Voodoo Pricing: Well, not exactly, but that is kind of what the client sees. The quote comes wrapped up as one figure, with all fees and most production costs included. In the background, a calculation is made as follows: The MINIMUM price for the job is based on the time it takes to create the photograph, with no distinction made between camera time and computer time. Added to that minimum, might be a fee based on usage. On top of that is a premium that comes straight form the law of supply and demand.
If the image would be easy to get made elsewhere, the premium is low. But if the client is looking for a style that is unique to their studio - even if that style is not time consuming to produce - then the price goes up accordingly.
Price Premiums are based on:
- Difficulty of the assignment (Time and Skill involved)
- PIA (Pain In the Neck factor of the client: larger jobs= larger pain)
- Style Value (What the Photographer's individual style is worth)
- Competitive Edge (A gut feeling of client dynamics)
A note about pricing by the hour ( A little Capitalist Theory Here). This photographer has spent more than a decade learning digital manipulation and delivery, and took exception with a part of my pricing strategy. It was pointed out that if you charged by time only, then you would limit your ability to use greater productivity to generate greater profit.
If production charges were set strictly according to the time it takes to produce the work- and decreased as the photographer was able to do the work more quickly- then any investment in training and equipment would be a losing proposition. You buy a computer that's twice as fast and then you have to LOWER your rates?
Resistance to downward pressure on prices increases profitability, and increases the incentive for photographers to upgrade equipment and training. The classic capitalist model supports a higer profit for those who take the initiative to invest in training and equipment. Ultimately this investment benefits both client and supplier alike, or at least that's what Adam Smith said.
While it is inevitable that technological development will reduce some components of the cost of production, it is the lag time in the Photographer's price drop that offers the photographer an opportunity to recoup the investment costs. And in an industry with a reputation for slim profit margins and high investment costs, the profitable business will be the one that takes advantage of trend-induced opportunities.
Additional Production Charges. While this photographer does roll up Fee, Capture, and Master File Preparation into a single estimate, that does not mean that all production charges are included. For this studio, additional charges typically fall under the following categories:
File Prep:
$65 Standard CMYK Conversion
$55 Greyscale Conversion
$75 Greyscale and CMYK Conversion
$25 Web only (Small File)
$70 Web and CMYK
$15 Guide Print (Epson 1280 custom profiled print)
$25 CD Burn
New Digital Photography Workflow seminars announced. Click here.
Digital Price List
This Price List is current as of 10/11/05 and
is subject to change at any time.
Service Price /Image Minimum
Image Capture, Standard
$1/ Image $50 Minimum
Contact Sheets 8.5x11
$15 / Page $15 Minimum
Contact Sheets 11x14
$25 / Page $25 Minimum
CD-ROM Delivery Jpeg or Tiff See Below $50 Minimum
4x6 Prints
$1/each $50 Minimum
Master File Preparation, Standard
$50 / Image $50 Minimum
Master File, High-res
$100/Image $100/Minimum
Retouching
$150 / hr $25 Minimum
New Entries (11/9/04):
Levels of Delivery
Topics:
Why Shoot Digital
Why does Digital cost more than Film?
Fees
A Word About Color
Archiving
What do you mean, Digital Capture?
ASMP's Digital Photography Standards and Practices Pages
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Levels of Delivery
Listed below are the several levels of Post-production that I offer, and a short description of the advantages, drawbacks and uses of each.
Raw Files: Raw files are the proprietary files created by the digital camera. We rarely deliver Raw files to a client: historically they only go to clients with hardware-calibrated color management, and their own in-house pre-press capability. While you may be able to open Raw files with your recent version of Photoshop, unless you have spent some time working with Raw files, you will probably be damaging them when you do so.
Delivery of Raw files is not recommended.
In-Camera Jpeg Files: Like the Raw files discussed above, these files are created in-camera. Unlike Raw files, they are a universal format that cannot be damaged upon opening. They are inferior, however in two important ways. The first is that the critical color and brightness decisions are all made automatically by the camera. The second is that the Camera throws away about 90% of the capture information (color and brightness data) when it creates the jpegs.
In-camera jpeg files can be appropriate when the final use is minilab prints (corrected by the lab) or web design (corrected by the designer), or in rare cases when there is severe deadline pressure.
Batch-converted Files: These files are shot raw, and converted in a batch in Photoshop. They will look better than Jpegs, and they do not require special knowledge to open correctly. They are not final files, however, and will require technical and artistic color-correction in preparation for high-quality uses. They will also typically require sharpening, dusting and minor retouching. 16-bit batch-converts are even better, but are more expensive, require greater knowledge on the back end, and take up much more space.
Batch-converted files are appropriate in situations where the client has a hardware-calibrated monitor and color-managed hard-copy proofing capability. Generally this will be clients with an in-house production department.
RGB Master Files: Master Files have been color-corrected, sharpened, dusted and undergone minor retouching. These files are appropriate for use as photographic prints, on the web, or in high-quality offset reproduction. Typically, Master files are accompanied by a color-managed Guide Print
RGB Master files are our most common form of final image delivery. Think of it like a finished scan from a transparency.
CMYK Master Files: These images are prepped for reproduction on press. When you convert from RGB to CMYK, you lose the ability to reproduce many colors due to CMYK's inherent limitations. Having us do the conversion ensures that the images will look the best they can, as we balance the technical limitations with the artistic vision in the original creation. CMYK master Files are accompanied by either Color Guide Prints, or by Contract Proofs: in either case, these hard copies only show colors that CMYK is capable of reproducing.
Ideally, the printer supplies us a profile for the ink/paper/press combination that will be used. If that is not available, we will convert to the closest generic profile available (eg.SWOP sheetfed, coated,). CMYK Master Files are our second most common form of delivery, and are often delivered in addition to RGB Master Files.
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Why Shoot Digital?
The reason that digital photography has taken off recently is NOT because it is cheaper to produce. Rather, digital photography is being adopted by the marketplace because it provides significant value to the buyer. What kind of value?
We Get more Done: Digital Capture has greatly increased our productivity during the shoot.
Immediate Feedback : Because the image can be viewed right away, everyone can walk away from the shoot knowing that it has been successful. In cases where the photographer is "shooting for expression", this is extremely valuable. In many cases, polaroids can simply not show what you get, because expressions change so fast.
Easy Editing : I can make the shoot available for viewing over the web pretty quickly. We can discuss which images work for the project, and I can put them into final production right away. And this is all done without the risk of sending original film.
Shortened Project Delivery Times : Digital Capture consolidates the production of images. The Digital Photographer is able to provide a product ready to be dropped into a document, and sent to a printer for final settings and output. This could easily remove 6 messenger fees and the associated time delay from a project. And in many cases, the entire delivery of images can be done electronically.
Please discuss delivery time-frame at the time of contract signing. Rush charges may apply.
Reduced Liability : Clients frequently accept large potential liabilities when they take responsibility for original film. The liability for loss or damage of the image is no longer a consideration with digital capture and delivery.
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Why Does Digital Cost More than Film?
Digital Photography has brought a whole new set of opportunities to the world of publication photography, but it has not come cheap. A digital-savvy film photographer will spend at least $10,000 to convert to digital capture. If you're not already in a digital workflow, count on $20,000. Much of that investment will have fully depreciated and need to be replaced within 18 months.
Additionally, the investment in education and retooling of workflow takes thousands of hours per year. Photographers need to become adept at using new software, implementing color management, and maintaining digital archives, among other disciplines.
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