Available Light Shoot of Youth

The following request came in for a colleague of mine, and I put it up for your consideration and collective wisdom.

I have a shoot that will be 4-6 hours.  It’s a shoot of children in an educational environment, more than likely using available light, to shoot storytelling images of these youth, and the end client is a governmental-type organization, available light, no studio lights. While the youth may well need model releases, that is not your responsibility from a cost standpoint.  I estimated 6 hours at $X for the shoot, and $X for post production. 

What would you charge for the shoot fee, unbundled from the scope of usage since there is still a degree of unknown as it pertains to the final use, and further, the photographer is concerned about scaring the client away with huge bundled fees. Further, the photographer believes they could trim what usage they didn’t need or want from their budget and he would still get a good rate to shoot and an additional revenue on specific licenses as they are determined.

varliable. Next week or two.

The client has requested usage of collateral with a press run of 3,500-5,000 pieces.

The usage fee for collateral should be $X per image, quoted using the figure of a press run of 5000.

The client has requested web usage for one year one their company’s home page. The fee for the home page usage should be $X, and for subsequent images on a second tier page was $X.
DRAFT

So, how would you estimate this assignment? Do you have all the answers/information, either from the client, or me, to provide an estimate? Please give it some thought, and post your estimate details. As you learned in math class - 'show your work'. In other words, don't just present a single dollar figure. Break it out, creative/usage together (or separate, your call), and outline expenses, both probable and possible.

Setting aside how your estimate would be nicely and neatly laid out, put the crux of the estimate in your entry.

All entries are moderated. Your entry must be thoughtful, (and considerate of others when you're making a response) for it to be approved.

I’d be interested to know what kind of ‘take’ they are after from 6 hrs of shooting? 5-10 iconic images or several hundred pictures?

Quote:

Photography:$700
Post: $150
Expenses: $50

Licensing:

I’m not actualy sure here, I’m interested what others would charge here…

I’ve found that educational and government agencies have very strict budgets which they absolutely have to stick to. I would usually imply that the quote is my regular rate and that as I am a supporter of their cause, I may be pursuaded to offer a discount. It is usually not in the person booking’s personal interest to deliberately lowball you and so while you may get offered less than you originally quoted, it’s rare for their pitch to be unreasonable (if it is you can always walk away).

I would have to agree that much of this would depend on the “take” (as Paul put it) that the client is interested in. Big difference between a dozen images and several dozen from an editing and post-processing standpoint.

Here’s my best take:

Production fee: $465

Licensing fees
Collateral: $250 per image (1 year)
Interet use (per images): $100 for home page, $50 for 2nd teir pages.

plus expenses with 10% markup and sales tax, if applicable.

I would need some more information to give an accurate proposal my first thoughts are why is the model release not factored into the cost of the project. It will require a day of pre-production to make sure parents have them & have signed them BEFORE the shoot takes place. The additional question would be is the location secured for the photography or would we need to ok that with the principle? Why no strobe?

Creative Fee $1800
Pre-production fee $750
additional Licensing = Fotoquote

Digital post production for 5 final images without retouching: 600 (275 digital day + master tiffs)
assistant $250
?Feel the client up for a child handler or pick the best assistant?
Misc. & incidentals 125
FTP $25
Travel Tolls, etc.

Finally I would not be scared with any large fees when dealing with school children the additional responsibility always seems to multiple the work load. I think it’s more a matter of either making sure the client is on the same page with the additional responsibility or realize anyone who right off the bat states the parental signed release won’t be an issue & we won’t need additional lighting looks at pictures and thinks they’re effortlessly found not professionally created.