Richard Kenward wrote
>We have always had to educate our clients, show them what we can offer
>and why we are worth it....nothing has changed, just our tools and the
>public perception. Now how much did that Picasso go for the other day?
>104 million USD I seem to remember....how much did the paint and the
>canvas cost?
Precisely.
Bottom line is surely that time is money as well as the investment in kit , studio
etc.
Clients are used to paying retouching companies by the hour , and for the cds ( or
even output transparencies from digital files in order to scan them again for the hard
of thinking :-) ) ,and for the couriers from these companies etc etc. They'll also
pay for scanning , proofing and what is sometimes erroneously called 'colour
correcting ' at pre press houses ( That's the bit where sometimes you get a brilliant
RGB / Cmyk conversion ,
and sometimes get a very expensive push button seperation that needs correction 'cos
they've ignored the ICC workflow entirely and need to fix the results).
Clients will also charge their clients by the hour , plus all those mark ups that
still exist .
Sadly ,as a group , it would seem that photographers are fighting to be bottom of
the food chain , and are doing an amazingly good job so far .
End of rant , start of answer .
We all know it's no longer the Eighties , but there 's no need to give up entirely
charging a reasonable amount for a professional job. Just how much your fee is is
still a personal matter , but it's usually a combination of talent and services
provided . The important bit is to remember that both are chargeable , it's just that
we have to be sensible as to how we do so . Some smudgers have their own studios but
still charge them as a seperate item. Some go so far as to charge for lights etc .
Others reflect these charges within their day rate . With digital , it's the same .
Your day rate either reflects the extra services on hand , or charges them seperately.
I'm not not a fan of 'processing costs per frame ', but a great believer in a digital
capture fee on a day rate basis . The maths is simple ....investment , depreciation ,
profit , time scale.
But without doubt , any further work on file for cosmetic reasons (not for fixing
substandard photography ) , is chargeable , by the hour . Any comping , retouching ,
colour corecting, CMYK conversion is chargeable , by the hour . CDs are chargeable ,
DVDs are chargeable , aim prints are chargeable , proofs are chargeable .
This may sound like a recipe for disaster , but the opposite is true. The cllient base
we have respects the efficiency of the workflow , the creative resources provided by
such a workflow , and the predictability and quality of the results . And that's the
real secret ( Richard Kenward knows this.... see his previous mails on the subject of
proofing etc ) .
The bottom line is that if you're going to provide these extra services and charge
realistically, you have to have a firm grasp of such subjects as colour management etc
,and the implications of taking on the responsibilities of a fully digital workflow.
If you can do so accurately , and , probably as importantly , confidently , then
you'll have no problem.
If you don't charge realistically , it's a downward spiral . Cutting costs while
investing in digital kit is surely only for those with independent means.
BTW , some clients are happy to pay for ten hours of retouching at �100 per hour on a
single shoot . Some even think that this is a bargain.
Another BTW . I recently had a conversation with an art director ( not one of my
clients ! ) who was looking at the current state of affairs on digital standards .I'd
just dusted down my soapbox when it turned out that he was really looking at standards
for digital capture fees . It turned out that his MD had queried as to why he was
being charged �7.50 ( Seven pounds fifty pence ) per shot ( not frame ) for processing
, spotting and minor cosmetic retouching. Shouldn't digital capture mean no charges
?
Well , I would ask the same question . Seven pounds fifty pee is a derisory sum for
such services , so they must be either trifling or negligible , and therefore why
bother to charge ? If you are going to charge per shot , make it reasonable and make
it good and make it understandable. Or do it for nothing and up your day rate.
When we get to arguing over seven squids while making a huge investment in new
technology , we've definitely lost the plot .
Onwards and upwards .
Bob Marchant.
------------Colour Therapy------------
Digital Imaging
Training and Consultancy on Digital Workflow
t:0207 381 3337
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