One of my problems is that in the days of film a 6x7 transparency tended to look rather good with nothing done to it. A 1Ds file straight out of the camera is in most cases no match and can be greatly improved. Therefore although I do want to charge a fair rate for 'post-production' I think it would be ingenuous to expect payment for every single thing that happens to a file once it leaves the compactflash card.
More troublesome is getting a fair rate for post-production when clients expect to agree a set fee before the shoot without knowing whether there will be five or thirty shots that they will want in finished form from a particular day's shoot. I can certainly understand why a client wouldn't want to hear after the event that I have spent 10 hours at �100 an hour doing post-production on their job. And sadly I've yet to find a client who would give the go-ahead for this sort of charge. I'm sure things are different in the world of advertising photography; I'm mostly working for design consultancies.
When I look at the suggested rates in the Manifesto (and this is for editorial, remember, not advertising) $100 - $200/hr for post-production, CD burning $25 - $35, DVD burning $35 - $75, FTP uploading $25 - $100, Equipment charge $150 -$500/day, I can't see how that could add up to LESS than the equivalent of $500, and up to $2000 a day, for items that are on top of the photographer's fee. Does anyone get away with that in the U.K? I wish I could! Wrong or not I include a CD sent in the post as part of my fee. The CD itself costs a few pence and a stamp 27p. If I was a superstar advertising photographer I might try and get away with it, but if you're charging $75 for a CD, you are actually saying that your fee is $75 more than you are stating. How can digital images be supplied to clients other than by burning a CD or DVD? Feel free to disagree with me!
I agree with George that some 'suggested rates' or at least guidelines with an explanation for clients of what is involved in the various stages of post-production would be extremely useful.
Regards
Richard Lewisohn
http://www.lewisohn.co.uk
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