Pricing of prints after shoot.

[inView]

Recently took some shots for someone of their kids, now they have asked me to get these printed for them it amounts to 24 small prints 4 medium and 3 large prints. Unsure what peoples perception of Large and medium is but I was thinking A3 and A4.
I was gonna mount the large (more than likely A3 or similar size) and medium ( 12x 10 or similar) and leave the 24 small (8x6's) unmounted. The big question is what do I charge?
I dont want to appear greedy but also this has been a bit of a journey doing this. I would like to try and get some repeat business from her friends but scared that I may price myself out.
Any opinions?

 

[photon]

If you undercharge you run the risk of trapping yourself in subsidising your clients' gift-giving and feeling resentful ever after. Give stuff away and they may not even look after it: "Oh, he'll give us another if we ask him."

A simple way of pricing, to give a fair and easily explainable rate in case you feel justification is required: guesstimate the total time expended per shot and then multiply by two or three times a fair hourly rate to cover for the self-employed aspect of this part of your income. Add extra to cover the greater cost of larger prints, mounting etc.

Clients need educating that more real work remains to be done when you've packed up and left. We're all used to cheap mass-produced products and need to realize that a bespoke product costs more.

Ask what's required (or state what you can offer) regarding size. "Small", to them, may mean wallet-sized; some people want no larger than 6x4, especially if they've got a lot of other artworks on their walls :bang:

 

[Alastair]

I'd suggest that Small is 6" on the long side (e.g. 6x4), Medium is 8" on the long side, and Large is 10" or 12" on the long side.

For family and friends I've started sending pictures out in strut mounts (or you could use photofolder mounts or slip mounts) from Cotswold Mounts - remember to put your name and contact details on the back. Printing from DSCL is less than a pound a print, the mounts are less than a pound.. so if you factor in your costs as under £2 per print (all sizes). Then factor in the time to trake the shots, the time it took to get the job, the time to process and organise the printing, etc. Do you want to make a career out of this or is it to fund your hobby?

If you want to set a reasonable price for the future.. but keep things a bit cheaper this time around.. don't forget the magical "multiple discount" and "special offer discount" that keeps the advertised price up whilst you charge this person less. Just watch though as people introduced by a client that receives a discount will expect the same.