Here I will be writing about a recent lecture I had discussing how much I should be charging for a job after I graduate university. I have filled out an excel spreadsheet that works out my day rate, half a day and 1-2 hour job. Below I will copy in the information necessary.
We had multiple sessions on this topic, and they were some of the most helpful tutorials I’ve had in my time at University. I find it easier to learn when someone is showing how and what to do, so having our tutor go through every box on the spreadsheet with us was very helpful. As a growing freelance photographer, I don’t really have a clear mind on how much to charge, and with my few paid gigs in the past I always felt awkward and bad for asking for the money. Since this tutorial, my income form photography jobs has tripled and I feel confident asking for the right price and I know I am entitled to the price we agreed on. No more under paying. This is why it was so important for me to learn this, as before this, about 95% of the skills I’ve learnt at University I already knew (colour correction, Lightroom, file management), however this is invaluable.
Your Own Equipment
I am such a geek when it comes to new camera equipment, and I don’t feel embarrassed for stating this as photography / videography are my profession, I need to know the latest gear coming out. I know a lot of other photographers I know don’t really care what camera they are using, its the photos that count. While this is true, having the basic full frame, 50mm, high end SD cards will help your work flow massively. As stated below, I am currently using the Sony A7 III, and I could not love it anymore. In the spread sheet I added the Sony AR7 III (the next camera up), then my current camera would become my back up, I think this works well as I am already thinking about my camera setup for when I enter the real working world.
My tutor made a comment saying how I could use an adaptor on my Sony, resulting in the fact I could us cheaper lenses, however I have tried this, and the auto focus in low light conditions hunts a lot and for me, is un useable. This is the reason I have put down the very, very expensive lens. This is my career, I’m going to buy the best equipment. i have alos not added my current 55mm 1.8, as this is a top range lens, and do not expect to buy another 50mm anytime soon. I have also noted down the basic expenses like a Microsoft package, a Adobe package and computer protection software. This are all often over looked, but very important to a proper, working, professional free lance creative.
Cost Of Living
The cost of living was very difficult for me (and the rest of the class) to work out. As student, we really do not know how much it costs to just live in the real world. Fortunately, my partner and I have plans to move in together after we finish University, so all of the billing costs are split 50/50 with her, however all of clothes, food, travel and person costs are all mine. This numbers could be completely wrong, it all depends on where we choose to live, obviously the north is cheaper, and London is the most expensive, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we will move up north to save money. The main cost here is the travel, being a touring photographer it gets expensive, but when the time comes I can come back to this spread sheet, re-work my numbers and fond out exactly how much I need to charge.
Day Rate Calculations
This is the most important sheet, and the easiest to work out, as the internal calculations does it automatically. I first had to choose how many days a week I will work, again, this completely depends on what type of job I go into, so I will definitely have to come to this and change it when graduate Universitiy. Realistically, I will work as an assistant in my first year 48 weeks, 3 days a week. With this, I found it easier to delete the other columns to focus on mine. The spread sheet came back with the exact prices I should charge, taking into account all of the expenses I put in previously. I then rounded them up the nearest whole number and got these results.
This most important aspect here is that the minimum full day, is more of the same of a full priced half day. This is because if all I get are half days, I’m still hitting that £180 per job I need to pay all my bills.
As I stated in my opening paragraph, this was one of the most helpful sessions I’ve had in my time at University, I am glad we didn’t go over this briefly. We took time to go through everyones numbers in detail so everyone understood that as photographers, we need to stop under charging and being pushed aside. The amount of clients I have that say “I am not paying that, I will get my friend to do the photos instead, they wont charge anything”. Then a few days later I see they have updated their profile picture to an out of focus, blurry, all neon green lit photo which looks horrible.
The numbers I’ve worked out on this spreadsheet will be the back bone of my freelance business, no more working for free. I am a professional content creator.