What to charge for product photography ???

Hi There-

I am doing some product photography for a friends business and I do not know what is the going rate or fee for product photography. Do I charge by each product, each photograph, or my time (i.e. by the hour).

So any advise you could provide would be great.

Thanks for looking at my post.

Sincerely- Doug

What kind of product?
Product count?
Same background/lighting for all products?
How many views per product?

If you're just doing a few, charge hourly - enough to pay for your overhead (travel costs, business expenses, post-production on the images, etc.) and whatever wage compensation you feel is fair.
If you are going to be doing hundreds - charge per piece.

Hi There Essence-

I will answer your questions below
1. (What kind of product) The products are mini steam engines and steam toys
2. (Product count) Over 1000 different toys and engines.
3. (Same background/lighting) Yes, the company already has the soft-boxes and camera and software, Photoshop SC4
4. (How many views of product) about 8 to 10 of each one, including some macro.

I hope this helps, like I said, I have no idea what going rate would be, so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks again -Doug

I would charge per product if I were in your position.
With a large project such as this, are you doing the post-production as well? I'd consider hiring someone to do the post-production work in order to keep the workflow going at a reasonable speed.
I'd price based on an average of .5 hours per piece (2 people, 15min./product) - 15 minutes for the photography, 15 minutes for the post-production work.

Nikonite1222 said:

...for a friends business...

Click to expand...

This immediately sent up a red flag for me. Your time is valuable too, and even though there are friends involved, try not to sell yourself short. I know a lot of people who burn themselves out by doing work for friends.

Good luck!