Hi Bob
I believe that you operate at the top end of advertising/product photography for which there was always an element of bureau work and post-production. In the area of, say, photojournalism, clients often expected to scan a transparency to CMYK and print it. They don't understand that a digital file can be processed twice in C1 and blended in Photoshop to make something far superior to what would have been possible on film.
I did stand my ground yesterday, you'll be glad to hear. The design consultancy's rate for post-production (based a tiny amount per shoot day) is £150 for 10 images including burning to CD. As they are not known for their generosity, I said that I would do a CMYK conversion to a profile supplied by their printer and one A4 RGB AIM print (as each of the images will be printed fairly small) for a further (token) £100. The senior designer passed on a message via the project manager that that should be included in the original paltry post-production cost! Despite seeing red I managed to have a short civilised conversation with the project manager saying that it was nothing personal but it wasn't going to happen, adding that a man coming to fix my boiler on Tuesday is charging £200, and that a guy came to repair some bowed floorboards - which took a day, a few tools and two short planks of wood - for £500.
Some photographers here are fairly blasé and would say that this is the sort of client that it's best to be rid of. However it's a client that also gives me a lot of day's work every year, and there isn't another waiting in the wings desperate to employ me during those days that I would now be available should they decide - however wrongly - that I've become a prima donna!
I should add that I received the e-mail saying they needed the hi-res shots first thing Monday morning, at 3.00 on Friday afternoon!
Enough, already. I've got some post-production to do. And if anyone can tell me (off-list if necesary) what they or printers charge per CMYK conversion, I'd be very interested to have that as ammunition on Monday morning.
Kind regards
Richard Lewisohn
http://www.lewisohn.co.uk
There is a basic problem here for many photographers. They are not charging enough above bureau time at £75 per hour to separate their talent fee from their process time. They are not even charging as much as a country solicitor, with no overhead in equipment, and just look at how many of those there are. Some of these country solicitors who are nowhere near the top of their profession are charging £320 per hour.
I have a gut reaction against charging silly prices for every little item. Someone, a while back, mentioned a charge of £30 per CD of images. The problem is he didn't charge the hour+ it took him to deal with the images and gave the client the idea that he was overcharging for CD burning. Surely it is better to see an invoice with two items 1/Time spent processing £120 per hour and then 2/ CD burning at £3.
Indeed; but on the other hand, if the billable cost becomes more than that of shooting film and scanning the result, we're in trouble.
Regards
Richard Lewisohn
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