The Business of Photography-Another Update
by William Lulow
I have been speaking recently, about moving my studio to a new location as well as the old studio which was actually in my home. I did many images for advertising and public relations in my old space, just as I plan to do here. But whenever there was a bigger deal, a series of images that required a bigger crew, say, I would always rent a bigger space. These kinds of studio rentals were becoming more scarce in Westchester, NY. There used to be a good one run by The Color Group in Hawthorne, NY. It had a cyclorama that you could drive a vehicle into and photograph it. I used it for a couple of shots. This was one:
The art director wanted these kids peering down into the camera with a blue sky background. So first, I needed a large enough space to rig the background which was a painted canvas and then light it from underneath to make it appear as if we were shooting outdoors. (Of course this had to be done in the middle of winter, so it had to be indoors). We had the three models (kids), the background, the art director, the stylist and two assistants. I think we had around eight people for this shoot. I positioned myself on the floor for most of the take. The background was stretched between two sets of bars mounted on four light stands. And, they needed to be high enough to allow for the models, me and the lights to light it.
Now in the old days of shooting fashion catalogs and product shots with larger sets, our studio (3,500 square feet of space with 20 foot ceilings) was more than adequate for the jobs we had. Back around 1998 – 2000, when the digital revolution was taking place, we found that we just didn’t get the kinds of jobs that required that large of a space and all its upkeep and rent. So, we gave the space up and decided to use rental studio space whenever we needed it. In addition, I was finding that most of my corporate shoots were done on location and not in the studio. It was silly to keep paying rent on a studio we barely used.
When I moved to New Jersey recently, I immediately located a rental studio I could use for bigger jobs. So I thought I would write a bit about how I would go about this.
In order to bid on a big advertising job, photographers need to be aware of what it takes to shoot assignments like advertisements. Here is the way I would go about it.
Let’s say the shoot entailed doing some product shots for a catalog or website. Depending on the size of the products themselves and the amount of styling required, and if the art director or her client was to be present for the shoot, I would need the following:
- All of my lighting and background equipment and supplies
- A stylist for props and wardrobe
- A food stylist, if food was involved
- Catering, for breakfast and lunch if it was an all-day shoot
- Special backgrounds, if required
- 2 Assistants
- Rental studio
- Transportation for those present (usually a private car of limo)
- Set builder, if necessary
- Set build and strike fees
This is just for starters. Some of the fees might be as follows:
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- Studio rental and incidentals for the day ………. $1,800
- Prop stylist (day rate) ……… $1,000
- (2)Assistants (day rate) ………. $1,000
- Transportation ………. $ 650
- Catering (breakfast & lunch for 10 ……….. $ 450
- Food stylist ……….. $1,000
- Backgrounds ………. $ 300
- Shooting fee ………. $3, 000
- Extra lighting (if necessary) ……….. $ 750
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As a general estimate, without any specifics, this is what I would budget for an advertising shoot these days. It comes to around $10,000. Sometimes more assistants are needed. Sometimes special backgrounds are needed and there are always the things you don’t expect. When you are on a shoot, since everything is billed to the client anyway, when you need something, you don’t go looking for bargains. You just simply have to have it, whatever it may cost. You have to allow for contingencies like this.
Now for an ad, I usually charge twice my normal day rate because the shoot requires more work and much more input on the photographer’s part than just a series of corporate headshots. Also, photographs for advertising command a higher price overall because of how they are used and the frequency of their use as well. All these considerations go into creating a fee for the work.
If the photographer is a “name,” his or her fee might be substantially more, but most of the other costs (expenses) for the shoot are probably similar. A well-known photographer might charge $25,000 as a shooting fee and, if that photographer was represented by an agent, might negotiate some “residual fees” depending on how many times and in what locations the photographs would appear.
There are great variations on how much a particular advertisement costs to produce. There is a famous story about NBC commissioning a highly renowned graphic designer to come up with a stylized “N” as a logo. I think NBC paid a million dollars for the design. While the University of Nebraska paid $200 for a similar “N.” The lesson is that if your reputation can command a very high fee and the client will pay it, go for it! That’s just the way any business operates these days.
I have always had a list like the above, whenever I estimate a job. In the case of higher-priced clients, it’s a good idea to let them know what things will cost to produce any series of images and what they would be expected to pay. These days, though, most clients are working on fairly restricted budgets, so it’s always a question of how much you can do for what they are willing to pay.
