Splitting Time
Sometimes a photographer might be asked to split up a work day into non-consecutive hours. This can happen with weddings, business conferences and other full-day events where the customer wants the photographer to cover only certain parts of the event. The customer usually expects the photographer not to charge for any downtime.
For example:
• A bride might want the photographer to cover her afternoon wedding ceremony from 1:00pm to 2:30pm and the evening dinner from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. The photographer would then have a 3-1/2 hour split in their day.
• A business conference organizer might want the photographer to cover the opening speeches from 9:00am to 10:30am, a keynote presentation from 1:00pm to 2:00pm and an evening reception from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. In this case, the photographer has two blocks of downtime.
The issue is that the photographer can’t really do anything during the downtime. Unless the photographer lives across the street from the event venue, it’s rarely worth the time and risk for a photographer to leave the venue.
Do you expect a wedding photographer in their formal attire to take all their camera gear to a coffee shop for a few hours? Do you think a corporate photographer can take all their camera equipment and go see a movie?
During any downtime, a photographer might be able to continue working for the customer
by backing up and editing photos already shot. But beyond that, the photographer has little choice but to sit and wait.
It should come as no surprise that most photographers will charge for the entire event no matter how many “splits” there are. Some photographers might offer a discount for any extended downtime. But don’t expect a photographer to sit and wait a few hours for free.
Splitting Pictures
Sometimes several different companies will want to use the images from one photo job. This is common with architectural photography, conference and convention photography, and when photographing some office and retail spaces.
For example:
• I was hired by a business owner to photograph his new public storage facility. Then the company that designed and built the building, the interior designer who did the office and retail space, and the company that made the exterior signage all decided that they, too, wanted photos.
• At business conferences and conventions, event sponsors and large exhibitors may want photos. Depending on the event, a local tourism board or local government may also want pictures.
How should a photographer price a situation like this?
The worst thing to do is not charge anything for the extra customers by letting the original customer give away the photos for free. If you do this, the additional customers will assume your photos have no value.
The second worst thing to do is to take the fee for the original client, (the customer who hired the photographer), and split it among all the companies that want the photos. If you do this, it means that more people will be using your photos but you won’t be getting paid more. It means that as more companies request your photos, the value of your photos will go down.
Remember that the point to being a professional photographer is to make money. You make money by licensing the use of your photos. More usage should mean more money.
The better way to price a situation like this is to increase the total price of the photos as more companies ask to use them.
First, decide on the “normal” price for your original customer. Let’s say it’s $5,000 and you’re going to deliver X number of photos with certain usage rights. For each additional customer who wants the same pictures with same usage rights, you might charge an extra percentage of your normal fee.
For example, if four additional customers wanted to use the same photos and you’ve decided on a 35% surcharge per customer then it would be:
$5,000 (fee for 1 customer) + $1,750 (35% surcharge) X 4 extra customers = $12,000 total
Your five customers could split the total amount equally, in this case, $2,400 each. Everyone gets the images they need at a discounted price (compared to the $5,000 price for one customer), the original customer saves a lot of money, and you earn more money. What’s not to love? (This assumes that you know ahead of time that four extra customers want to use the photos).
A surcharge of 30% to 50% per each additional customer is common although a higher percentage is possible. The surcharge you use may depend on the number of additional customers and the usage rights.
If each interested customer requires you to supply different photos and different usage rights then you may need to charge a higher fee to some or all of these other customers.
Depending on the situation and your original customer, you may or may not split any job expenses among all the interested parties.
When a photographer is split, either by time or by pictures, it should never mean less money for the photographer.
