TTQ B4U Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 (edited) Putting this here as it's more than just a photo specific group I'm trying to reach. Long story short if there is one in my posting world, I'm putting together my photography business and it includes targeting post-processing of images. I'll be doing both restoration of old photos, slides, anything that can be made digital and including PP'ing digital images themselves. I've had several clients and prospect inquire about taking digital images of theirs, even simple Point and shoot images and processing them to go from just average to much better to in some cases very nice/cool depending on their needs. I do this now for my parents and essentially am a digital lab for them only more attentive to their needs and wishes. From that has spawned a number of prospects. These services exist now from various sources, but are typically pricey and out of reach for the average person to consider of value. Understandable. What I want to do is touch the average folk and price them so I can make a few bucks during the evenings when I tend to process a lot of images anyway. If I can get 2-3hrs work per night, I will consider it of value to me. Of course I have a target per hour rate I'm looking to hit, but now it's time to look at things from the customers point of view to help determine a market price. The economy and move to digital has significantly impacted photography rates and thus the reason I'm looking into this closely. What does the group here think would be fair and reasonable? It's a broad question, but I want some input from all types. Input appreciated. Here's a typical example. Client shot this of a loved one with a cheap $100 Point and Shoot. No big deal for me to fix it and easily pull off a very nice 8x10 portrait orientation print from. Hell, I could take this image to a poster size if need be, so the camera isn't always a weak link if you have the ability to process and print. There are a number of very subtle changes I made to this image, any of which you won't see on a web image. All of which I've put into automatic actions so essentially the time involved for me is under 2 minutes from initial view to final product. This is actually a pretty good image to begin with compared to much of what I get from customers already. http://www.pbase.com/timothylauro/image/111554801/original.jpg Edited April 20, 2009 by TTQ B4U Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65belairpost Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Hello, I have no idea...but when you get setup and figure it out, I have probably 200 old slides and possibly photos I would like to have put on a disk or some other format to keep them and to view more easily... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted April 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Hello, I have no idea...but when you get setup and figure it out, I have probably 200 old slides and possibly photos I would like to have put on a disk or some other format to keep them and to view more easily... I'll be in touch with you soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Your right lots of places do this already though I've not looked into the prices since I do my own editing. Not saying that as a means of discouragement, actually just the opposite. IMO if there is a market then the key is to grab market share. This is much easier than trying to create a market where none exists. I guess if something took literally a few minutes like the example you gave which would be just cleaning up some distracting areas, blemishes, white balance, and maybe some contrast adjustment then I'd think you can make very nice pictures for people. Maybe half a sitting fee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted April 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Your right lots of places do this already though I've not looked into the prices since I do my own editing. Not saying that as a means of discouragement, actually just the opposite. IMO if there is a market then the key is to grab market share. This is much easier than trying to create a market where none exists. I guess if something took literally a few minutes like the example you gave which would be just cleaning up some distracting areas, blemishes, white balance, and maybe some contrast adjustment then I'd think you can make very nice pictures for people. I have no idea how I'd charge for that service though. There's definitely a market for it. All the business I've gotten has been word of mouth and through folks I know and have seen my work. I do a fair share of small to medium sized parties and events, 1-3 per week, and hope to grow the income stream by processing images from others there that are just snapping pics. Many times these P&S party goers can grab some decent shots that I can even use and combine with other shots that I've taken. In the end, they just plain don't know how to take a shot that may rank as a 6-7 and bring it to a 9-10 yet will pay a small fee to have someone do it for them. That then leads to one on one consulting too. In two cases I even have folks who have paid me in advance to simply be there for them with questions or when they need some help. I like the idea of selling these "credits" as it doesn't force someone to a particular time or set of prints. Just pre-pay me and upload what you want done or call me with questions. I have background with both Nikon and Canon units so hardware training is pretty easy. It's my way of building an "evergreen tree" of work. I just started that about 2 weeks back too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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