# How much to charge for food photography?



## brianhuangbh (Sep 4, 2012)

Hey guys. Some of my work has peaked a local restaurant owner's interested and he wanted me to photograph some of his food for his restaurant. He owns a Chinese restaurant and is thinking of getting 30-40 dishes photographed. I have never charged for any of my photos and I have no idea how to charge. I am by no means an pro but my photos aren't half bad, and I can probably take some decent looking food photos.

I've been looking around online and many people are charging upwards of 150-200 an hour. I know these are professional rates and I was wondering what a freelancer like me should charge? I was thinking around $10-$15 per photo. Is that too high/low for someone like me to be charging?

Also, if you guys have any tips on food photography that may be useful, I'd greatly appreciate it if you share your thoughts.
  What kind of background would be ideal? For all my current product  photos I shot, I just used a sheet of white posterboard and I use a  single flash. This is the outcome: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weeebrian/sets/72157630406965788/

  I know the 60D isn't exactly food, but I am expecting to use sort of the same technique for the food photography.

  As for my gear, I plan on using a Nikon D7000 with a 17-55mm f/2.8, and a couple SB-800's.



Thanks!


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## tirediron (Sep 4, 2012)

*Moving to the Business District.*


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## tirediron (Sep 4, 2012)

This is a question only you can answer.  If you're not in business and you're not concerned about making a living, then it really doesn't matter what you charge.  Food photography however is a very difficult undertaking (to do well) and normally requires a team (chef, stylist, assistant) as well as a LOT of lighting gear and a very good knowledge of lighting and other technical aspects of photography.  Personally, if I were you and I liked Chinese food, I'd take it out in meals; that way you have no income to report, no worries about transacting business without a license, and if you get hungry... free food.


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## pixmedic (Sep 4, 2012)

it will depend on how much work you need to put out a finished product. are they going right from the camera to the printer, or do you have to do some processing to do on them? don't forget to account for the taxes you will have to pay on the income. how much do you think your time is worth, and how much will it cost you to deliver the product? In other words...what is your cost of doing business for this job?


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## brianhuangbh (Sep 4, 2012)

tirediron said:


> This is a question only you can answer.  If you're not in business and you're not concerned about making a living, then it really doesn't matter what you charge.  Food photography however is a very difficult undertaking (to do well) and normally requires a team (chef, stylist, assistant) as well as a LOT of lighting gear and a very good knowledge of lighting and other technical aspects of photography.  Personally, if I were you and I liked Chinese food, I'd take it out in meals; that way you have no income to report, no worries about transacting business without a license, and if you get hungry... free food.



I am not looking for much cash and will probably be happy to do it even if underpaid. A little cash would help me out a lot though. I do like Chinese food but seeing food photography videos, I don't think I'd like something that looks good for the camera (Ridiculous amounts of oil, cold, etc.)



pixmedic said:


> it will depend on how much work you need to put out a finished product. are they going right from the camera to the printer, or do you have to do some processing to do on them? don't forget to account for the taxes you will have to pay on the income. how much do you think your time is worth, and how much will it cost you to deliver the product? In other words...what is your cost of doing business for this job?



I will definitely do my best with the post processing for the photos. The owners want to use the pictures for the menus, so no printing will be necessary. I can just e-mail him the edited photo.


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## orljustin (Sep 4, 2012)

brianhuangbh said:


> Also, if you guys have any tips on food photography that may be useful, I'd greatly appreciate it if you share your thoughts.
> What kind of background would be ideal? For all my current product  photos I shot, I just used a sheet of white posterboard and I use a  single flash. This is the outcome: FS: Canon 60D - a set on Flickr



It looks like you put a camera on a piece of white board and used a single flash.  Sorry, nothing special there.  It shows you know how to trigger your flash for an underexposed image.

Asking how to do food photography in a single post is almost insulting to food photographers.


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## KmH (Sep 4, 2012)

$2000.


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## brianhuangbh (Sep 4, 2012)

orljustin said:


> brianhuangbh said:
> 
> 
> > Also, if you guys have any tips on food photography that may be useful, I'd greatly appreciate it if you share your thoughts.
> ...



Yeah, that's what I did, if you read your quote of my post. The restaurant owner saw shots like those and he said that's what he was looking for. Obviously I would make sure lighting is correct when I am actually doing photos for someone else. The pictures you see were just an example and what I use to sell things.
I was mainly asking for advice on how to figure out how much to charge for the shots. I'm not expecting a full out tutorial on every aspect of food photography; I just asked if anyone had any pointers that might be useful to me.

Your attitude and lack of advice is almost insulting.


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## KmH (Sep 4, 2012)

The internet is a wonderful, unprecedented resource - American Society of Media Photographers

On the left side of their home page, click on *Business Resources*. In particular look through all their tutorials about use licensing and pricing.


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