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[sonikku10]

So I had got a message today from someone to shoot their group at an upcoming con. I figured, like 5 or 6 people. I usually keep a base rate, plus an additional $5 per extra person.

The request was for a group of at least 25 cosplayers!
I feel like I'd be overdoing it by charging $120+ for this shoot at my current rate (heck, even $5 per person still puts it over $100).

How do you guys normally approach this situation? Is this the norm?
The largest group I've handled on my own was 6 people, so this is going to be a challenge in all areas of the spectrum.

I am open to ideas.

[Araakii]

Why would $100 or $150 be a lot when it's only $5 per person? But this is per shoot, not per hour right? So you could be spending hours for this $150.

[Entrekin]

Yeah it really depends what you are offering for the group.
If it was just a big group shot, it would be way over price, if you are offering a set time for the group, it would depend on how long. If there was no time limit, depends on what you are offering in amount of pictures (solo, doubles, small groups, big groups, entire group picture)

Like I said before, depends on what you offer. Sometimes just looking at the cost/charge may seem a lot but you need to look at what they are getting for their price.

[Surfsama]

I guess I don't understand the question as I assume you're not talking about one group shot and you made your rates clear upfront.

If you have a base rate and charge $5.00 per extra person that seems excessively reasonable. It's not like their buying a sack of flour and you give a discount on quantity. In fact, with a crowd of 25 I would charge more since the workload is not linear it's exponential. As Araakii say's, you could be spending hours for a proper shoot plus all the post work. Personally, I wouldn't shoot a group that large unless it financially made sense or (and that's a big or) they're all really good friends and understood the time-value investment.

[sonikku10]

Yeah, this shoot would include singles, doubles, entire group, etc. (w/ free 900x600px watermarked images) and would more than likely go up to 2 hours just to get everyone.

It was just unexpected for me since most of my shoots only consist of three cosplayers at most. I tend leave the big groups to the "more seasoned" photographers but, sadly, they won't be able to attend this year.

[TykeJack]

I agree with what most people are saying and I think you need to explain to us what you're offering to get better advice on a proper amount to charge. So here's a couple of options:

Normally you have a base rate for an hour long shoot. For every additional person, you charge an extra $5. So if you're shooting 2 people, you charge the base rate + $5. However, this price still pertains to the hour long shoot, so instead of 1 person getting an hour, now two people are getting 30 mins a piece. Add another person and you'd charge base rate + $10 and each person would get 20 mins. Fast forward to your situation, you'd have base rate + $120 and each person would get 2.4 minutes. This pricing structure starts to become unreasonable as you add more and more people. So as an individual in the group, you're paying $5 + fair portion of base rate for 2.4 minutes of shooting. So your price per minute for that individual is about (depending on base rate) $2.50, so if they wanted an hour at this rate, they would be spending $150. If $150 is more than you're normal base rate for 1 person, then that individual is better off just scheduling an hour with you on their own instead of joining the group. This theory only includes solo time, and doesn't take into consideration group shots, which means the cosplayers are paying an even higher rate for solo time. The part that is unreasonable in this pricing structure is the amount of time you'll be able to give to each cosplayer versus how much that person is paying. So with this pricing structure you need to find a reasonable cap of how many cosplayers can be involved that will still allow you enough quality time with each individual to yield satisfactory results.

Now that we understand why we need a cap (ideally 3-5 people per hour), you might want to consider making a separate fee for large groups. I doubt everyone in their group wants a private shoot, but still want some decent group pictures. So for groups larger than (X) you can charge a flat rate per hour, or more realistically 30 minutes. I would prefer 30 minutes because all you're doing is stacking everyone together and taking a picture. Large groups tend to limit the amount of variety you get with composition. With large groups you might be able to separate girls vs guys, good vs evil, different clans, factions, groups, etc. but this shouldn't take more than 30 mins, and if it does then just charge for an hour.

Now that we have a separate large group rate, you can charge the large group rate first and then allow individuals to schedule a private shoot with you. I think this makes things simpler for everyone to understand because the expectations are better established. With you're current structure, an individual in that 25 person group may expect to get good quality pictures of herself/himself, but since we've established they're only getting about 2.4 minutes, this is unrealistic.

The other option is to not charge a variable amount, and strictly charge a flat rate for your time. An hour is an hour, it doesn't matter if you're shooting 1 person or 50 people. With this flat rate, it is understood that the more people they add to the group, the less individual attention they'll get. A variable rate may confuse this principle because people think they are paying extra to keep the same results they'd get from a solo shoot.

Basically, I don't think you're charging too much, but I think people will expect to get quality individual shots, when we know there's really not enough time to do that. I think the price is fine but their expectations may be too high because of the implications of your pricing structure.

[thebrick]

$500 sounds about right to me, that's a lottttt of photos (and editing).

[Access]

Originally Posted by sonikku10

I am open to ideas.

If you are going to charge, your rate should be based on your costs, time spent, plus your premium and markup (only).

More people or less people may mean more or less time spent, but only you know how to classify that. Based it on time/effort, not number of people.

[Max_Archer]

This is exactly why I don't charge. Charge a reasonable price for the amount of work you do and nobody wants to pay it.

If I were taking this shoot, I'd be charging at least $500, and $100 of that would be going to an assistant to help me set up, break down, and manage the crowd. The only way I can see doing it efficiently at all is to just set up an easy lighting setup and bring people into it one at a time like a school portrait photographer.

With an assistant on the shoot and with processing at the base level of what I'm willing to deliver I'd still be looking at 20 hours of work altogether on something like this. I'd charge waaaaay more than $500 for that if it were "real" photography.

[Eurobeat King]

I myself would not shoot that large of a group for a photo-shoot. Regardless of how much I would charge or they would offer to pay, it's the time that's involved in shooting such a large group. A lot of planning would go into it, and not to mention trying to get ALL members in that group to be ready at one time for the shoot would be difficult. There would be one or more members running late, costume malfunctions, etc. "Time is money" they say..

Also since it's at a convention, I have a lot of other photo-shoots each day, and I attend a con to try and do shoots with a good amount of friends. To agree to such a large shoot would take up a lot of time, time which could be spent on other photo-shoots, all of which I don't charge $$ for, and want to give my time to others so I may get their costumes as-well.

To the OP, I wish you luck!