Well I Did It

[Vickie]

The op asked for feedback and got valuable feedback from people who deal with this stuff on a daily basis.

True, but a couple of words of encouragement are always welcome when someone is starting a new venture & she certainly didn't get much of that.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Vickie

[Vickie]

Pricing is a MAJOR issue within the entire photographic industry right now, for newcomers and old hands alike. There is no right or wrong however there are ways to work out what you are really worth... and at $7 an image, you're practically paying people to take your work. (seriously, you're losing money - you may not see it but you are.)

I haven't seen the discussion on pricing, but would like to add some comments here, since I have some experience taking photos at agility trials.

I have in the past charged similar prices to what Sam is proposing. My reasons were as follows:

When attending a trial, my primary motivation was to run my own dogs. I was not attending the trial specififcally to take photos, I was there anyway.

Photos were taken when I could, in any spare time I had, & I could never guarantee capturing a specific dog if it ran while I was busy with my own.

Most of the dogs I took photos of belonged to people I know, many of them good friends who have been, and will continue to be very generous with their time, advice & support to me.

My motivation to take photos was for me, for my hobby.

As more & more people started wanting the photos I took, I was spending a couple of days after each trial processing them & started to charge.

All I ever aimed for was to earn enough to put towards my entries for the next trial.

I hardly ever get my camera out anymore at trials. Honestly, it became too much. People got more & more demanding, my own dogs suffered and I started to enjoy taking the photos less & less. I find I am heaps more relaxed at trials now & I feel my dogs are running better because I am spendning the time I need to with them between runs.

This is just my experience, I hope Sam's will be different.

[Linda K]

OK, today I can see it,

You have some nice images in the gallery.

Would note though that the white text is very hard to read against the background, in some areas the words are not visible at all, as the white bleeds into the white of the dog used as the background image

As for the pricing, I realise this is an event, and so a different pricing model than a one on one photo session, but really, you are offering a full resolution file for only $5? As far as shoot and burners go, this is cheap even by their standards. I get it is only a hobby for you, but you are going to be seriously burnt out really quickly, and I think you really need to consider how much time doing this is going to take you away from your family and dogs, and if it is worth it for that. At $5 a pop, it would take you a very long time to be able to pay off even a cheap camera body upgrade, which you are going to have to get pretty soon at those rates. Please have a really good think about the pricing, you are doing yourself no favours by giving your work away like this, and it will only make you bitter about doing it.

[Guest Tess32]

Agree $5 is very very cheap. Most people won't need high res files, just give them a standard 'web' sized copy so they can put on website etc.

Who is going to buy the print off you when they can get the high res file for cheaper?

[kja]

FWIW it takes just as much of YOUR time to process & send out a low res web ready file as a high res file and $5 per image is super low.

High res files are worth more because you can pretty safely assume it's the only sale you make of an image - with a low res you may also make a print sale, or an upgrade to the high res (maybe, if you're lucky -most people will print the low res and bitch about your quality).

Is $5 for your time - it will take you at least 30 minutes to get that file ready to send from shoot, load, cull, tweak, resize, export, send - away from your own family worth it? Only you can answer that.

[smisch]

Thank you to everyone who posted. . I am still working alot of bugs and ideas out the site. . Atm my computer isn't liking me so much. . I'll admit there are a few Txt issues but i'll get onto them asap. .

As far as money goes i'm literally looking for the cost of my trials. . Trials is where i take photos if and when i have a while between runs. . I have had more people approach me about prints rather than than files i have one cd order to fulfill and 3 or so print orders. .

Time is not really an overbearing factor for me people who know me know i tend to live on my computer in the evening doing bits and pieces and people who order also know that the order will be done asap depending on my work shifts . . I work shifts so i'm very much used to squishing my life in. .

Thanks to everyone for your feedback i'll be taking it all in and working from there. .