Bobbie, I really think that's way too low. An hour of your time
including scouting and planning? For only $50? How in heaven's name
do you think you could cover your cost of doing business with such a
low fee?!
It's not like he's going to have a parade of portrait customers
coming through his studio, bang, bang, bang. This seems to me to be
rather more effort than that. If he's going for the most appealing
facial expression, that's 30 minutes under the lights right there.
Then there's setting up, and warming up the client, and breaking down
and loading up the car and unloading and paperwork and running to and
back from the lab twice and meeting with the client to review the
shoot and getting and delivering the print order. Sure, some of that
last part comes out of the print price, but still it seems way too
low. Heck, I think my prices are low, too.
I guess I'd start by calling all the other portrait shooters in town
and pretending I'm a prospect, ask about their pricing and contract.
See if you can get a copy of the contract while you're at it. See if
they have a package they send out that you can examine before coming
to meet them.
Whatever you do don't underprice your competition. It's bad for the
industry and you're leaving money on the table.
