Herb, All the more reason to charge for your skills and time upfront. I think the ease of duplication has caused the average person to truly devalue the item. But the ability of the client to create the original is still beyond them so that is what you can charge for. Placing a value on something as intangible as an image is hard for them to swallow. But placing a value on your time and learning/experience is quite easy for them to come to grips with.
For those who want to know, I charge between $50 and $100 per hour. It sometimes depends on circumstances, who the client is, etc. I have never had anyone balk at the cost. It is in the same ballpark as a skilled, independent contractor in this area. By working this way, the client knows pretty close to what the cost will be upfront, and knows that they can do with the images as they please with good conscience and no subsequent expenses from the photographer. To date, I have retained the negatives - partly because I want my work represented properly (good lab) and the client almost always goes for the cheapest possible solution (cheap, crappy lab) and makes me look less skilled. Usually along with my proofs I pick a small number of 8X10's (5-10) that I also have blown up and let them see them. This gives a good representation of the quality of work and lab. I quote them the cost of 8X10's and I have only had 1 case where they didn't want them also. In that one case, they kept 9 out of 10. So they really know what my work looks like and what a crappy lab will do for them. I'm sure I'll learn and adapt more as I go. I can say, that Medium Format has been quite major in the customer's willingness to pay. Both in legitimizing me as a working professional (many hobbyists use 35mm, but very few use MF) and in the quality of the prints. I hate to say it, but you can really see the difference between 35mm and MF even at 8X10 - not to mention the ability to crop (clients ask for it). Sorry for the ramble. Bruce Thursday, October 3, 2002, 12:56:01 PM, you wrote: HC> Message text written by INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>I think we will start to see this kind of thing more and more. As HC> soon as an image has been digitized in a quality manner, you really HC> have no control anymore (aside from the ethics of the client). You HC> are better off getting paid for your skills and expertise rather than HC> getting screwed on the price of use of the image later. It does mean HC> that it is important to be creating lots of images.< HC> what makes you think you had any control before? the only difference was HC> that duplication always lost some quality in each generation before so HC> after a while, it wasn't worth duplicating. now it won't and duplications HC> are just as good as the original. witness CDs and music. HC> Herb....
