Bidding on your first commercial shoot can be daunting, and if you’re not prepared to bid on photography jobs, you’ll likely end up making mistakes that will cost you money and impact your ability to execute on the day. I’ve learned some key pieces of advice along the way that will hopefully make your process easier.

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The Bid

In previous articles, I’ve shared my knowledge and experience on making the work and then marketing that work to potential clients. There will come a (very exciting) point when a potential commercial client approaches you and asks you to give them a bid for a job. I remember feeling both excited that my marketing was working and then simultaneously terrified that I was going to mess up on the estimate and lose the job. 

The fear of losing the bid on photography jobs has caused me (on numerous occasions) to grossly under-bid myself. This combined with not knowing the correct questions to ask made my first series of commercial jobs really stressful.

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Before giving a client an estimate, you need all the pertinent information. Seasoned clients will know the facts you need to put the numbers together and will likely provide them (or at least most of them) in the initial bid request. Smaller companies may not be as savvy, which means you need to know what to ask in order to give them an accurate estimate. 

The key points you need to know are:

What is the scope of the project?

What (or who) is being photographed?

How (natural light vs. strobe) and where (studio vs. location) will they be photographed?

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The scope of the project should give you a pretty good idea of how much time you need to allot for the shoot (in terms of days). I always assume things will take longer than they should because nothing is worse than running out of time and not getting the client everything they need.

What is the intended usage for these images?

Is it for a website, social media, print advertising, etc., and for how long?

In my particular area of photography (beauty), 80 percent of my images are only going to exist digitally. In my day rate, I fold in a one-year usage license across the client’s digital platforms (including third-party retailers).

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Since a large percentage of advertising is digital now and done via social media, I only negotiate additional advertising use as needed. This would be more traditional usage like in-store, billboards, wild postings, etc.

If, in the initial inquiry, the client specifically mentioned needing a longer usage license (such as two or three years), then I reflect that in my rate.

What are the deliverables?

Does the client want to download the RAW files before leaving the shoot? If so, will they provide the hard drive or do they want you to expense it?

Does the client want you to send them color-corrected low-res proofs afterwards? If so, what is the deadline?

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How is retouching being handled?

Will the client be taking care of it in-house?

Do they want to make selects from the proofs and have you handle the retouching?

If you are handling retouching, what are the deadlines?

Generally, if a client is taking the RAW files with them after the shoot, this implies they will be handling the retouching. If they ask for proofs, it’s wise to assume they prefer you to handle the retouching. 

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I don’t include retouching in my rate, although I do offer it at a price per image, which will depend on the subject matter and the complexity of the retouching.

If you aren’t a strong retoucher, or the scope of retouching is beyond your abilities, don’t fret; you can outsource the retouching, and you don’t have to disclose to the client whether you are personally retouching the images or not. If you choose to take this route, I suggest contacting your retoucher, agreeing on a rate, and confirming they can meet the deadline before submitting the bid.

The Expenses You Should List

Now that you’ve outlined the cost of photography, usage and retouching, it’s time to list your expenses. For me, these include a:

• Digital Tech (with a workstation)
• 1st Assistant
• 2nd Assistant (necessary depending on the size and complexity of the shoot)
• Equipment rentals (lighting and grip)

In my experience, commercial clients don’t typically expect me to produce the shoot. They either have someone in-house or they bring on an outside producer. But I do suggest having recommendations on hand for things like studios, makeup artists, hair stylists, wardrobe stylists, model agents, etc. These don’t need to be epic lists; I typically keep three or four options for each category.

Your Terms and Conditions When You Bid on Photography Jobs

The final thing I suggest adding into your bid on photography jobs is the fine print, or terms and conditions. Providing the client with all this info up front allows them to address any concerns, which can then be modified once they accept your bid. I’ve included an example of one of my estimates to give you an idea of the kinds of things to think about:

The key points to include are:

1. Informing the client what makes up a “full day” and what overtime will cost. Remember to include your sub-contractors in any overtime calculations.

2. When and how you expect payment. My default is 30 days from the receipt of an invoice but some clients are on a 45-day pay schedule. It’s good to get on the same page before you shoot the job so it doesn’t sour things afterwards.

3. A statement about copyright and additional usage. You want to let the client know that you retain the copyright and that any additional usage not written into the estimate will have to be negotiated separately.

4. A statement about retouching, simply to let the client know that one round of notes is included in the per image rate, but subsequent rounds will incur an additional cost.

5. A statement about turnaround time. Let the client know up front what your usual turnaround times are for delivering proofs or final retouched images. If they need the images delivered on a different timeline, you can figure out if you can work with their deadlines or need to bring in outside help. Again, this is not something you want to be surprised with after the shoot.

I am confident you are now prepared to bid on photography jobs successfully!

Angela Marklew is a beauty, fashion and portrait photographer based in Venice, California. Before she was a photographer, she worked as a chemist testing explosives for the Canadian government.