Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this forum. Recently I’ve been asked to do some retouching work for headshots for Beauty Pageant contestants. Pageant headshots are heavily retouched even to the point of painting on fake eyelashes. A professional photographer is taking the pictures and sending me the jpg files electronically. Does anyone know what the going rate is for something like this?

Thanks, Eric

I throw a flat rate of $40 an hour for something like this, or you could flat rate the guy 60-80 per picture.

Of course the area I live in is on the lower end of the cost of living scale, so these rates might be low for you

We haven't done any work in that market but our rate would be $75/hour and we would offer to proof it at likesay, 2 hours and let the client decide if they want to go further.
Our rates are based on our overhead plus a margin. It's taken a while to figure out just what our overhead really is.

We often give clients a break, usually by not charging all our time when they are nice, repeat customers, giving us cool opportunities, etc.

We would also ask the photographer to supply TIFFs (on CD if necessary)instead of JPEGs.

Is the photographer or the subject your client? Do they have a 'standard touch up' spec or does each shot get custom treatment? If it's a kind of step and repeat thing and you can determine a how long a typical shot will take you, you can quote a flat rate which might bring you more business than and open ended hourly rate. Just be sure you specify, in writing, what you will do for that rate so you and the customer agree on what the finished piece will include.

chip

Thanks for the advice. The photographer would be my client. She does between 10-20 headshots a week. It took me about 2 hours of work once I figured out the technique. I need to see how much she charges for the finished headshot. I have to figure out how much would make me happy and still make her money too.

I saw where justgraphx is charging 40 per headshot.

I charge $40 flat rate per pic and have an a-la-carte menu for additional services. It only takes me 30min - 1 hour per pic. I can knock out a huge batch in one day. Watch out for the pageant photographers. Many string you along on payments. DEFINATELY get your contract signed. Learn from my mistakes. Also, if you want to build a name for yourself, don't let them make you keep your services annonymus. Another mistake of mine. I cannot show the bulk of my work. It sucks. Also, get a system for rush fees. Don't let them have you do work overnight and not pay you for the extra effort. I hope you have one of the smaller photographers on the line. They will most likely still be fair and nice to work with.

Don't forget to add in your Paypal fees if you have any. Some people tack on the 4% or was it 8%...I dunno. I actually charge $42 per pic - If being Paypal'd. Local is cash so only $40