Hourly Rate for New Retoucher??

[cat arena]

So I just got a new gig as a retoucher at a photography studio in brooklyn, NY. They want to pay me hourly and I have no clue what the going rate is for NYC. Can anyone give me adivice for what to charge??? I need to know by Friday!! Thanks!
-K

[emarts]

Congratulations! First, is it a permanent gig or freelance? Second, how much experience do you have?

[cat arena]

i worked as a retoucher for an architectural photographer for 7 months and this new job is with an architectural photographer as well. So all the experience i have is relevant...they were really thrilled with my befores and afters

[emarts]

Well I tried Monster.com's salary thingy: http://littleurl.com/?047e

They didn't have Photo Retoucher so I chose Artist. The median salary is around $54k. Which is about $27.00/hour. But this is based on a full-time job with benefits.

If you are freelancing then there are expenses you need to keep in mind: Travel, computer, health care, office, electricity, etc. Even if you work out of your house, you need to calculate the cost of the space you use. I have a home office. It's one room out of a total of about 10 roooms in my house so I expense it as 1/10th my overall cost. For instance, if my mortgage is $1500/month then my office costs me $150/month.

These are just ideas. You'll have to figure out on your own how much you're worth. Just make sure you can cover your costs and still keep some of the money.

[JayNads]

Hi. I based my fees on the local photo studios. When I asked what they charged to restore or retouch photographs, their response was $35/hour, billed hourly. I'm new to this, too, working freelance, so I want to be competitive; I bill $25-$30/hour, depending on whether I solicit or the customer approaches me, and I bill by the half hour. I'm 1.5 hours out of NYC, on the north fork, so prices should be somewhat commiserate.

Good luck!