Hello, I was recently hired to do a 2-hour event shoot of a company’s parade float. They only want 12 photos in the end, but obviously I’ll have to edit much more than that so they can pick out which 12 they want. I’m also a sophomore in college and wouldn’t say I have more than the average amount of experience. I really just don’t know what to charge for shooting or editing. I don’t want to overcharge, but I know if i lowball then I won’t be taken seriously.
When you are being required to be present at a 2 hour event you need to be charging based on the time you are there. In the modern age the number of photos you shoot is really not a relevant aspect to cost. Back in film photography days you had to consider the cost of film as well but with digital that is a non-consideration.
As for the editing, you should not be editing too many more than what they want. First you will need to go through the rough photos to determine the ones which meet the need and from there you go and edit the appropriate number. What you should do is limit the number you edit to show then to a given number (say 24, twice what they wanted) and figure your editing time based on this and then charge for that at an hourly rate.
A professional will charge anywhere from $150 an hour up depending on what they can “command” for the job. You are a college student and should consider that you are partially doing this for experience and building your name so Charging more around $75-100 an hour is appropriate. If anyone ask it is not just about your time it is also the equipment / software etc… that is required to do the work which you are providing as well.
for what you are listing I would assume around 4 hours total work assuming average skills (2 hours shooting then 2 hours sorting and post processing) which would give you perhaps a $300-$400 charge for it.