How to Price Your Work as a Food Photographer with Candice Ward | The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

So do you have, you know, for a pinch of yam, we have a media kit. It's like, hey, you want to work with us? Here's what it would look like on the blog or Instagram or whatever. Do you have essentially a version of that for food photography?

I do. I have a media kit. I don't put my fees on there. It's a strategy that I use.

Yeah.

And I talk about it a lot. But I do have a media. I did create one in the beginning. Brands often ask for it because they want to know what your numbers and your stats look like. And I think that's a really big challenge in the beginning because your numbers and your stats are not going to be as high. So one strategy that I did to kind of combat that was I actually put just a couple of bullet points that were strengths of mine from the wedding industry. So if you have any prior experience or anything that's somewhat related, I would highlight that over your numbers. Like instead of putting your blog traffic or your Instagram following, I would put something different, highlight something else.

Yep. And so for the relationships that did work out, is it kind of a hybrid where you're doing sponsored content, but then also giving them the rights to the photographs that then they can use? And in, in as you're starting out, was what is your sense in terms of what people were hiring you for? Was it, were you leading with food photography? Hey, I'm going to photograph this. You're going to have this. You can use it on your social. I'm going to post about it as well. Or was it, hey, I'm going to lead with kind of sponsor content? And bonus, you can use these images as well.

I actually completely separated them. I think it was just easier for me in the beginning to understand, compartmentalize my revenue streams and. And the different ways that you can monetize as a food photographer or even a food blogger. So in the beginning, I was more focused on sponsored content. But again, I think it's because I just got into this routine of sending my media kit. And I often found when you sent a media kit that brands automatically viewed you as an influencer or doing sponsored work versus a freelance photographer. So since then, I have shifted and I now don't set send my media kit unless it's absolutely requested. But when I first initially pitch and send my email, my strategy looks completely different. So now I actually research the brand pretty heavily before reaching out to them and I try to uncover where their needs might be. And then I strategically position my services Based on that?

Yeah. Can you give an example of what that looks like?

Yeah. So I'll give you an example. The most recent example of a somewhat local company and Oregon based, I'm in Washington, but also pretty well known company. So I reached out to them and I had done, I researched their website, their social media and I kind of the questions I asked myself are, you know, are they active on social media? Are they using images that they're repurposing from, you know, customers? Do they have a consistent feed or brand? And that tells me, okay, maybe they have a need for consistent food photography photos, not necessarily sponsored content, but again, consistent images that's produced by one photographer. And I uncovered that they didn't. There really wasn't consistency on their feed. It was kind of a combination of professional staged photos and the taking customer photos that were not so great. And then their website didn't have a blog, which again, they're food products. If you don't have a blog, having a blog is the easiest way to boost your SEO and to that generate content and traffic. So I noticed they didn't have a blog. And so I initially reached out and said, you know, here's some work that I've done with a similar type of product. So it was an ice cream company and I had created an ice cream cake that performed really well on Google for another client. So I basically said, this performed really well. I could create recipes using your product and develop and create, you know, consistent imagery for your website. Initially they came back to me and they were like, you know what, we don't have a need right now for sponsored content. Can you send your media kit? Which is a typical response. And so I at that point kind of thought it was dead in the water. We had nowhere to go from there. And I ended up reaching out to her and saying, you know, I've noticed that you guys have some lifestyle images, but not a lot if that's an area or direction that you want to focus on. Here's an example of more lifestyle images where I used a product but like use it in a recipe. And more lifestyle like Action Shop, like.

They might include in an email that goes out or.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

And so it sounds like their initial response back to you was a misinterpretation of what you were trying to say to them.

Yeah.

And you followed up and you're like, hey, let me try that again. Here's some other things that I could potentially offer you. So at that point you're kind of going back and forth and Almost like convincing them of the need that they have and showcasing how you could would be able to fill that based on, you know, previous work that you've done. At what point does it get to the point where you're like, great, and here's how much it costs. Like, what is your advice for people around putting together a package that will justify the time that they spent? Because we've been in the situation where like, hey, you get a hundred dollars per photo, but then you realize you're spending six hours developing the recipe, photographing it, and then you send it to them and they're like, great. But like, could you try it again with like the napkin tilted a little bit? You're like, oh my gosh. Yeah, this is mind numbing. So how do you, how do you, how do you make sure that you're capturing the value that you're giving them in regards to the price without overshooting what they might have for a budget? And I think that's kind of a scary conversation for some people.

Yeah. And this is my favorite question because this is where this is like my strength. So I'll just continue on this example for. So it all ties together. So this is what ended up happening. So. So I thought it was dead in the water. I came back, I gave her an example of what I could do for them, a more specific example, and I said, you know what, I'm actually not even trying to do sponsored content for you. I can offer free lance food photography photos. And she responded and said, you know what, we actually do have a need for that. Can you provide some insight into what your rates are? And she asked me to send a rate card. I don't send rate cards. I think with freelance photography, the, the fee is typically higher because as you mentioned, they're either purchasing the rights to the images and it's usually more involved. They want a higher volume of images. It's more styled. So essentially what I had said to her was, you know what, I don't send a rate card. I create custom proposals for my clients. And in order to do that, I need a little bit more information from you so that I can build that custom proposal. Um, so I really withhold my rates as long as possible until I'm in full alignment and understanding with the client of what their goals are and also where their needs are. And then that's where I build out my custom pricing.

Yeah, and then do you do that in like a app? Like, are you doing it in QuickBooks and sending a proposal? Or, you know, there's other kind of proposal apps that you use. It's kind of a specific question, but I'd be curious to know.

I use Honeybook. I'm not sure if you've used it. So it was. Yeah, that's what I use for everything. Yeah, it's amazing. I. I've been using it for like six years and it's. It does everything from like invoicing contracts, proposals. It's basically how I manage all of my clients and my projects. So.

Yeah. And let's say this is the first time that somebody's doing this or maybe they're doing it, but they're not doing it. Great. And they need to tighten up their system. What is the general framework for? Once you've information gathered, you know what they expect, you maybe know generally how long it'll take. What is the gen. What is the high level framework for then putting that together? You. Do you have kind of a day rate, you're shooting for hourly rate or do you have like, you know, going off of the budget? They've given you any advice there?

Yeah. So one of the questions I ask, I either try to. I have one of two ways. I have a question questionnaire that I'll either send that has a list of these questions so that it can understand the scope of the project. One of the questions being what's their budget? The ideal scenario is to get on a call, like a discovery call, where you can talk through the scenarios, which is what we ended up doing. And I did was able to uncover what their budget was. So from there I built my proposal around aligning as closely as possible with their budget. Um, I do. So there's a lot of ways you can break down your pricing as. Especially when it's freelance. Technically food photography falls under commercial photography. Um, so I do a creative fee and then I also do have like a line item for usage and licensing rights of the images. Um, and then the third kind of line item would be any additional expenses. So if I'm going and buying food, props or additional props required, that would be an expense. Or travel. Yeah, I shoot right now from. From home, so I don't have expense. But yeah, if you were to travel or go on site, I know sometimes people have to rent airbnbs for beautiful kitchen, you know, more lifestyle images, that would be an additional fee. So I try to keep it really simple for the client.

Yep. So there's not all these tiny little items that they're having to add up and just keep it relatively simple, which makes sense. So what for somebody who's just getting started, do you go and shoot kind of for free to build your portfolio? And at what point do you start actually charging? And do you have a. It's always such a hard thing to say, like, here's a range. But what range can you expect to. To. To make from doing freelance photography? Don't have to share your specific numbers, but just so people have an idea, is it like, hey, you're going and you're shooting and you're getting 250 bucks a day? Or can you make $2,500 a day? What does that look like?

Yeah, it's. So I'll just kind of explain the difference between sponsored versus freelance. So sponsored is the rate's really gonna be more contingent on your audience. And what I mean by that is how many followers you have, like how many people you're essentially saying to this company or the product, this is my audience. I'm giving you access to them. So you know, if you have a larger following, you're gonna make more money. It's simple as that.

There's more value for the brand.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or if you have a higher engagement, I know they're looking at engage. So that sponsored content, I feel like there's a little bit less wiggle room to negotiate. And it is based on those numbers, which is why in the beginning, I was doing it to build my portfolio, but I knew that I had to diversify and I knew freelance would actually offer more. And the reason why freelance typically offers more is because again, sometimes they're buying full rights to the images. Not always. You can, again, negotiate that on your contract, but usually the job is just more involved. There's like a higher volume of images that they're requesting. There's just more specifics when it comes to styling. So the range is definitely more in the thousands versus the hundreds. Most freelance clients that I've worked with, they end up wanting 10 plus images. So it's not just sponsored content where maybe they need one to three images. You're producing a higher volume of images, so there's definitely more potential for. For being paid a wider range.