Photographing pieces of jewelry for catalogue

[Kegan]

Hey everyone,

I think this is the correct section to post in. I got a strange request today (well, since I mainly do video production). This guy would like a catalogue created for his jewelry business. He wants to showcase 100 pieces in the catalogue. He has the printing, formatting of the pictures and templates all sorted out. All he needs is...well the photographs.

I haven't done much professional photography (read: getting paid for it), so I'm not sure how much to charge. I can't even really think of how to ballpark it. I don't normally like those, "How much should I charge?" threads, but I don't have much of an idea for this one.

If anyone has experience taking photos for a catalogue, or can possibly give me an approximate price range, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

Kegan

[Kegan]

Eh, I probably should have thought this out more...maybe a mod could lock/delete this thread? I figured out what I'll be charging.

[Drew Ott]

What did you decide on?

[Kegan]

Well, I did some research in my area as well as some Googling and think I'll charge around $3000 CDN for the 100 pieces. I think that's a fair price and any additional re-shoots may cost more, but I'm going to sit down and talk with the owner this week or next, to discuss what they didn't like from their previous catalogue. From what I understand, the images were blurry, poorly compressed and didn't have the necessary detail/exposure for what they wanted. I don't intend to make those mistakes, but I'm really going to concentrate on what exactly the previous errors/complaints were so that I don't make them.

-Kegan

[Kegan]

Okay, so I know this should probably now be put in the still photography section, so hopefully a mod can move it for me (I'll PM one right after this post).

I've decided to shoot with the following:

-Canon 40D w/ battery grip
-Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens
-Remote shutter

I do however have a couple questions. Because it'll be very expensive jewelry and the likelihood of taking it to a studio are slim to none, I did some research and came across the following kit:

http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/jephkit1.html

It looks to be a mobile solution to my problem and I can use it in their store. It looks workable to me and if everything goes accordingly, I should be ordering it soon. I just want to know if there's any reason I SHOULDN'T get it. Bad site, poor kit idea, etc.

Anybody else have any suggestions or changes to make for my kit before I go ahead and buy?

Thanks,

Kegan

[TimurCivan]

500$ per day of shooting should work. 100 images should take 5 -6 days....

[Kegan]

Thanks Timur for moving the thread and commenting. I thought it may take about that time, so thats how I arrived at the $3k, but now I'm taking post work into consideration. Did you factor that into the $500/per day? I don't intend for there to be TOO much post, but I'm not sure how much, if any will be required.

-Kegan

[after_effects]

Kegan do you work in the T-dot?

[Kegan]

Yep, I do. Do you?

-Kegan

[TimurCivan]

500$ a day......... including Post.... if youre retouching for 4 days... thats 2K extra.

[after_effects]

Use to at a pretty big Post house. Now I'm doing wedding photography out near Niagara.