Skip to main content

Commission Pricing Structure

Lesson 96 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

Commission Pricing Structure

Lesson 96 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

96. Commission Pricing Structure

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

19:06
2

Storytelling & Ideas

27:34
3

Universal Symbols in Stories

03:19
4

Create Interactive Characters

02:16
5

The Story is in The Details

04:13
6

Giving Your Audience Feelings

05:49
7

Guided Daydream Exercise

04:20
8

Elements of Imagery

02:19
9

The Death Scenario

01:47
10

Associations with Objects

03:01
11

Three Writing Exercises

06:39
12

Connection Through Art

30:35
13

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

07:40
14

Layering Inspiration

23:13
15

Creating an Original Narrative

07:42
16

Analyze an Image

04:12
17

Translate Emotion into Images

04:31
18

Finding Parts in Images

06:02
19

Finding Your Target Audience

04:05
20

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

12:01
21

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

32:43
22

Formatting Your Work

06:08
23

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

07:24
24

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

04:17
25

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

11:27
26

Circle of Focus

07:55
27

The Pillars of Branding

06:18
28

Planning Your Photoshoot

09:05
29

Choose Every Element for The Series

07:38
30

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

09:37
31

Sketch Your Ideas

17:27
32

Choose Your Gear

02:50
33

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

26:18
34

What Tells a Story in a Series?

13:06
35

Set Design Overview

01:43
36

Color Theory

19:50
37

Lighting for the Scene

12:05
38

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

06:00
39

Locations

04:31
40

Subject Within the Scene

07:26
41

Set Design Arrangement

05:46
42

Fine Art Compositing

03:46
43

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

10:29
44

Checklist for Composite Shooting

18:52
45

Analyze Composite Mistakes

12:11
46

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

10:42
47

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

08:36
48

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

08:17
49

Shoot: Miniature Scene

09:59
50

Editing Workflow Overview

01:57
51

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

08:35
52

Edit Details of Images

08:09
53

Add Smoke & Texture

10:47
54

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

24:58
55

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

17:55
56

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

22:10
57

Self Portrait Test Shoots

22:30
58

Shoot for Edit

04:21
59

Shoot Extra Stock Images

10:01
60

Practice the Shoot

25:07
61

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

03:33
62

Shoot: Vine Image

10:40
63

Shoot: Sand Image

09:50
64

Shoot: End Table Image

04:59
65

Shoot: Bed Image

06:18
66

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

05:54
67

Shoot: Chair Image

08:02
68

Shoot: Mirror Image

06:57
69

Shoot: Moss Image

05:48
70

Shoot: Tree Image

07:33
71

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

04:09
72

Shoot: Feather Image

09:00
73

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

07:35
74

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion

36:55
75

Edit Images with Advanced Compositing

29:33
76

Decide How to Start the Composite

09:35
77

Organize Final Images

21:37
78

Choosing Images for Your Portfolio

08:19
79

Order the Images in Your Portfolio

16:28
80

Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?

16:03
81

Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order

11:42
82

Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing

02:19
83

Determine Sizes for Prints

16:44
84

How to Choose Paper

13:56
85

How to Choose Editions

07:18
86

Pricing Strategies

18:59
87

How to Present Your Images

13:26
88

Example Pricing Exercise

09:39
89

Print Examples

08:23
90

Licensing, Commissions & Contracts

04:44
91

How to Keep Licensing Organized

06:07
92

How to Prepare Files for Licensing

07:28
93

Pricing Your Licensed Images

12:33
94

Contract Terms for Licensing

12:07
95

Where to Sell Images

04:55
96

Commission Pricing Structure

08:23
97

Contract for Commissions

12:17
98

Questions for a Commission Shoot

08:45
99

Working with Galleries

08:58
100

Benefits of Galleries

07:39
101

Contracts for Galleries

10:32
102

How to Find Galleries

05:22
103

Choose Images to Show

08:53
104

Hanging the Images

03:38
105

Importance of Proofing Prints

08:04
106

Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery

21:59
107

Press Package Overview

04:35
108

Artist Statement for Your Series

18:20
109

Write Your 'About Me' Page

09:04
110

Importance of Your Headshot

03:55
111

Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch

20:19
112

Writing For Fine Art

04:44
113

Define Your Writing Style

14:49
114

Find Your Genre

06:41
115

What Sets You Apart?

02:25
116

Write to Different Audiences

05:10
117

Write for Blogging

39:57
118

Speak About Your Work

14:21
119

Branding for Video

07:37
120

Clearly Define Video Talking Points

14:27
121

Types of Video Content

31:45
122

Interview Practice

13:22
123

Diversifying Social Media Content

22:32
124

Create an Intentional Social Media Persona

24:48
125

Monetize Your Social Media Presence

18:46
126

Social Media Posting Plan

04:01
127

Choose Networks to Use & Invest

02:57
128

Presentation of Final Images

19:13
129

Printing Your Series

09:16
130

How to Work With a Print Lab

13:39
131

Proofing Your Prints

10:11
132

Bad Vs. Good Prints

03:32
133

Find Confidence to Print

10:50
134

Why Critique?

06:55
135

Critiquing Your Own Portfolio

10:39
136

Critique of Brooke's Series

16:18
137

Critique of Student Series

40:07
138

Yours is a Story Worth Telling

02:09

Lesson Info

Commission Pricing Structure

So commissions. Now we're gonna talk about how to work with clients, how to prepare your files for you clients, and how to price commissioned images. And it's gonna be, in some ways, similar to licensing, and that's why I wanted to pair these two things together. Because they're two different ways that you can make money through your fine art. What you see here are three different images that were created for somebodies use exclusively. Now I still have the copyright to these images as we talked about, but for each of these examples these people came to me and said, "This is the book that I'm making, "can you please make me an image to go on this cover?", and that's what commissions are. It doesn't have to be a company, it doesn't have to be a book or an album or anything like that it could just be you and me. You come to me, you say I want my picture taken, I say okay, here's what I do. And I know that we were having a conversation earlier even about people who misunderstand what you ...

do. Somebody coming to me and saying, "Okay I want my picture taken", and then they expect that it's gonna be like a senior portrait session or something like that, so it's a really really good idea to explain very clearly on your website exactly what your service is, and what your product is, because you don't want that confusion happening. And I think the confusion happens because these people are not photographers, so we can't blame them for not understanding how we work. Somebody who's not a photographer, sees me with a camera taking pictures, I guarantee you they automatically assume that I shoot portraits and I shoot nature and I shoot landscapes and all this stuff because they just don't know. You think about photography that's what you think of. So it's important that we're really clear about that. I'm just showing this slide one more time, to just really drill in this idea that we need to keep track of everything from day one, or else you could find yourself in a bad legal situation. So just, that's it, just one more time, okay moving on. Alright so this is that book cover that I showed you where you can sort of see the halo effect around it, and it's unfortunate to me that this did happen because I really liked doing this book cover I had super fun with it, they're great to work with. I love this author, and I thought it was all a brilliant experience but sometimes these things happen. So this is one example of a commissioned shoot that I was on. This was a very interesting experience for this book cover because I shot this probably I don't know a total of maybe eight or nine times, totally re-shooting it, hiring different models, etc, until we had to have they said a Chinese American model, specifically, with a very certain look, we shot it many different times and then as you can see there was not model in the final photo. So after nine months of shooting this cover, they came to me and they said "Can you just photograph a rose to put in there?" and I was like, "Fine, a rose will be fine." so we did that, and my point in saying this, is not, oh whoa is me, I had to shoot this for so long, usually companies are very good about these things. They'll pay you more money as time goes on, as you do more work, so it's not about being compensated. It's simply about expressing that this is not just you in this process, this is a team of people, who all feel that their artistic way of expressing themselves is maybe the right way or the best way or what will work for this particular project. So it's important to remember that yes, while this is yours, it doesn't always go how you hope it's going to go, I would consider this to be a commercial image that I produced. I would not consider this a fine art image. Because this went through so many transformations, to the point where I realized I am deep in this, and this is not what they want, and I need to either bail right now after five months of working on this, or just get it to how they want it. So for example with this image, I ended up having to make the grass this green color that I would never use, I had to make the sky really bright colors that I would never use, and there were different things that happened that were just simply not how I would've done them. And that's okay, as long as you can just let go of that image being yours for a little while then... You kind of have to decide, am I gonna work through this as a commercial project or am I bailing because it's not what I expected? And I'm not saying one way is better. Either way is fine. This was my golden book cover. The process that was just so perfect and I loved every moment of it and I recently got to meet this author, Mindy McGinnis, and I was just like, oh man, we're the same person, we are so on the same page about everything. About telling stories and about life and that was really interesting to see because a large part of the process of creating commissions is how well do you as a person relate to that artist as a person, and how well do you gel visually, so I created this image and they gave me a lot of freedom here. And I just wanted to talk about this particular cover, which I have here because it was very much a process of them saying this is what the book is about, this is what we like, now you do your thing, and we'll see how you interpret that. So I created this book cover with some guidance. They had said to me, I had this image of where I was half underground and half above ground, and they had seen that picture and they said, we really like this image but it doesn't quite have the right feeling for this book cover, but we would love something that's half underground half above ground, something like that. That was my guideline. Then they sent me the summary of the book. Which was sort of a historical fiction about a mental institution from I think the 1800's. So that gave me a lot of good guidance, half underground, half above ground, mental institution, 1800's, cool, I can do that. So I've got this book cover, and I decided that doing something indoors would be really interesting, having all the outdoors underneath, and then the indoors above, with this hole in the ground. And then we got to add this little hand in to the bottom which is the kicker for me, I just love that little hand. So this was a really rewarding experience, because what I came back to them with was what we used. I sent them this and they said great let's take it, and now it's on this book cover. And that's not very typical for me. Usually I have the unfortunate experience of having to go back and forth and back and forth many many many times and I was really thankful that this was not like that. So how I price commission shoots. I price it with a shooting fee, a licensing fee, and extra images. And there isn't really any point in me telling you, that I break out the shooting fee and the licensing fee, cause I don't really do that personally. Okay? The only reason I'm breaking it out is this. Let's just say that your shooting fee is $1,000, and your licensing fee is $1,000. Well what I would normally do for my commissioned shoots is just go to this person and say well, for $2,000, I'm never saying $1,000 and $1,000, I'm just saying for $2,000 we'll do the shoot, you'll get one image, and one print. And that is how I do my commissioned shoots, every single time, and then if this person comes back to me and she's like, you know what, that sounds great, but I would need probably like 10 to 15 images from the shoot, that's when I'll start adding in my extra image costs. So you could do this differently where you totally break it out, for a licensing fee, instead of doing extra images, you might just have licensing fee for extra images, so you do your shoot fee plus your extra images, and that's you licensing fee, but I tend to just combine the shoot fee and the licensing fee, because a lot of people just want one image from the experience, so it's just way easier for me to say for $2,000 you get the experience, the high resolution file, and the print of that file, and that's it. So it's really really simple.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)
Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)
Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)
Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)
Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)
Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)
Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)
Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)
Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)
Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)
Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)
Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)
Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)
Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)
Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)
Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)
Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)
Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)
Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)
Bonus Materials Guide
Syllabus
Image Edit Videos

Ratings and Reviews

April S.
 

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Angel Ricci
 

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.

Ron Landis
 

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES