Posted by Harry Lichtman on October 12, 2010 at 11:27 AM
Curious to know if any of you do aerial photography for construction developers. I am trying to find pricing info. for in-air time, as well as for the files captured. Should I sell the rights to the images, or just hand over the RAW files, or process RAW and charge for processing time and retail copyright to the images. I doubt I would have any use for the images except to this developer.
I would not need to rent a heli or plane, one would be provided
Looks like from my internet searching, $450 / hr. is a reasonable rate for in flight time, $80/hr for processing images. Haven't found much regarding retaining rights to the images and charging for use or just handing them over after processed.
If your experience differs much from this it would be helpful.
We do it as often as we can, and our only regret is that there isn't more in our small market. Those rates sound about right for our market, but each market varies.
We charge licensing fees for the shots, over and above the fees for shooting. FotoQuote is our guide.
One contract detail to consider: If YOU mess up and the shots don' t turn out, you could well pay for a reflight. Specify conditions beyond the scope of photography- i.e., low light, rough air, whatever would prevent good photography, and in fact should preclude making the flight at that time. Local rates for helo charter are $1760/hr PLUS fuel.
With that in mind, we "over protect" ourselves. My wife and I shoot alternately out each side of the helo or plane, each of us carrying two bodies with lenses in place.
Another big question between you and the pilot or charter company: Shooting arrangements. Best is door-off on helos, followed by door-off on high-wing planes with STOL capabilities to allow slow flight and tight circles. If you have to keep the doors on, an opening window is next best. If you're shooting through windows, all sorts of distortion/scratches/flare concerns arise.
BTW- Door-off shooting requires really careful gear handling. We use long camera straps that allow us to stick our head and one arm through the strap, then wear a camera on each side. No lens changes and no CF changes. Don't want to "bomb" anyone below, much less lose any gear!
Posted by Harry Lichtman on October 13, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Thanks Hank - I will consider those items to over protect myself as well. Shot out of a helicopter in Hawaii with good results, no door. I can only hope things go as well.
A few more things to think about Harry, as long as we're "talking."
It's a very good idea to talk over the shoot with both the pilot and client beforehand, then develop a shot list that includes a few flight specifics to help guide the pilot. There will be "aerobatic" limits on the performance of fixed wing aircraft, and depending on the locale there might also be legal limits about elevation of flights and proximity to restricted air space. It's better to get all that stuff on the table beforehand.
Our strategy for handling large numbers of files generated as "insurance" goes something like this: My wife and I shoot simultaneous capture of jpeg and RAW, then make a first-pass sort of the jpegs to prepare a submission to the client. It generally takes a couple of hours and we try to manage it for delivery before the end of the day we shoot. From those the client picks the most useful, or requests more that might not have been in the original submission. With those picks in hand we either process the corresponding RAWs to tiffs (most cases) for final submission or hand over the RAW files directly (very rare, and always at the direction of the client's GA).
As a further "logistic" consideration, we always include terms of the image license right on the delivery invoice, in addition to any specs spelled out in the contract. Kind of a "double dip" on the opportunity to remind the client that we in fact still own the photos and the sale is of a license to use them.
Finally mark your calendar to indicate two things: The end date of the contract and a "reminder" date about 3 months before that. Use the latter as a reminder to yourself to re-contact the client and discuss end of the license period, and hopefully an opportunity to relicense or do a subsequent shoot to "refresh" their images. Clients really love that word: Refresh.
Discussion
4 repliesI would not need to rent a heli or plane, one would be provided
Any experience would be appreciated.
Thanks, Harry
If your experience differs much from this it would be helpful.
Harry
We do it as often as we can, and our only regret is that there isn't more in our small market. Those rates sound about right for our market, but each market varies.
We charge licensing fees for the shots, over and above the fees for shooting. FotoQuote is our guide.
One contract detail to consider: If YOU mess up and the shots don' t turn out, you could well pay for a reflight. Specify conditions beyond the scope of photography- i.e., low light, rough air, whatever would prevent good photography, and in fact should preclude making the flight at that time. Local rates for helo charter are $1760/hr PLUS fuel.
With that in mind, we "over protect" ourselves. My wife and I shoot alternately out each side of the helo or plane, each of us carrying two bodies with lenses in place.
Another big question between you and the pilot or charter company: Shooting arrangements. Best is door-off on helos, followed by door-off on high-wing planes with STOL capabilities to allow slow flight and tight circles. If you have to keep the doors on, an opening window is next best. If you're shooting through windows, all sorts of distortion/scratches/flare concerns arise.
BTW- Door-off shooting requires really careful gear handling. We use long camera straps that allow us to stick our head and one arm through the strap, then wear a camera on each side. No lens changes and no CF changes. Don't want to "bomb" anyone below, much less lose any gear!
Thnaks for the advice, Harry
It's a very good idea to talk over the shoot with both the pilot and client beforehand, then develop a shot list that includes a few flight specifics to help guide the pilot. There will be "aerobatic" limits on the performance of fixed wing aircraft, and depending on the locale there might also be legal limits about elevation of flights and proximity to restricted air space. It's better to get all that stuff on the table beforehand.
Our strategy for handling large numbers of files generated as "insurance" goes something like this: My wife and I shoot simultaneous capture of jpeg and RAW, then make a first-pass sort of the jpegs to prepare a submission to the client. It generally takes a couple of hours and we try to manage it for delivery before the end of the day we shoot. From those the client picks the most useful, or requests more that might not have been in the original submission. With those picks in hand we either process the corresponding RAWs to tiffs (most cases) for final submission or hand over the RAW files directly (very rare, and always at the direction of the client's GA).
As a further "logistic" consideration, we always include terms of the image license right on the delivery invoice, in addition to any specs spelled out in the contract. Kind of a "double dip" on the opportunity to remind the client that we in fact still own the photos and the sale is of a license to use them.
Finally mark your calendar to indicate two things: The end date of the contract and a "reminder" date about 3 months before that. Use the latter as a reminder to yourself to re-contact the client and discuss end of the license period, and hopefully an opportunity to relicense or do a subsequent shoot to "refresh" their images. Clients really love that word: Refresh.