Pricing for Trade Show Headshot Booth?

Discussion in 'Business of Photography' started by eric_guel, Apr 2, 2021.

  1. I'm being asked to supply a headshot booth for a corporate even I'll be shooting in the fall.

    The booth will be open for a total of 13 hours (eight hours one day and five hours the next day).

    What the client wants are simple headshots on a solid background coupled with onsite selection for the client. There will also be basic, global editing, but no detailed retouching.

    I've seen this sort of thing before, and it's usually at least a two person job (one person shooting and the other person helping the client select their images after the shoot).

    I have no idea how many people will get in line for a headshot, but I'm expecting at least 200 to 300 ... maybe more.

    All that to say, anyone with any experience in this area have any ideas on pricing for something like this?

    Thank you.
  2. No, I don't have any experience (except doing one free photo booth).

    Three points occurred to me from your post.
    The first is that your income might be covered by both 'sponsorship' by the event organizer and the price of individual headshot photos. The higher the level of sponsorship, the lower you can set the price of the headshot photos.
    The second point is that a photo booth seems to lie somewhere along the line between 'getting a standard photo taken (for an id, LinkedIn) and a custom (one-hour) "photo shoot" for a portrait.
    The third is that you could work out what you (and your assistant) need to earn in 13 hours to make it (time + expenses) worth your while, divide that by 4, say 250, which will give you a ballpark figure. You might want to go lower for the PR-value.

    Here in NL, photographers charge between $100 and $250 for a basic 1-1,5 hour portrait photoshoot. The number of people you expect to 'process' per hour - and the degree of customization - on average might give you another ball-park figure.
  3. I have nothing to offer re. how much to charge, but I experienced such a setup on a recent company conference so can provide a few observations on the logistics.

    We were offered to have our headshot taken for use with whatever pourpose we found suitable; company intraweb, linkedIn, facebook etc.
    It was a intra company conference of 1800 participants and there was 1 photo booth covering approximately 20 hours over 3 days.
    To have your photo taken was just a "benefit" - not a requirement.
    The conference were composed of mostly 45 min sessions so lines at the photo booth were mostly forming between sessions and during breaks.
    The booth was manned with two people. One would take the name and email of the next in line to be photographed - noted in what seemed to be an excel sheet.
    He would also have a window open on the laptop tethered to the camera and matching the sequence file name of the previous portrait to the name in the sheet. He was probably doing a quick verification that the photos were OK at the same time.
    The booth setup was a traditional 3 light setup, Main, fill and an accent light for the hair. Gray plain backdrop. Photographed with a prosumer class DSLR APS-C on a tripod that was adjusted ad hoc on the center pole to match the hight of the subject.
    Taped marks on the floor to indicate the position and direction of the body.
    The photographer would take 4 photos with the body facing left and right (two of each position).
    A little while after the session, we would receive an email with the photos as JPEG, there would be no individual post processing other than perhaps cropping as far as I could see.
    The photographs were very small, probably not even large enough to print a standard 10X15cm photo but perfect for online use.
    Some people received only one photo, some got 4 indicating to me that the photographer removed the obvious goofy shoots and let the remaining selection process be up to the subject.
    People were welcome to stand in line for a second session if they were not satisfied.

    Hope this helps.
  4. I am remembering automated photo booths that will automatically take pictures.

    Not the cheap ones that you find in amusement parks and such, but ones for
    better quality pictures. I believe you can rent those.

    But presumably you do better with an actual person.
  5. Having done something similar once or twice I would recommend deciding how much you want to clear by the hour and what it will cost you by the hour to provide the service. Add 25% and start there. That gives some bargaining space and if they don’t want to meet your minimum let them look elsewhere.

    Rick H.
  6. William Michael

    William Michael Moderator Staff Member

    More clarity is required.

    Who is/are the 'Client(s)' - is the corporation hiring you to shoot and to assist the individual 'subjects' select which image (of themselves) they require to be submitted to the corporation ? - or are the images for purchase? '

    It is not clear if you are asking advice on an upfront fee paid by the 'corporation' to supply the booth photography service, or advice on sale of image file and/or print to the corporation as a 'client' or sale of images to lots of clients - or some combination of both.

    Additionally, it is not clear for what purpose(s), the images will be used - to wit, should the pricing include usage rights.

    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021

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