Costing Restoration Work?

[catem]

I have previously done 'restoration' work on old photographs, which has involved copying onto film/printing in the darkroom, cropping, changing contrast/dodging & burning etc. With this, I pretty much know where I am if I am to charge for it.

Recently I've done some work digitally - scanning in & doing a lot of repair work which simply couldn't be done in the darkroom - ''repairing" huge creases and areas of the image completely missing, comprehensively removing a lot of damage to the surface. This took me about a whole day's work (about 8 hours in total!).

Now...this was a labour of love for someone and I probably wouldn't ever do so much work for a commission (indeed it's often not necessary, or even desirable- but has worked well in this case).

However I've been asked to do more work for someone else, and have no idea how much to charge, or quite where to draw the line in terms of how much work to do (it's something you could easily do masses of painstaking work for, for not too much dosh).

Does anyone have any idea of appropriate costings? I've had a look at a couple of U.K. websites, and the costs seems to vary - quite a lot seem ridiculously cheap, I can only think not much work is done for quoted price.

I would put this question under 'marketing' but thought it might not be acceptable, as I'm talking scanning & digital manipulation & printing with an Epson 2100 printer.

Any experience, thoughts or advice would be most welcome.

[steve]

How much is your time worth? Do you currently shoot professionally and have a day rate? If so, then you should have an hourly rate equal to your day rate.

I understand your problem, it's difficult to cost something until you've done the work and know how long it will take (as you found out with your 8 hour restoration). Until you do more work, you won't really be able to estimate the time accurately.

However, there are a couple of ways to approach this. Figure out the minimum hourly rate you need after paying overhead costs (utilities, floor space, etc.). Then add the amount of money you want to make per hour on to that cost.

You can approach the customer in two ways. You can give them your flat hourly rate and say for a "perfectly restored" image you estimate 8 hours or less (based on your previous experience). Then charge them for the amount of work done at your hourly rate.

Or, you can give them a fixed "not-to-exceed" cost based on your estimate of what it will take to do the work. If it comes in less than the NTE cost, you can either charge them the maximum amount and keep the overage, or charge them the actual costs.

If it comes in over the NTE - then you eat the difference in labor rate versus actual time - but, since you're now learning about digital restoration, you can look at part of the overtime as your contribution to yourself in increased skill and knowledge.

Start out with known times. How long will it take to scan the image, and then clean it up from scanning? That's a base charge no matter how much more work the image will take. After that, you'll have to wing it because only you know how proficient you are in PS, how fast you can work, etc. Based on my experience, I'd factor 1 hour for scanning and cleanup.

You also know your fixed print costs. Figure the price of the final print. Now you have your known costs (scanning + cleanup + print). After that, you're into the unknown portion - and you'll have to guess at this point.

If you want to give them the NTE price, then you have to be ready to accept some "losses" (lower hourly rate) until you learn process a bit better.

[donbga]

I have previously done 'restoration' work on old photographs, which has involved copying onto film/printing in the darkroom, cropping, changing contrast/dodging & burning etc. With this, I pretty much know where I am if I am to charge for it.

Recently I've done some work digitally - scanning in & doing a lot of repair work which simply couldn't be done in the darkroom - ''repairing" huge creases and areas of the image completely missing, comprehensively removing a lot of damage to the surface. This took me about a whole day's work (about 8 hours in total!).

Now...this was a labour of love for someone and I probably wouldn't ever do so much work for a commission (indeed it's often not necessary, or even desirable- but has worked well in this case).

However I've been asked to do more work for someone else, and have no idea how much to charge, or quite where to draw the line in terms of how much work to do (it's something you could easily do masses of painstaking work for, for not too much dosh).

Does anyone have any idea of appropriate costings? I've had a look at a couple of U.K. websites, and the costs seems to vary - quite a lot seem ridiculously cheap, I can only think not much work is done for quoted price.

I would put this question under 'marketing' but thought it might not be acceptable, as I'm talking scanning & digital manipulation & printing with an Epson 2100 printer.

Any experience, thoughts or advice would be most welcome.

In the U.S. if your skills are up to snuff the going rate is about $50 per hour.

Don Bryant

[Bob Carnie]

I would agree with Don, we have done some images that are in 4 pieces and reassembled seamlessly, Our fee is $60 dollars per hour and the reassemble from scan and cloneing was 2 hours.
Granted we then digitally printed to fibre prints and then framed.
Therefore we gave a break on scan and retouch.
$200 for major restoration including scan would be the most one could get for just the restoration stage.

[catem]

Thanks for the replies - definitely something to go on.

It does make sense to have basic, fixed rates, then work out costs on top of that with each individual commission.

I have had a few professional commissions (portraits) but haven't really looked at these in terms of an hourly rate as such - more the accepted amount for the total job, which seems a bit different as it includes the taking of the photographs rather than only 'post-production' work on someone else's original work. The work I did on reproducing old photos via the film/darkroom work was a personal project, but would in theory be easier to cost as more limited as to what can be done post-production (at least by me).

It's a balance between keeping costs reasonable and being rewarded for skilled work. I did feel that 'putting back' detail to replace a large tear - which had a dark area all around it from sellotape :o - was something that drew on not only photoshop skills but experience generally with darkroom printing and also previous experience in drawing. (e.g. re-building the folds of a gown, part of an arm and part of a missing chair). This kind of work is inevitably time consuming, but I guess you do get quicker at it.

[donbga]

Thanks for the replies - definitely something to go on.

This kind of work is inevitably time consuming, but I guess you do get quicker at it.

Even when you are very seasoned, this kind of work can be very labor intensive. IMO, you would be wise to quote per hour. Also you should consider getting a Wacom graphics tablet if you don't have one. It will be a God send to you. The 6x8 model is about all you need unless you have a huge monitor.

Don Bryant

[catem]

Thanks, Don.

I suppose you can find out what the customer really wants done, and prioritise that, and then consult after that as to how much they want you to continue to do, if it's a very fiddly job. I feel fairly convinced it's not the sort of work for everyone, and not the sort of work you can get done just anywhere - so this does seem to justify a reasonable cost.