Going rate for 'cut out' work please?

[Merton69]

Hello.

I have been out of work for two years and somebody may be offering me some 'cut out' work using Photoshop on people, animals etc for magazine work.

I am not a Freelancer so I don't know what sort of rates I am looking at.

Please can anyone guide me on how much to charge them for each 'cut out'?

Apologies if this is in the wrong section!

Thanks in advance.

[sthomas]

It all depends on your experience and skill level but you should be looking for around £25 an hour at least

[Merton69]

Thanks for that....but I think they might be asking per image rather than by the hour?

What do you reckon please?

[Tony Hardy]

It depends how long it's going to take you per image? I wouldn't give a price per image straight away because they could give you some tricky images (lots of hair etc) and that'd take a while and if you've only put in a £1 per image and it takes an hour, you're looking fairly sick.

[Merton69]

All top replies!...thanks.

I might ask what they are suggesting?

[richimgd]

I'd echo what Tony is saying unless you get them to send you a small selection of images from simple to complex and you could estimate how long it is going to take you to cut out and give them a price on each one as an example.

Beware you will be competing with the likes of: Mister Clipping provides online clipping paths, photoshop editing and masking service

[Minuteman Press]

Include caveat/s. If you find that the 'representative sample' is not in practice as described (they've loaded the sample with less involved samples) - you are protected by caveats stipulated.

[kitcorsa]

It all depends on your experience and skill level but you should be looking for around £25 an hour at least

get an image and do a cut out and time yourself, then quote per image from there (remember to take into acount the time it takes to email or ftp the work back to the client into this as well)

this first quote will be a good guide as the more you do that faster you will get at it!

The more you do the faster you get so inturn your hourly rate is increasing without the customer knowing.... but this is fine as the more you are do the more experienced you are at the work... and well the more experienced people get paid more.

Also mmake sure on the quote to put a disclaimer that the prices can be reviewqed after 3 months or something.

Good Luck!

[dot design]

Include caveat/s. If you find that the 'representative sample' is not in practice as described (they've loaded the sample with less involved samples) - you are protected by caveats stipulated.

Yep, I'd cover yourself like Peter says, also ask for a sample of the most complicated and easiest in order to quote realistically.