Verdi (a German trade union) has developed an online fee calculator for “creative professionals”. This is also accessible to non-members and is intended to give a rough overview of what a reasonable calculation looks like.
The most important thing is the “categorisation”. There are four levels: EG5, EG9b, EG11 and EG13.
- EG5: comparable to a trained photographer
- EG9b: comparable to a trained master photographer
- EG11: like EG9b, but with a higher level of difficulty. For example, photography in particularly dangerous situations or with high technical complexity.
- EG13: Not only perfect technical skills, but also artistic flair at a high level – i.e. comparable to a degree in design AND training as a master photographer.
You can then enter the corresponding hours for the project and receive the basic fee without expenses and VAT at the bottom.
A simple wedding in EG9b with 8 hours on location, 8 hours of picture viewing, 2 hours of preparation, 2 hours of preliminary talk and half an hour of travelling without social insurance via the KVK has a basic fee of 1163 euros. Plus VAT.
I used to have a gross hourly rate of 129 euros for taking photos and travelling. With 8 hours of snapping and 1 hour travelling, that makes 1161 gross. Preparation time was included in the calculation. Too cheap? Yes and no. As an author, I am insured through the KSK and with KSK insurance I have a basic fee of 1000 euros. And my net rate is 975 euros.
So there are different ways to achieve a similar result.
Now there are wedding photographers who take 3000 euros for a wedding. Or more. Where does that come from, outside of “someone stupid gets up every day”? To do a wedding well, you need two photographers. There have been four of us at a wedding – two filmers, two photographers and we could easily have employed a fifth man. The wedding lasted two days and took place in Poland. Even without post-production of the material, we were already looking at almost 8000 euros plus tax.
And, of course, there are photographers who play the cheap Jacob or vice versa, who simply grab what they can without delivering the corresponding quality.
But the basic fee calculator is a pretty good basis for the calculation.