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I was commenting on another thread about trades and payments. It made me think to write this for newbies. So here my advice: First things first: PLEASE DO NOT CHARGE A KIT FEE FOR TEST SHOOTS (TFP) OR ANYTHING ELSE RELATED TO PRINT. KIT FEES ARE ONLY FOR FILM, TV, AND VIDEO ADDED AS AN ADDITIONAL TO A DAY RATE. When testing (a trade), only agree to a trade if it is going to be beneficial to you. Is the rest of the team on the same level or even better? Will you get great images out of it before deciding? Good networking opportunities, etc? Remember as Tania always says, test up and that it's still a business. When are you testing, please thrive for good clean beauty for makeup. The creative stuff will come later. It will get you paid work anyways. If it's not beneficial to you, just decline or charge a test rate. This is really important. Please do not book a job you know you are not qualified to do yet and feel comfortable doing. Please be honest with yourself and the client and refer the job to a qualified professional. Now the next thing, gigs that are not considered trades by any means in the real world are advertising, catalogs, editorials, actor's and corporate headshots, corporate shoots, stock photos, tv gigs, video gigs, commercials, film, etc. They are paying gigs simply put. Please do not do this for free. Period. When you are bidding for these jobs or when a client is inquiring about your services, never do it for a kit fee or for free. Always, tell them your half day or full day rates. Never, by looks, per face (unless it's bridal or special event), per hour, whatever. You will not hurt yourself but also drive down rates for everyone else. Please do not undercut anyone. Based on the market of where you live and work and your experience set a rate you are willing to work with and never back down. I posted this so you know not to be taken advantage of and that you will be educated about what is the 'norm' in the real world. As well as knowing these things so you won't be taken advantage of. You also have to learn to be humble and pay your dues like every other artist did when they first started.

As Heather noted, and which cannot be emphasized enough: tests are tests and work is work. Only in the world of the perpetrating interweb amateur do these worlds intersect. Because of this, the only thing I respectfully disagree with is the notion of a "testing fee". Heather and I are probably saying the same thing and just phrasing it differently. What I mean is when I did paid tests they were demi-jobs, not anything I was banking on for my book. Likewise, a paid test via an agency you don't have your choice of the girl so she may or may not work for you but it doesn't matter because you're getting paid. Otherwise TESTS or CREATIVES (or TFP/TFCD as they're incorrectly referred to in the interweb), are strictly a coming together of a team in an attempt to create beneficial images for everyone's book (and "everyone" meaning including the model's - cos of you do wacko-dacko tests that don't benefit the model guaranteed an agency will NOT let you test with their girls again). Creatives/Tests are a lifetime. They're for the long haul. Eventually you'll grow out of doing rank-and-file paid tests, but every working artist on here probably still does Creatives. I LOVE shooting a good creative. Since creatives/tests are for your direct benefit, it's ridiculous to put a time constraint on it. Wait until a day when everyone has time to put their full gusto into it. Some of my best tests have gone 12 hours just as a job would. If you're really not that interested, pass (although if you're a total upstart you should take most tests even if you don't get usable prints cos you need the practice and to see how your work translates to being photographed). Only when, and again ONLY when you are WORTH being paid should you be trying to charge, IMO. Instead of being the $50-test-interweb-wonder artist for years on end, folks would be MUCH better served by spending 6 months to a year or so of their time working for free and learning their craft so as to develop a book that will makes one an artist WORTHY of being fully paid.

- Tania