Additional Payment for Website Use

I am a student photographer for a school outside of Boston. A speaker just came to our school and I was hired to take pictures of the event, payed a flat rate for the event. I was approached by the speaker's publicist asking if he could get the pictures as well. I cleared it with the person that hired me and now am trying to decide how to benefit the most.

I can:
1. Just send the pictures
2. Send the pictures asking for photo credit or a link to my website

a. Because he speaks nation wide and I am a full time student, I will not be able to travel for photo work so I don't know how useful this will be

3. Ask for payment

Do I suggest a rate first per picture? How much should that rate be? Or do I ask what their offer is first?

Any help would be appreciated!

DO NOT 'JUST SEND THE PICTURES'. That's called working for free. The photography business model is to make money from the photos you shoot. Always remember this or you are taking photos as a hobby-period.

I use foto quote as a price calculator. There aren't any ture standards as what is considered 'normal' from industry to industry varies greatly.

For your image:

North America Rights for 1 year up to 1/2 page on a website for educational/editorial use for up to 1 year; $242.00 At very least this is a good starting point. Let them counter. I'm sure $242.00 is sounding a LOT better than zero right now...

And photo credit is nice but it will NEVER pay your rent/mortgage/car payment, etc... VERY slim odds that someone, somewhere will ever see your shot and then contact you for a job based on that. Possible, but not probable. Just include your © info when submitting and ask that it's included where possible/practical for such an application. Look for similar shots used in your particular industry to see what is normal.

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http://www.courtlevephoto.com
http://www.courtlevephotography.com

I agree with owenleve in the previous post. Free would be crazy. The hotel they slept in, the restaurant they ate in, the plane they flew on and their website they operate had to be paid for. The photos have to be paid for too.

Credit lines may make you feel good, but you will not get any work from that kind of credit line unless you have a unique photo that others will wan to license for use.

The $240 fee sounds right to me as an offer from you.

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Richard Weisgrau
http://www.weisgrau.com
Author of
The Real Business of Photography
The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating
Selling Your Photography
Licensing Photography

ask what the budget is first, then give them a figure slightly higher than the one quoted above. They epect the price you give to be a starting point.

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Everyone else here seems to be assuming that these are vital needs for the person that is asking.

I imagine that if a publicist needs photos at professional prices, they'll hire a professional themselves. Ask for $242. I've got money that says you'll never hear from them again!

I'm zero help, I know.

ryansholl said:

Everyone else here seems to be assuming that these are vital needs for the person that is asking.

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They wouldn't be asking for the image if they did not need it. It's impossible to tell how "vital" it is, unless you can read minds... In my experience licensing images, if the prospective client has an image in mind and has contacted me regarding licensing it, they want to use the image. You will lose the sale only if you price it too high or the client doesn't want to pay what it is worth. If it is a unique image and they can't readily find a similar stock image, you hold all the cards in negotiations.

ryansholl said:

I imagine that if a publicist needs photos at professional prices, they'll hire a professional themselves.

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A pro hired to shoot the photos would likely charge more than $242. The buyer would have to hire a photographer and arrangements made for a photo shoot. Unless the buyer can get a photographer to shoot it for substantially less money it simply isn't worth the time and trouble.

BTW, fotoQuote is used by a lot of editors and image buyers to price images. It even offers tips on how to negotiate for particular licenses. The first time I used fotoQuote, I obtained four times the amount for an image than I would have charged before using the program. When I asked for the median price based on fotoQuote, he agreed with no haggling. fotoQuote more than paid for itself the first time that I used it.

The client was hoping that I would proffer a lower amount, because photographers often undervalue their work in these kinds of negotiations. Image buyers will often offer a lowball fee or wait for the photographer to under-price the image, because it often works to the buyer's advantage. But once they understand that you know the potential value of your images, they will either accept the fee, bargain in good faith or decline the offer without a counter-offer.

In the last scenario, the buyer is usually accustomed to getting images for little or no payment and they will often tell you that. In that case you should be prepared to walk away, because it is unlikely that they will offer anything close to the actual value of the image. Don't support these folks by giving away your images; it only encourages them to continue under-paying photographers. And forget about getting any return business of any value from them; they are bottom-feeders and a successful photo business is not based on low value volume sales. Leave that business model to Walmart.

ryansholl said:

Ask for $242. I've got money that says you'll never hear from them again!

Click to expand...

That is the kind of defeatist attitude that affects a lot of photographers. Get Over It if you ever expect to make a living from doing photography.

ryansholl said:

I'm zero help, I know.

Click to expand...

That's an understatement... I certainly agree with you on this point! If you feel this way about what you posted, why bother posting it at all?

A few comments:

First, on this statement by someone:

"I imagine that if a publicist needs photos at professional prices, they'll hire a professional themselves. Ask for $242. I've got money that says you'll never hear from them again!"

If you quote a fair price and never hear from the 'client' again so be it. They aren't a client worth having.... Problem solved. If you license for cheap/free this 'client' will know you are cheap and NEVER pay you a real rate for your work.

Moving along. As another person pointed out. It would most likely cost more than $242.00 to hire someone to shoot the project in the first place. Most likely 2-4 times that amount. Also, you already have what they want, unless they have a time machine they aren't going to be able to create the image.

The photo may not be worth anything to you, but it's worth what your client is willing to pay.

Quote them a fair and reasonable price. If they ask how you came up with the number, tell them you used an industry standard pricing software. If it doesn't meet their budget, ask what does and have THEM give you a number. And if they come back with something like $25.00 tell them no thanks politely. It may seem better to take something v.s. nothing but this will only help with the downward spiral of your own market. And should you ever cross paths again, you are now the $25.00 guy. Meet in the middle, sure, maybe. Do it for 10% of your first quote, no.
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http://www.courtlevephoto.com
http://www.courtlevephotography.com