ThomasWarloe From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 265 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 2445 times:
Hello everybody,
I received this email about a photo request:
------------------------------
Hello XXXXX,
My name is XXXXXXX. I work in the Marketing Communications Department of XXXXXXX. I am interested in purchasing a Royalty Free license of photo 1745807 (Embraer 450). Our immediate need is for use at an upcoming tradeshow. We would also like to use it in other marketing collateral.
Please let me know if this is photo is available for commercial purchase and what the cost would be.
Regards,
XXXX
-----------------------------------------------
I then asked about how it would be used and recieved this email:
---------------------------------------------
Our tradeshow usage would be as part of a fabric graphic panel (size approx. 24"x24", although this has not been determined). Other uses would include literature (our typical print run is less than 1000 pieces), advertising, web site, video, etc. Although we have no other specific usage planned at this time, we would want royalty free licensing to cover any future needs.
I would need a high resolution file, as large as possible (for other potential uses). I would include your contact information and the licensing terms in the meta data of the image for future reference. We may also wish to purchase additional images of yours at a later date.
------------------------------------
Now my questions were:
1. What is a "royalty free" licensing - am I selling my copy right or just giving them unlimited use of the photo?
2. Would I charge separately for the graphic panel and the other literature uses, or is it all covered under "royalty free licensing"
3. I've never sold a photo before, so what would I charge for it? If they want unlimited use of my photo, I'd think that it would cost more than just buying single usage.
4. What is meta data and what are the terms of licensing?
INNflight From Austria, joined Apr 2004, 3765 posts, RR: 62 Reply 1, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2429 times:
Quoting ThomasWarloe (Thread starter): What is a "royalty free" licensing - am I selling my copy right or just giving them unlimited use of the photo?
RF means that you set a price, and if they agree on it, they can use the photograph in whatever way they want.
It basically is an unlimited use license. You still hold your copyright to the photo, they can just use it for whatever purpose without asking you again.
The price really depends on how much you value your work / the photograph. Unlike with "rights managed" use, where there are various online price guides for say, brochure use, or newspaper use, or website use, for royalty free there's really no set pricing structure.
Some sell RF licenses at $20, some at $2000. Not a big help, I know.
Meta data is data that can be included in a specific file. If you have photoshop, have a look at the submenu "File > File Info". You could include copryight data and the terms and conditions in there, so they stay with the photograph itself.
Terms would be what you and that other party agreed on. They want to have everything in writing that you allowed them to use the photo, and if that is being included in the meta data, other potential users also know who owns it, who took it, and what can be done with it.
ThomasWarloe From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 265 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2425 times:
Thanks for the help! I really need help on the pricing, though. There's only 3 photos of that plane on airliners.net. Do you think $1000 would be a good price; or is that too high or too low?
[Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D + Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L USM Lens + Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L USM Lens]
damien846 From UK - England, joined Dec 2006, 657 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 2414 times:
Only way to find out, is make him an offer? lets start at $1000 and see what they say??? The other question you have to ask (yourself) is, what's it worth to you? Would you be happy with $100? With only a small number of shots available to him you may be lucky and he will pay $1000...or he will say no?
Not an easy one to guess!
Good luck, let us know how you get on?
kukkudrill From Malta, joined Dec 2004, 1122 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 2409 times:
Quoting INNflight (Reply 1): for royalty free there's really no set pricing structure
Royalty free pricing tends to be according to image size. Stock photo agencies such as Alamy or Getty Images would charge in the region of $350-450 for a maximum size image. Thomas, you could take that as a starting-point.
Make the most of the available light ... a lesson of photography that applies to life
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4741 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2390 times:
Thomas,
With anything like this I always ask them to make me an offer. This not only puts the ball firmly back in their court but it should give you an indication of how much they want to pay. If their offer is too low, you know how much room you have to negotiate up; however you may well be surprised by what they come back with first time.
I usually word it something like, "Do you have standard rates for third-party photographers supplying similar images?".
Don't be too greedy. Always better to make a few Dollars than to charge too much and see them go elsewhere. Three online images is two more than you'd really like.
ThomasWarloe From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 265 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 2359 times:
I too received this email regarding another photo in the database - i am awaiting their offer........
They're probably going to offer you a really low amount of money. They said that they had gotten a.net images for $30 and that was about how much they were willing to pay me. Given it was a 2500x1667 pix image with royalty-free licensing, I said no. I asked them if they would be willing to give me another offer and have since not heard from them. Good luck with your sale though!
-Thomas
[Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D + Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L USM Lens + Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L USM Lens]
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4741 posts, RR: 8 Reply 8, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 2241 times:
I would have probably taken the $30. Refusing their offer was perhaps cutting off your nose to spite your face - after all, $30 is better than nothing.
Photos unfortunately are no longer worth what they once were. Advent of digital, saturation of the market and people willing to give their work away for free have all contributed.
I used to make quite a few sales here, however I haven't sold an image (apart from one to Airliners magazine last month) via A.net for over 12 months now. Snap up the offers while you can I'd say!
INNflight From Austria, joined Apr 2004, 3765 posts, RR: 62 Reply 9, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 3 days ago) and read 2217 times:
Quoting JakTrax (Reply 8): I would have probably taken the $30. Refusing their offer was perhaps cutting off your nose to spite your face - after all, $30 is better than nothing.
Photos unfortunately are no longer worth what they once were. Advent of digital, saturation of the market and people willing to give their work away for free have all contributed.
I used to make quite a few sales here, however I haven't sold an image (apart from one to Airliners magazine last month) via A.net for over 12 months now. Snap up the offers while you can I'd say!
I strongly disagree. The offer is more like an insult for unlimited use, and congratulations for sticking to your guns.
Actually, if more people would, we'd all be better off.
Regarding what photos are worth, I disagree aswell. It's just more common that photographers don't think their images are worth something anymore. The customer receives a product in return, and giving that product away for $30 when it is worth more like $300 is just wrong.
Would a street artist sell you a $50 drawing for $10 because it's better than nothing? Hell no he wouldn't.
stevemchey From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 338 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2202 times:
Quoting INNflight (Reply 9): The offer is more like an insult for unlimited use, and congratulations for sticking to your guns.
You also need to take into account that once you sell your image, it looses value for the future. I am currently in the process of selling one of my shots (non-aviation) to a company for marketing purposes. Once I give that company the rights to use that shot (either royalty-free or rights managed), this shot (and similar ones in the same set) become less interesting to other companies, simply because somebody else is using it already. As a result, I might be better off not selling it for a low price, simply because I keep my options open for some other deal.
I am not saying this is the right way to go all the time, but it is something to keep in mind when you deal with low ball offers.
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4741 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (2 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 2168 times:
I see your points, and have backed them up before, however bearing in mind that Thomas (I think) is still in school I'm guessing $30 could go a long way.
I also agree that it is a bit of an insult for unlimited usage but at the end of the day $30 is $30. Depends on how much one needs the cash I expect. If I was skint I'd sell any of my images for $30!
As long as we don't offer our images for nothing I'm not too fussd what others are charging. I do this primarily as a hobby so as long as the offer's not overly insulting I usually accept it. Every little helps, as they say.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 265 posts, 
From Austria, joined Apr 2004, 3765 posts, 
From UK - England, joined Dec 2006, 657 posts, 
From Malta, joined Dec 2004, 1122 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4741 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
