BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Pricing Help Advice Needed

Thanks for your advice and help.

Leslie Morris
www.morrisphotoimages.com

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February 02, 2008

I prefer to quote my rates and fees off things like the member surveys from Advertising Photographers of America, pay dues and attend local and national chapter meetings. (The supplied food and drink at the APA meetings, I might add, is pretty great most of the time. Whereas the food at ASMP.org meetings is pretty mediocre, if supplied at all.).

Keep in mind, Linda, that once you give someone an image on CD, you lose virtually all physical control of how that image is used. Your only recourse if it's misused without your written consent is to avail yourself of the copyright laws.

The way most professionals I know (including me) handle this kind of situation is to have the posters or duratrans displays made for the client, charge reasonable usage fees per image giving a discount for multiple images and then mark up the cost of the print or duratrans. The mark-up should include the time it took you to have it made and delivered to the client.

This gives you creative control of the image including how it's reproduced, color balance, saturation, sizing, the entire process and quality control necessary to make your work look good. And at the same time, you're not giving anything away or losing control of your work.

Btw, you DO have the work copyrighted and registered or you've applied for the registration. . . right? Linda?? Right???!!!
Take it light. ;>)
Mark

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February 02, 2008

Anyone else out there?

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February 02, 2008

The limtited rights were purchased only for the show. Don't get greedy with your pricing! Since this is limited rights you want to keeep the door open for more business. My client later came back and purchased the same images again for several magazine ads and these sold for a much higher rate than the show images.

Ray

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February 03, 2008

Greggory, yes the price should be higher than a small mom and pop, luckily fofoQuote provides a range for usage.

Ray, thank you very much for your input, this is exactly what I was thinking and your post clarified that direction for me.

Thanks again!

Leslie

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February 03, 2008

While certainly personal greed shouldn't be a motivating factor in your pricing, those of us who have been in this biz for any significant time know that it's essentially meaningless when a client alludes to future work in the hopes of getting a discount on the job at hand. I think that's really a cheap tactic. It may have some effect on my younger colleagues but not to the guys (and gals) who really know this industry. And trust me on this one, as Gregory indicated, the food industry can afford to pay. A thousand bucks for four images is probably less than they spend on one dinner (with drinks) entertaining a couple of customers.

In my view, if your work and collateral services are good enough you should charge accordingly per assignment at that time. Your clients (at least mine anyway) will respect you for that along with your business acumen.

So, as I said earlier, offer to do the entire job for them, not just "loan" them the images on CD. Take a 10-15 per cent mark-up on the services you provide and add for your time. After you deliver, stay in touch with the marketing director. Build on your relationship and don't give discounts for empty promises.

And...you're quite welcome :>)
Mark

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February 03, 2008

Thanks again, and I really do enjoy reading your posts :)

Leslie

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February 03, 2008

In stock photography you never use the size of a company alone as a gauge to determine the fee. You need to also need to factor the market value of what the company will expose your image to. Trade shows usually impact a much smaller market than what a full-fledged ad campaign will bring hence my example of using the same images but being costed entirely different due to separate market exposure with the same company.

When I suggested, “don’t get greedy” I was referring to not setting a price that is out of the normal market range for what the images will be used for. Believe me, many ad agencies know what the market will bear with stock images and if you shoot a price that is well outside the market range, they will move to someone else for their images.

I sold mine at fair and non-discounted price, and they have since returned to me on several occasions for additional images of my work.

I don’t get involved with any printing. It’s just not cost effective if your dealing with stock and for me least my ad clients and publishers do all of their own printing. However, I do get proofs from two of my book publishers prior to chapter close for final review.

Ray

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February 03, 2008

Leslie

Leslie

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February 03, 2008