{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang3081{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Courier New;}}
\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs2 The Artistic Skills The Commercial Skills A Picture is Worth a Thousand ... Dollars ? By Paul Dymond OVERVIEW THE MISSION VITAL PHOTO STATISTICS TYPES OF SHOTS GET IT IN CONTEXT SHOOTING FOR THE PRINT MEDIA SOME TECHNICAL ASPECTS COMPOSITION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY SUBJECTS LIGHT - THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PALETTE EQUIPMENT AN INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL IMAGING IMAGE SCANNING & MANIPULATION IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP (THE MOST USEFUL TOOLS) A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND - DOLLARS? ON ASSIGNMENT BIG SUBMISSIONS - BOOK PUBLISHERS GET YOUR PHOTOS OUT OF THE CUPBOARD A Picture is Worth a Thousand ... Dollars ? By Paul Dymond HOW MUCH ARE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS WORTH? For those with a passion for photography the idea of being published is irresistible indeed. Although most photographers don't contemplate printed glory when looking through the viewfinder, should the opportunity arise to have that photograph seen by thousands of people presented itself, most wouldn't turn around to decline it. Should you be lucky enough to be in this situation, the question arises: what should you charge? How much are your photos worth? Although there are no set figures there are some guidelines and places that will be able to help. Consider these factors when quoting a price, or when a specific occasion arises. OFFBEATIP #1: Photographers should know what rate to charge, and the value of their photography should a potential client approach them. WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY? Firstly, a definition. Unlike assignment photography, where somebody pays the photographer to go out and take a photo, stock photography is the leasing of an image already taken by the photographer. A publisher might like the photo of a koala and want to use it inside a biology textbook. A major car company might like a photo of a snowy mountain taken by a photographer and want to use it in an advert. The prices one could quote may vary between $150 to tens of thousands of dollars. Imagine an advertising executive ringing you up to tell you that they'd like to use one of your photos in a major ad campaign for a car. How flattering to think that somebody wants to use one of your photographs! Your first reaction might be to just give them the photograph and let them use it however they want. You'd be honoured just to see your photos in print! Stop right there! This can do major damage to not only yourself but to other photographers. By giving away work for free, photographers who do so not only lower the market rate for photography but will also undercut somebody who makes their living selling photographs. If a photograph is good enough for somebody to want to use then it's good enough to get paid for. With the exception of charities that you wish to support, it's recommended that you always get something in return for your photographs. Consider the cost of film, thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment, filters, tripod and the long period of learning to be able to take that photo. Not to mention the time spent sitting out in the rain waiting for the sun to come out! That's worth getting reimbursed for! OFFBEATIP #2: Don't be afraid of putting a dollar value to your photography. When the cost of film, equipment, time and experience are factored in, then you deserve to be paid! WHAT'S THE GOING RATE? So now that it's been established that photographer's shouldn't give photos away for nothing, what should a photographer charge? Although there are no hard and fast rules there are a few questions that can be asked to help you fix a price; these questions all revolve around the usage of the photograph. Consider the fact that if one were to take out an advertisement in the local rag, the size of the ad will be the price. The bigger it is, the more it costs. It's the same with stock photography; the bigger the photograph is used, the more expensive it is. If a publisher wanted to use a photograph over a double page spread in a magazine, the publisher would of course pay more than if they only used it 1/8 page size somewhere in the middle. Likewise, if the photograph is for the front cover, they would pay more than for the double page spread. The second deciding factor is circulation. What you would receive for the front cover of a magazine if 300,000 copies are printed is a lot more than what you would receive if they only print 1000 copies. The bigger the circulation or the more times your photo is seen, the more you should charge. Another deciding factor is how the photograph is going to be used. The prices received for editorial usage (magazines, newspapers, books etc) are less than commercial rates. This is because the more value a photograph has to a customer the more they should be expected to pay. A photograph of rolling green hills with blue sky and fluffy clouds above might look nice inside a textbook and be of benefit to the publisher. But that same photograph used to advertise the latest version of a certain well-known computer software will net the company millions of dollars. It's only fair that the photographer receives at least a hundred thousand dollars or so - which he did! Another big issue is rights. Under Australian law, a photographer owns the copyright to a photograph as soon as the the shutter is pushed, unless otherwise agreed to in a legal contract. In other words the photo is yours and you don't actually sell it, you lease it to people to use. One photograph might sell many times to different markets. The author's photographs of cane farmers has been used on the front cover of a magazine, as a high quality print hanging in a restaurant and in a school textbook, netting over a thousand dollars. In the editorial world, clients often ask for one-time usage rights for a particular country. This means that the money they pay you gives them the right to use the photo once in one publication in one country only. If they want to use it in a different publication, or a different country or even in a different place in the same publication, they pay extra. In advertising the usage can vary quite a lot. Often a company will want exclusive use of that photo for a particular length of time in a particular market. The longer they have exclusive rights to an image and the larger the market, the more money you lose by not being able to lease it to other people. Hence, they should compensate you for this loss. Sometimes, a client will want to buy the photograph outright. In other words, he/she wishes to buy the copyright. Avoid this if possible. If you can sell it once, chances are you can sell it again and again. If copyright is sold, then you can never sell that photograph again and that is a loss of income. That particular photo won't even be allowed to be used by the photographer to promote their own business. Should copyright be sold, then the photographer should be very well compensated. Unfortunately however, clients rarely understand the concept of copyright. They may just want to be able to use the image whenever they want, however they want. This is called unlimited usage and can be agreed upon without giving up copyright. They might also have concerns about their competition using the same photograph. By explaining that a fee will let them use it wherever they want, and have exclusive use (whether it be for a particularly industry or a particular area) you can usually dissuade people from wanting the copyright. OFFBEATIP #3: There are different types of rights all over the world; one thing remains true across all borders, however: try to avoid giving up the copyright to your photographs - unless the price is right of course. If a pic can be sold once, then it can certainly be sold again and again. NUMBER CRUNCHING It's all very well when considering the factors above when pricing photography, but where does one get specific numbers from? There are numerous guides to pricing stock photographs, both free and otherwise. Firstly, start with the free ones found on the internet. For pricing images in the editorial market you can have a look at http://www.editorialphoto.com which has a very good stock price calculator, as well as links to other price guideline sites. Another good site is http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.html.This is a stock price calculator which has drop down menus to choose between commercial or editorial useage, the print run and size of the photo used. Just plug in the numbers, hit the calculate button and it will give you three prices - low, medium and high. It is then up to you to start negotiating based on these fees. For some Australian editorial prices you could look at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance website at http://www.alliance.org.au If you plan to sell stock seriously though, then it's recommended to purchase a concise guide. There are a number of very comprehensive references on the subject. 'Negotiating Stock Photo Prices' by Jim Pickerell and Cheryl Pickerell DiFrank (http://www.pickphoto.com) is an amazing resource. It has pricing usage on everything from stamps to t-shirts, from books to bus shelters! At US$40 it's not cheap but nevertheless, a worthwhile reference and investment. It also has good articles on negotiating prices and when to charge more or less for your images. For the electronically minded there is a sophisticated software program called FotoBiz (http://www.cradoc.com) which also comes highly recommended although at nearly US$200 this is quite an investment. The software comes complete with invoice, delivery memo and quote forms as well as information on how to price assignments. For discussion groups on stock photography and specific questions, one of the best sites around is www.stockphoto.net, which is a goldmine of information with a fully searchable archive on all aspects of the stock photography business. Many editorial markets operate under strict budgets and will tell you what they pay and there is often very little leeway to negotiate. Many commercial clients may also try to set their fee but there aren't many other industries where the client dictates the price for a product! It certainly doesn't occur when negotiating the price of a car! Stand your ground when you know your photograph is worth more than people are offering. Sometimes, walking away is the only option. Another misconception is that if selling photographs are just a hobby, then you shouldn't be charging the same as established professionals. Although this might be true for assignment photography, where experience and expertise play a big part in the ability to perform a job properly, with stock photography the end product is already there. The photograph is great and somebody wants to buy it. They don't care whether you have a PhD in photography or you're an amateur weekend snapper. All they care about is the image itself. If it's what they want then you should charge the same whether you've been shooting for two or twenty years. The author's first ever photo sold to an overseas newspaper for more than $600 and he had never sold a photo before in his life! We live in a world full of photographers producing millions of beautiful images every year. As long as books are published, brochures are produced and magazines are read there will continue to be a demand for high quality work. Yet to be able to turn a profit at this crazy game, you need to charge accordingly. By using pricing guides as a starting point for negotiations you can confidently quote prices to potential customers. By knowing that your prices are fair you can relax in the knowledge that you are not only ensuring your own survival as a photographer, whether full or part-time, you are also ensuring the future of the industry as a whole. Plus there is the added bonus of seeing your photos up in lights! OFFBEATIP #4: Stock photography is based on the finished product. Hence, don't be intimidated into charging less than what it's worth. If the picture's good enough to be considered, then it's good enough to charge market price for. IN A SNAPSHOT: If approached by a potential client, a photographer must work out how much to charge, and the value of the actual photograph. Factoring in expenses, equipment and effort, a photographer should be remunerated for their photography, so don't be shy of putting a dollar value to your work. There are many ways of calculating your rates, but one thing remains true across the board: avoid relinquishing your copyright, because if it's good enough to be sold once, it's good enough to be sold again and again. Remember that in stock photography, it's the final product that's being purchased, not your time or experience. As such, you should charge accordingly, and not be intimidated into charging less, even if you are a hobbyist photographer. BACK (IMAGE SCANNING& MANIPULATION IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP) NEXT (ON ASSIGNMENT ) BACK TO TOP BACK TO INDEX SCREEN Offbeatrips Travel and Tourism Journalism 9 Compass Close Edge Hill, Cairns 4870 Far North Queensland Australia Email: info@offbeatrips.com Web: http://www.offbeatrips.com Tel: (In Australia): (07) 4032 1708 Mob (In Australia): (040) 1135 372 Tel: (Outside Australia): (617) 4032 1708 Mob (Outside Australia): (6140) 1135 372
\par
\par }
|
Have Something to Write Home About... |
 Learn how to transform your travel blogs, 'unsung' emails and travel photos into published travel articles, with The Complete Travel Writer® course.
Enjoy maximum freedom and fulfilment as you discover how to create and market travel articles and photos to magazine, newspaper, guidebook and book publishers worldwide - for fun AND profit. Travel writing course by Offbeatrips Travel and Tourism Journalism
Whether you want to learn how to spice up your travel journal and photographs or to launch into a fully-fledged career as a freelance travel writer, this University-approved course offers all the tools for success. Join the most successful online Freelance travel writing course in the world... |
|
Travel writing is but one aspect of travel journalism. Today's freelance marketplace demands that writers supply quality photographs with their submissions, and that each article package is strongly tailored to the title in question. However, anyone who hopes to succeed in the field of travel journalism must not only become proficient in the creative fields of writing and photography, but also develop commercial strategies for securing sponsorship from carriers and tourism organisations. Freelance travel journalists must also learn how to market their work effectively.
It is the purpose of this course to provide a thorough grounding in all essential facets of travel journalism, so that graduates can enjoy both the personal satisfaction and financial return of a successful hobby or career in freelance travel journalism.
Quite simply, this course is THE definitive and complete manual for the budding freelance travel journalist. Download The Complete Travel Writer® course NOW, and kick-start your career or hobby in travel journalism with the most successful, qualified and complete travel journalism manual in existence - and all for just $45, including the world's most comprehensive and up-to-date database of over 1000 global magazine and newspaper Editors. Your satisfaction is absolutely guaranteed. Click HERE to start fulfilling all your destination dreams! |
Cover All Bases: The Total Travel & Tourism Journalism Training Solution
|
The Creative Skills |
|
The Commercial Skills |
 WRITING:
This course will show you how to write compelling material that magazine and newspaper Editors will pay you to publish. |
|
 PHOTOGRAPHY: Discover how to provide high-impact, targeted photography to accompany your article packages, and to provide an additional income stream. |
|
 SPONSORSHIP:
Learn the professional approach to sponsorship pitches, and experience your wildest travel aspirations ... without paying a cent. |
|
 MARKETING:
Learn how to sell your pictures and stories to editors hungry to fill their pages, and do it again, and again... and again! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
