Silly question - What do I charge?

[Mini1275]

Hi,

I recieved an E-Mail regarding one of my photo's, they wanted to purchase it for a Mural they are producing for a client (the photo was exactly what they were looking for).

What is a sensible and fair price?.

Thank you.

[Adz The Rat]

I would ask on Talk Photography, there is plenty of these threads on there and most seem helpful.

Congrats on getting paid for an image!

[Mini1275]

Adz The Rat said:

I would ask on Talk Photography, there is plenty of these threads on there and most seem helpful.

Congrats on getting paid for an image!

Thanks chap

I'll check over on Talk Photography.

[AndWhyNot]

Link below - suggested/ benchmark freelancers rates. Scroll down to Photographers > Public Relations as a starting point - that's got prices for image use rather than day rates

http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/index.php...

[JustinP1]

Mini1275 said:

Hi,

I recieved an E-Mail regarding one of my photo's, they wanted to purchase it for a Mural they are producing for a client (the photo was exactly what they were looking for).

What is a sensible and fair price?.

Thank you.

Ask them how much they are charging for the client, and the scale of the project.

Then ask them, how much they think is fair for you.

By doing that you'll most likely get a more generous offer.

[gmilton]

JustinP1 said:

Ask them how much they are charging for the client, and the scale of the project.

Then ask them, how much they think is fair for you.

By doing that you'll most likely get a more generous offer.

Very good advice.

A single mural doesn't sound like a big project but ask them the size they want to produce it at (you'll need these details anyway when it comes to handing over a digital copy). If they say approx 2 feet then charge small if they say 20 feet then charge big.

Also pretty standard but I'll mention it anyway if your new to this stuff. Give them a licence that specifies exactly what they can and can't use it for, thus stopping them from using it indefinately without payment to you after you hand the copy over.

Licences (templates) can be found and downloaded from the AOP's website:
http://c4c.the-aop.org/downloads

Hope this helps,

Graeme

[Mini1275]

Thank you for the advice guys .

[muppetdave]

Well done on getting that. Must be something in the air as I had an e-mail from Caliafornia from a guy wanting to do a life size print of a Ferrari 512 I took for his living room wall!

[LongQ]

muppetdave said:

Well done on getting that. Must be something in the air as I had an e-mail from Caliafornia from a guy wanting to do a life size print of a Ferrari 512 I took for his living room wall!

I had something similar a year or so back. Several email exchanges and a host of other topics discussed over a period of a year or so (various reasons for taking the time on both sides) and likely costs of dedicated pro scanning (needed a very small part of a 6x6 cm negative shot 40 years ago) were discussed and accepted.

Had the scan done. (Better, but not much better than I had already acheived on my Epson Photo scanner) Sent the file. Things went dead.

I later happened to see a shot of his car, the subject of all the discussion, taken at a show with a large print backdrop - but it was not my image nor even something similar.

I don't mind the waste of my time so much but the costs of getting the scan made were significant. If you are doing a deal for reward get the reward first if you it is going to cost you anything.

I might try another email ....

[Simpo Two]

'But I didn't use it so I don't have to pay' will be the likely answer... sadly.

When dealing with the public - or dilettantes with exotic car collections - always get paid first. As well as sound credit control, it's also a good test of how serious they are and how much they actually want your stuff. It is so easy for dishonest people to get the goods, copy them, then pretend they didn't like them.

[muppetdave]

He only has access to a low-res image if he were to pinch it. If it moves forward I'll not release the high-res until payment is received.

[LongQ]

Simpo Two said:

'But I didn't use it so I don't have to pay' will be the likely answer... sadly.

When dealing with the public - or dilettantes with exotic car collections - always get paid first. As well as sound credit control, it's also a good test of how serious they are and how much they actually want your stuff. It is so easy for dishonest people to get the goods, copy them, then pretend they didn't like them.

True, although he did offer payment in the very early stages and I have no reason to assume he is not a totally genuine chap.

I didn't mind spending the time on it since it was educational in areas I had not considered previously. Moreover the cost of the scan was almost worth it for having first hand experience of the results and the ability to compare with my own efforts. We were looking to do some fairly extreme upsizing - something akin to taking the original negative up to advertising hoarding size I suppose but only using a part of it. The shot I saw displayed was nothing like that extreme being taken from a full negative.

Still, an offer is an offer. It was disappointing that the whole exercise, including how the print might have turned out on the banner, seemed to just fade away without comment.

So my advise is certainly that if you expect to be paid make sure you have things covered before releasing the goods.