How much is my photo worth?

March 18, 2018 12:53 PM

I have been asked via Instagram DM if I would be willing to "sell the rights" of one of my photos. I don't want to give up the rights to the photo to use as I see fit in the future, including being able to sell the ability for someone else to use it. Suggestions on pricing for this type of request? This is the shot.
posted by ms_rasclark to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Does the prospective purchaser want to purchase the full rights from you, or just to purchase a license to use your IP? If the latter, then you should be able to allow other people to use the image. Whatever restrictions there might be on that ability would depend upon your negotiations with the prospective purchaser, which will presumably be informed by the prospective purchaser's contemplated use. For example, if the prospective purchaser plans to use the image in a major ad campaign, it would make sense that they wouldn't want someone else using the image for some relatively long period of time (or potentially ever). That would increase the price the prospective purchaser should pay for the image, however. On the other hand, maybe someone just wants to throw you some money for a relatively limited use just to do the right thing. In that case, the price would likely be pretty low and there shouldn't be too many restrictions on your future use.
posted by slkinsey at 12:58 PM on March 18, 2018

Best answer: Generally when someone asks you for photo rights, they actually mean 'the right to use/reproduce photo, within specific contexts,' also known as a license. Did they mention anything about 'unlimited,' 'exclusive' or 'perpetual' rights? If not, they basically just want to use your work for a specific context and you can go on to sell it again. As the photographer, you make the choices, and you can negotiate what you want out of such a sale, including use and credit. The intellectual rights to the photo remain yours.

Pricing usually depends on how well-known you are/how well-known the image is, and what the user wants to do with the image. You can decide to charge more later, or charge different amounts to different users. You'd want to charge more to someone wanting to reproduce your image than you'd charge someone wanting to use your picture on a travel blog. To get an idea of price range, look around on Getty or Shutterstock or similar stock photo sites, to see what similar images are going for.
posted by halation at 1:10 PM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: To flesh out the question a bit more, the request specifically stated, "I run a small marketing company and would like to potentially use this image for a client; wondering if you sell rights..." I have zero experience with this and am honestly honored that they like my shot enough to ask, but if they're making money from my shot, I should be able to reap some of those rewards.
posted by ms_rasclark at 1:14 PM on March 18, 2018

Best answer: Well, they're not necessarily making money from the image itself, exactly; it sounds like they want your image to illustrate something -- which they probably are making money from, because it's probably promotional. But if they aren't literally making money from the image by reproducing and selling it on mugs or calendars or what-not, it's a flat-rate use fee, not a royalty situation; you're not getting a cut, because they're paying you for your services, just as they'll pay the web designer and the copywriter for their services, and so on.

There are basically two ways you can go on a given image, rights-managed or royalty-free. Generally people in the position of your client like royalty-free, and it probably has the least headaches for you both. There's a good starter guide here For pricing, you might check out this guide, which also links to the FotoQuote demo.
posted by halation at 1:36 PM on March 18, 2018 [9 favorites]

Best answer: I think you need to know a little more about what this person wants to do with your image. Like, who are they, who is their client, what kind of project is this, and do they want to use it just for this specific project or do they want something broader than that?

Once you know that stuff, you can decide what price (if any) you'd charge to let them do what they want to do, and you can write up a little contract. Nothing fancy, just "I, ms_rasclark hereby give $marketingcompany the right to use $photo in connection with $project for $client, for the sum of $money. This right is limited to use within $project, is non-transferable, and is non-exclusive. ms_rasclark remains the owner of $photo and retains all relevant rights relating to said ownership."

Then assuming everybody's happy you both sign the contract, they send you some money, and they use your photo for what they want. You could get more complicated but you probably don't need to. You do need more information first though.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:35 PM on March 18, 2018

Oh, keep in mind too that they may very well want to alter your photo for use within whatever this project is. If you care about that, you should ask.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:36 PM on March 18, 2018

Something like this happened to me once. I had a photo up on Flickr which someone wanted for promotional reasons, and in this case they were over a barrel because they couldn't even send someone to capture a similar shot because it was the depths of winter and their brochure was supposed to show a summer scene.

Knowing this, I said "Five hundred bucks!" and he said "Done" and I got a cheque in the mail.

Don't be overwhelmed by the honour, by the way. It's nice, but cash money is nicer.
posted by zadcat at 4:35 PM on March 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

I would just put up a price this is a marketing person wanting to get something done. If you have RAW originals it might be worth more than when it’s a phone shot.
posted by wolfr at 6:41 PM on March 18, 2018

As an example, I work for a major global client but on small digital projects. We have a team of student/amateur photographers that we lend our devices to to take photos with for social media distribution and we pay them $400 for photos that we use. I believe we have perpetual rights (like we own them forever) but I’m not 100% sure.
posted by greta simone at 9:13 PM on March 18, 2018

Response by poster: Just received additional details: “Thanks for connecting on Instagram. My client provides crew hotels for commercial and business jet operators all over the world. We are designing a new brochure for him and eventually will be re-doing his website. We'd likely use this image on both of those items. Would love to know if you'd be willing to sell to us for those rights. Traffic to site is low and the brochure will be distributed at airline conferences.”
posted by ms_rasclark at 6:13 AM on March 21, 2018

Best answer: I would quote in line with Getty Pricing for rights free images, which start around $50 for a small (500px wide) image and go up to about $575 for a hi-res 300dpi. You can see it just by looking at an image on their site.
posted by (Over) Thinking at 11:11 AM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I quoted $100 and got it. I specified the two uses - one for the brochure and one for the website. Thanks for all the input.
posted by ms_rasclark at 4:33 PM on March 25, 2018