Hello photo

November 6, 2007 4:11 PM

How much should I pay an amateur photographer per photo for use on a website? The website is for a small nonprofit if that makes a difference.
posted by Packy_1962 to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

I don't know about fees, but when I worked for a not-for-profit we tried to pay for stuff like this with a charitable receipt for "donations in kind" - it didn't cost us anything and gave them a tax deduction.
posted by joannemerriam at 4:39 PM on November 6, 2007

Unless you have something worthwhile to barter (tax deductions don't count), pay your photographer.
According to the software Fotoquote Pro, the licensing cost for a quarter-screen sized image for one year for your type of website is $300.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 5:43 PM on November 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you've already identified the photographer or the photo, I'd ask them how much they want. You'd be surprised by how many amateurs would do it for the photo credit alone.
posted by advicepig at 6:27 PM on November 6, 2007

I have a (slightly outdated) ASMP rate sheet here and it says TheGoldenOne is pretty much right. Adjust price accordingly for size and all that.
posted by bradbane at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2007

I am a student photographer and I charge about 60 dollars per hour of my time. If you wanted to buy an image that I had already taken I would charge around 60 dollars. I should probably charge more, looking at what everyone else has to say.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 11:22 PM on November 6, 2007

I don't know about fees, but when I worked for a not-for-profit we tried to pay for stuff like this with a charitable receipt for "donations in kind" - it didn't cost us anything and gave them a tax deduction.

I'm glad they were able to get away with it. Traditionally, though, you cannot get a tax writeoff for services, only goods. We did an entire website for an organization only to discover that we couldn't count a penny for it as a donation.
posted by Deathalicious at 3:33 AM on November 7, 2007

It depends on the photo and its placement more than anything. $300 might be a maximum for a large, index page image but other images might be less. How important is the image to the quality of the site?

But really, a charitable receipt? Do you pay any of the employees with something like that? Do you pay for web hosting with a charitable receipt?
posted by JJ86 at 6:10 AM on November 7, 2007

I should probably charge more, looking at what everyone else has to say.

You should be charging for a license to use the images, not for your time.
posted by bradbane at 8:13 AM on November 7, 2007