What are the legalities of accepting payments as a freelance photographer?

Question

Someone I know has been into photography and has recently expressed interest in freelancing.

There are a lot of questions she has, but the most pressing one is how to get paid. I have advised her to not charge too low as her pictures are good (and I don't want her to diminish the value of local photogs).

The problem is how to accept payments and what are some gotcha legalities.

What about cash? Should she provide some sort of "invoice" to customers so there is a proper record? How about checks? She plans on using her name, so I don't think she needs a DBA (doing business as) but I may be mistaken, to operate so how would one make a check to her?

PayPal seems interesting too but would she need a separate "business" account? I've browsed photo.SE for the last few hours but didn't find anything specific to accepting payment.

Asked by viper1092

Answer

First research YOUR market! Go to your local City Hall (they will know everything, hopefully)! Register your business. Look for a lawyer (contracts, etc), Financial Adviser (set up Quickbooks or whatever), Register with local Chamber of Commerce, Ask established photographers to second shot, Network and make friends. And lastly BE AWESOME! and take great pictures.

MOST IMPORTANT: IMO, running photography business is 20% photography 80% business.

:)

What about cash? Should she provide some sort of "invoice" to customers so there is a proper record?

Never take cash. Write/sign a contract for EVERYTHING!

Answered by Alen

Check more discussion of this question.

How to respond to requests to commercially use one's photos without compensation?

Question

I am an amateur photographer and every now and then, I get an email along these lines:

Hi there, I really like your photo of X [LINK] and would like to use it in my/our magazine/brochure/website. Unfortunately I don't have a budget to pay you for the use of the image. Would you still be ok if I used this photo?

I always like when people want to use my photos, but I don't allow commercial use without permission. I license them under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.
If it's clearly a commercial project they want to use the photo for, I feel like I should be paid.

I never quite know what's a good way to respond.

1. Do you explain why you think you should be compensated or do you just say that they can purchase it for a certain amount of money?
2. What's a good price to ask (I guess that's really hard to answer, but a minimum price for example, would be really handy to know)?
3. Do you publicly list your prices somewhere, so people can find out themselves without asking you?
4. Is it realistic at all to think people are willing to pay for photos?

I would like to sell my photo and I don't want to turn someone down right away with completely unrealistic prices and the like. However, if they are not willing to compensate me at all, I am ok with them not using my photo.

Asked by Daniel Pietzsch

Answer

You absolutely should be paid. And not only that, you absolutely have the right to protect your work. There are dangers associated with offering "free use" of your work, as once you do, you can never really tell how far your work may be distributed "for free". The company you license it to may turn around and license another company to create some design with it. Once its out "in the corporate wild", you could lose control of it entirely.

As for "not having a budget", doubtful. I worked for a company that did a lot of graphic design for a couple years. I hated the company as they practiced ethically and morally borderline and often out right wrong practices on an all too frequent basis. One of their tactics was to search for photography online and when they found something they liked, they would send out a sob-story email like the one you got. They leeched more work off of more desperate and unaware photographers than I could count. Whenever they couldn't get something for free, they would either offer money, or find something not free and pay for it. They certainly had a budget for such things, and a large one at that.

Your work is you. It's your style. It's an expression of you. It should require compensation for use. Don't let the snide, underhanded tactics of a greedy corporation leave you without control of your art or the compensation you deserve. Ask for reasonable compensation, and make sure you supply a proper commercial use license to limit how far they can "internally distribute" you work, so you don't lose control over who actually has what rights to it.

So, to your specific points:

1. Simply ask that they pay for its use, and be clear, in writing with a proper license, about what "use" means. Don't give them freedom to use it as they please. Make sure they use it only for the specific case they need it for right now. Make them pay you again for additional use for different purposes. Alternatively, ask for a LOT of money for the right to use it as they please for as long as they please (Perpetual, limitless.)

2. "How much" is pretty subjective. Its something you could determine based on the company and their intended usage. You could simply put together a standard price list for your work and various usage scenarios. Factor in your effort, how much value you would give the photo yourself, and how much use the company expects to get. If they only expect to use it in one specific case for one specific thing that may have a limited timeframe of existence, you might ask for a lower price. If they expect perpetual usage rights without limitation, and/or the right to license its use to someone else who may use it in work done for the company, you should ask for much more. Perpetual usage is the holy grail of usage rights...it really shouldn't come cheap. How "cheap" or "expensive" depends on how you think your work compares to top notch professional work. You'd probably need to do some research to figure out where your work might fit on a "pricing scale". If you have never sold anything before and think you might have a hard time selling it at what you would consider a fair price, consider lowering your prices a bit until you have an established reputation.

3. Entirely up to you. Depends on how you want to sell your work, either on a case-by-case basis, or as a key part of your professional work as a photographer. If the purpose of your photography is to provide high quality stock photos for fixed prices for specific terms of usage, you probably want to create a web site that has examples of your work and your price list. One thing to note...NOT having a price list is often beneficial, as you can negotiate price on a sale by sale basis. Some companies may be willing to pay more, some are going to be rather stingy. If you are just starting out, you might find a lot of value in keeping your prices fluid and learn what the sweet spot is that sells the most work at the highest possible price. Once you have established an average, you'll be better equipped to produce a readily available price list.

4. Absolutely. The amount you might get for photography today is subjective, and less than it was a number of years ago, which was itself significantly less than a number of years before that (before the age of ubiquitous, cheap digital stock and oppressive bullies like Getty Images and co.) A few years from now you may find that its harder to get as good a price as you might want today. Sadly, the state of affairs with for-pay photography is there are too many cheap photographers who just want a microsecond of fame and recognition, and are all too willing to give their work up for free. That has put some severe downward pressure on prices for photographic work. You can probably reverse that trend for your own work if you establish yourself as someone who produces very high quality photography worthy of the price. However yes...it is realistic to think that people and companies will pay for photography these days.

Answered by jrista

Check more discussion of this question.

Are stock photo sites a viable source of income?

Question

I'm considering uploading some of my photos to a stock photo website as a way of getting a few $$$ back from what's essentially been a hobby for me.

Is this a sensible step, or am I likely doomed to disappointment and failure with this approach?

Asked by Roddy

Answer

To answer your question, no, stock photos are not a viable source of income. You can make money off of it, just like some people who are able to write iPhone applications are able to make huge paydays; but in general the market is saturated, and unless you produce something that stands out amongst all the cruft, you won't be making much.

Think of it in terms of economics.

Supply and Demand.

Professional looking images required (in no particular order):

• Equipment
• Technique/Knowledge
• Skill

And back in the day, all three were fairly hard to come by. Camera equipment was expensive (especially digital), you hard to find someone willing to teach you the ropes, and it took a long time to learn. Now a days:

• Camera equipment costs necessary to produce professional looking images have dramatically decreased since the digital camera boom.
• Likewise, computing power has become more powerful, and much more affordable, and image editing software has become much easier to use
• The internet has made it incredibly easy to find information for learning how to produce quality images, as well as made it super easy to submit images for publication.

As such, the barrier to entry to producing quality images has been lifted nearly completely. With that, more and more people are able to produce nice images. One could say that stock photographs have become a commodity; there is no short supply of quality looking images.

Since the supply is very saturated, that drives the price down (while demand for stock photos has increased, it hasn't been to the scale as supply). Anyone with a digital camera and an internet connection can produce stock photos.

As Nick pointed out that as long as it doesn't cost you anything to submit your photos, you have nothing to lose.

This is outside your question, but if you want to make money off your photography, you're going to want to be creative and see what areas are underserved and target them. Assuming you are in the US, how about getting into real-estate photography--there is a huge glut of houses on the market and (at least when I was looking to buy a house) most have crap photos taken by real-estate agents. Another area, not for money necessarily--is to team up with animal shelters and do photos of the pets for adoption. Most shelters dont spend any time taking nice images, so volunteering your time will

1. Increase your skill in pet photography
2. Let you network and meet potential clients. After all they might want prof. photos done with their new family addition.
3. Help with a great cause: helping find pets a forever place to live.

Answered by Alan

Check more discussion of this question.

What is a reasonable formula for depreciation of photography equipment?

Question

I've recently started a company for my photography pursuits and am trying to lay down accounting terms on how will equipment be depreciated to help planning cash flow for sustainable balance sheet.

Perhaps I'm being naive, but I hope the balance sheet would approximately reflect true value of company assets. On the other hand, I would not want to track market value of each item separately, hoping that separating items into categories (e.g. bodies, lenses, flashes, lighting accessories, computer software, computer hardware) and having a depreciation formula for each category would do.

Based on what I've read so far, I'm inclining towards reducing value of bodies 25% a year; flashes and accessories 20% a year; lenses 10% a year. But I could be way off.

How does photographic equipment depreciate over time?

Answer

There are two things here - there's the balance sheet and there's reality:

For the reality part you should plan your cash flow and expenses so you have money for equipment, for example, the top of the line Canon and Nikon DSLRs cost something in the $6000-$7000 range, so if you use them and you replace bodies every 4 years you should make sure to have $7000 per camera extra cash left over every 4 years - depreciation doesn't really comes into play here.

For the balance sheet your government has strict rules about depreciation and if you don't follow them you will get into trouble, those rules that can be simple or extremely complex depending on where you are and how your business is structured - but they generally have absolutely nothing to do with the real market value of used gear.

You have to take care of both aspects, if you don't plan according to your gear replacement schedule with no regard to depreciation you won't have money to replace your gear - and if you don't depreciate your gear strictly according to the rules you can get into really big trouble.

Check more discussion of this question.

How do I know if I'm ready to turn professional?

Question

I love photography.
I love capturing beautiful images and preserving precious memories.
I believe that I have a gift for this - one which I have worked hard to hone and grow over recent years.

I am wondering about trying to earn some of my income from my photography.
However, I find the thought very scary: surely I can't be good enough? Yet I think that I can consistently get results as good as most of what I find online.

How can I tell if I'm good enough?

Am I even asking the right question?

What questions should I be asking myself?

Answer

My tips:

• Don't assume you're good because friends and family say your are.
• Don't start with weddings. Wait until you've done a few simpler things first (christenings / babies etc). You may be a great photographer when snapping flowers but how are your people skills / planning skills etc.?
• Try to sell some stock photos or prints in a market.
• Go for it! Just don't quit your job until you have run out of weekends and are turning down bookings ;)

Good luck!

Check more discussion of this question.

Do any stock photography sites pay 100% of sales out to photographers?

Question

I've come over from Stack Overflow to see if anyone here uses stock photography/microstock sites and knows if any of the many out there currently give 100% of sales to photographers?

Obviously they've got to make money somehow and I know some do monthly subscriptions to photographers to host their images but I can't find any that charge a small upload fee to add images and pay out 100%.

I work for a design agency in Brighton and we recently sourced 7 images for a client for £4K and the photographer only sees something like 20% of this and it seemed a bit unfair.

EDIT: Amending the question, if it were a well used site would you USE a site where you paid a small fee for each photo you upload (either annually or a one off) and kept 100% of the proceeds?

Answer

You will find the larger agencies like Getty are reducing their commissions to photographers, to around 35%.

I know one of the smaller agencies offer a better rate.

Local Stock ## (100% commission)

However I don't know if they actually sell many.

Put it this way, I would rather have images at 35% commission that get sold and shown to a very wide audience around the world than get 100% of a very small UK market.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I make extra money with photography?

Question

I have photos in Getty Images, in Shutterstock, Imagekind and I recently added some to RedBubble, but I'm not having the expected results.

Does anyone have some history of success selling photographs or working as a photographer?

Examples of my work are available in my gallery on Flickr.

---

Also asked by nute

I am an amateur who sometimes takes pictures of nature or random things. I've been told by several people that my pictures are worth money.

How can I monetize my best shots?

I don't really want to do a lot of work, editing, SEO or whatever. I'm looking for an easy way where I would just upload my pictures somewhere and let it go.

Maybe stock photos? People buying prints? I have no idea how that works...

EDIT: maybe a link to see which type of photography I do can help http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasht00/

Answer

I'm going to be a bit blunt here: your photography isn't the kinds of stuff clients who buy stock/microstock go for. In 2011, the vast majority of stock photography is used to sell business products to business people. And if it's not that, it's used as a source of images to be composited with other images.

I've worked in interactive and print advertising and design for the past 13 years, on literally hundreds of campaigns for international brands the world over.

Here are things we bought: people in suits doing business things (all white, we're in europe); people in suits doing non-business things - like jumping, running, hanging off a ledge; pretty, neutral spaces like kitchens, offices, living rooms we could put people and products into; an amazing amount of travel photography with clearly visible landmarks for an airline; landscape photography that included sweeping vistas that we could, again, place items into. Give me any of these things in a cohesive series and I will love you to death.

Some things stand out in your photography that would cause me to look over most of it, even if I had a market for the subject matter. Post processing for a look either by defocusing elements, color tinting the image, adding blur - I want sharp objects I can cut out/composite with other objects. I want my starting images to be as neutral as possible.

There's a huge difference between people liking your work on flickr and actually buying your work. For someone to buy stock photo, they have to be able to use it as an element of making more money for themselves. Look at your photography and ask yourself if this is the kind of work you can imagine being used by people who actually lay out the money to license those images.

Ask the microstock houses what kind of photography they need more. I almost tried selling stock on a now defunct stock site. They had a great list of what they had more than enough of, and what kind of stuff they needed. Number one with a bullet is always: "People in suits doing things."

Check more discussion of this question.

What are some good places to sell photo prints online?

Question

What are some good places to sell photo prints online? Is it possible? Is it depends on country, laws, copyright restrictions. Any comments are welcome.

Thank you.

Answer

It depends very much on what you are trying to accomplish. There are at least 3 broad categories, which I'll try and give some examples. Note that my examples are probably US centric, but the services might also have foreign affiliates, I haven't looked into them all, so...

Selling Prints to Clients

Okay, so you've done a photo shoot with some clients, and they want to order prints from you. Where do you direct them? This will depend somewhat on what country you are in, but here's a few.

• Smugmug
• Pictage
• Shutterfly

Selling prints to strangers

So, you took an awesome landscape picture, and now you want to sell a print to a complete stranger. You could use the above sites, but you might have more luck with a dedicated site. The truth be told, however, is that unless you already have a fairly well known name, you're probably not going to have much luck online from this type of picture. I don't have much experience here, but I'll post a few that I've heard of.

• Cafe Press
• Photo Shelter
• Image Kind

Selling the rights to use your images

This is also known as stock photography. These photos typically either sell a concept, have a type of photo illustrated, but can include landscapes and other general interest pictures. There are at least 2 sub-categories here, I'm more familiar with the micro-stock site. Specifically, you can look into sites such as those listed below.

• Bigstockphoto
• Fotolia
• Dreamstime
• Shutterstock

Check more discussion of this question.

Suggestions for photographers / videographers to best work together at the same event?

Question

I want to get a wedding photographer's perspective on videography. It seems like there can exist a natural tension between the two, as they are both under pressure from the bride to shoot the same once-in-a-lifetime experience and the presence of another person vying for the same camera angles can complicate matters. Specifically, how do you as a wedding photographer interact with and share the same space with a videographer?

Also, what advice do you have for photographers and videographers to make the best of working together and maybe even cooperating to helping each other out?

Answer

I work as a professional photographer AND as a professional videographer. I have worked with other photographers and other videographers on a shoot. There is more than enough space at a wedding for everyone to get the good angles if you have a shooting plan and discuss it before the event. Decide who will be where at which moment and stick to the plan.

What photographers don't get is that for video you need to maintain good framing and smooth movements the whole time you are recording. It is therefore much more difficult to move around. When I shoot photography it is the simplest thing in the world to move and shoot. I can crouch under the video camera or shoot around it without having to worry about my movement affecting the shot. We can EASILY stand next to each other in the aisle to get the ring shots etc.

ultimately, the client doesn't care about the technical difficulties. She has hired 2 people to do a job for her. No vendor is more important than another. We are all equally responsible for providing the best possible product to the person that hired us. This means you need to have the inter-personal skills to negotiate the shooting plan so EVERYBODY wins and the client gets what they paid for. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar... and do you really think a bride is going to enjoy working with a pompous ass who thinks he is running the show? Do you think the bridesmaids will hire that guy for their wedding? Do you think the other vendors will recommend them to future clients?

Check more discussion of this question.

Is it acceptable in professional photography to accept a meal from the client during a paid event?

Question

On 4-5 hour long assignments shooting events such as anniversaries/weddings/birthdays etc.. the clients have asked me to help myself to lunch/dinner. Is acceptable to do that or will it look completely unprofessional?

Answer

Yes it is. In fact, I've seen many photographer contracts for a wedding explicitly call out whether or not the photographer will be getting a meal.

I've read on some forums that some photographers require a meal, but I think it's in better to taste to make it an "option" on the contract.

If the client said it was okay, then it's okay. Now, of course you want to make sure you do your best to eat quickly, make sure you don't disturb guests and ensure you don't miss any important shots.

Check more discussion of this question.

How much pay to a model in a session of photos for stock?

Question

I want make a photo project to send to a stock photography agency, but I don't know what I should pay to a model for signing the model release.

Pay by photo, by hour, or in some other way?

Answer

It sounds like you haven't worked much with models. If not, it'll be an interesting journey. It's convenient to make a broad categorization of models into two groups: 1) Professional models, represented by an agency; and 2) People who model but are unrepresented, part-time, etc. If you want to be reasonably sure your model will be on location when he or she is supposed to and that you are getting what you pay for, agency models are for you. If you are working on spec, as with stock photography, you may be willing to trade the reliability of a model with a pedigree for a less expensive one.

To start with, you need a clear description of what you plan to do, where, for how long, whether the model is providing wardrobe, makeup, styling or if you will have hair, stylist, etc. on set. Be sure to mention up front whether there will be any unusual requests of the model because if your model is uncomfortable or feels you sprung something on him or her, the shoot will not go as well as if they are prepared.

In the first case, you will negotiate rates with the agency and it will be quite cut and dried. The latter case (and this is where modelmayhem.com comes in) gives you quite a range of talent and professionalism. The models range from, to be blunt, flaky to very responsible. They can be extremely talented or totally clueless. With these models, it's obviously important to have your description, but you'll want to meet them first and take a few test shots, even with your cell phone, just to see if you can communicate and work with them. If you decide the answer is yes, then you determine a rate.

There is no standard rate and stock photography is very speculative. So is modeling. Many of the Model Mayhem models are professional and serious about making a living modeling. Others, not so much. The pros will have either hourly or day rates and won't be afraid to quote them (they should be able to do this based on your description). Novices may be happy to let you set their rate. Many will work in exchange for some of the outtake images.

When you evaluate this, please bear in mind the total projected value of the shoot to you and measure your modeling fee against how much you expect to earn. If modeling and other expenses (equipment, transportation, meals, etc.) exceed what you expect to make from the shoot, just don't do it.

I know I've strayed quite a ways from the original question. I hope this is useful.

Check more discussion of this question.

Which rights to photographs should I retain when writing a contract?

Question

The title says it all, but to clarify, assuming that the client does not have a specific contract that I must sigh or specific clauses that they want added, what rights to the photographs that I take should I retain for myself?

Answer

You should assert your copyright and all other rights (with the 'all rights reserved' clause), and explicitly grant the customer a licence to use the image for the purposes they need and no more, unless it's a royalty-free sale. If the image contains people or property you should check to see whether you need a signed release; if images of people are used for commercial/advertising purposes then without a release, the subject can reasonably demand a share of the profits from the use of the image.

Check more discussion of this question.

What are the most important issues to cover in a portrait photo contract?

Question

I am planning on doing some photo sessions for friends and want to do it right. I want to have a contract, but I'm not sure what all I need to include.

What are the most important issues to cover in a photo contract?

Answer

• Pricing details, even if you are doing it for free
• Session details, when/where/etc
• What happens if you can't make the session
• What happens if you lose the images
• Model Release if you want to use the photos to promote yourself

Those are the biggies.

Check more discussion of this question.

What is the production volume for film over the last decade?

Question

How many rolls/sheets of film has Kodak/Fuji/the-whole-industry produced each year for the last ten years?

What has the revenue been?

I've tried googling for the answer but a summary of this information appears elusive.

I'd like to get an impression of whether or not the decline of film has stopped and if it has now stabilized as a niche market.

Answer

I found a graph of Kodak film sales on this page.

Check more discussion of this question.