Giving away photos

[Stephen Marshall]

Got a message from a friend today asking about some of my photos. Turns out one of his friends boyfriends is looking for a photo of a desert landscape for a CD cover. I'm interested in helping them out but there's a very good chance that there won't be payment for it.

I may drop a hint that some payment would be appreciated but I have no real issue with not getting any. I'm just looking through old photos to see what I had anyway. And because they're in college I know money can get tight. It's a favor for a friend so whatever. However, I'm trying to think of a way to let them know that they should be willing to pay for photos that they may want in the future and can't think of a good way to say it. Just let them know that people make photography their business and that they shouldn't expect photos for free?

Any insight would be helpful.

[F-16_fixer]

The way I see it, unless the person is a family member or a really good friend or if the person you're giving the photos to for free was responsible for getting you access to get the photos ie. a Public Affairs person, then I never give a photo away.  The moment you give away a photo, you have officially valued your work as not being worth even a single penny.  Kind of degrading if you ask me 

[BillOz]

It can certainly be a touchy subject, to try getting someone to understand that what you are giving them has value, but your doing them a favor this time, giving it to them.

You could ask that should they make a reasonable profit from CD sales, they consider paying you for having given them the CD artwork.  Or you could simply say this first one is gratis, but future photo use is going to come with at least a reasonable price.  You could simply ask for a token fee, but some may say that is as bad as nothing.

Now for the politics, which some on this board will totally disagree with, as is their right.
If someone is asking you for a photo to use, expecting to get it free, they are not likely going to pay you for it if you ask, or for future photo work either.   They will just grab a photo off some website which posts high resolution photos of what they are looking for.   If they become successful, and they surely will not feel that your photo helped them get there, you might get them to cut loose a few bucks.

If they are your friends, help them out.  One day they may repay the favor.  To think that every photo is worth a little or a lot of money is just wishful thinking.   Consider if every time a friend helped you out, they wanted to be paid for it.  Is giving a photo to a friend any different than a friend helping you move into an apartment, or change the oil in your car, or buy you a beer or two, or let you sleep on his couch after those beers?  It is all a friend helping a friend.  Some will claim how you have spent money on your equipment, and time and effort.  That same argument applies for everything a friend has done for you, or you for them.   

If it is not a friend, then the dynamics change a little, but in most cases, neither you nor anyone else is going to make a sale to that person.  Best case is you get some exposure, maybe a free CD or two.  Maybe they could feature your photography on their website in exchange, or even in the CD jacket.  An exchange like that could be beneficial to you both.

So what do you feel comfortable with?   Help your friend out, or hold out for the sale, which isn't coming.  Do what you feel is right, not what I or anyone else thinks you should do.


Like it or not, basic photography is a commodity.  Exquisite artistic photography still has more than stock value.  The stock photography sellers are not hurting the true artistic photographers economically, because the stock photo buyers aren't willing to pay the artistic photogs price.   Is Chevy hurting Rolls Royce sales?   Admittedly and unfortunately for me, I think my photography is only Chevy (Stock) level at best, 99.99% of the time, so I'm never going to sell to the guy looking for exquisite artistic photos (Rolls Royce).   But just because I'm willing to give my photos away doesn't mean the Rolls Royce buyer isn't going to go looking for the Rolls Royce photo to buy from the photographer who can meet his needs.

Hopefully you'll get something from it.

[Jay Beckman]

If there's a snowball's chance the album will get some traction, negotiate for a percentage of sales up to an agreed upon amount.

No money up front but a written guarantee that you'll get to see the same sales reports the artist gets and will be entitled to X% of gross receipts until the agreement is satisfied.