How to price your Photo's?

[DicksPix]

My son and I are amateur photographers. My son took a picture of a friend of his while he was working and gave him a 20X30 print of the shot (which turned out great). The guy shows his boss and now the company wants to have a bill board made from the shot. My question is, What is it worth? Should he let them use it for free but demand that his name be added to promote his fledgling business? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[manaheim]

I'll be curious to see the responses to this, but generally what I've seen is that no one can really tell you.

Services and prices on photos vary wildly by rarity of the subject, prices charged by other photographers in the area, skill and reputation of the photographer in question, usage of the photo (business vs. personal vs. art vs...) etc. I charge like $175 for an artistic framed 12x18 print. I charge $700-2000 for commercial real estate photography with a usage license. All I can say is I sell some prints, and sometimes I don't. I win some commercial bids, and sometimes I don't. Who knows?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

$2000

 

[CCericola]

You will have to do research on existing pricing in your area. Give it for free? No. so what if his name in on the photo? How many people can read fine print while driving past a billboard without causing an accident? You will need a contract so if your son is under age you will have to step in. Have you registered as a business in your state? You will have to collect and report sales tax in Illinois for this.

 

[KmH]

The first thing your son needs to do is register the copyright to the photo with the US Copyright Office. U.S. Copyright Office - Online Services (eCO: Electronic Copyright Office)
www.copyright.gov

Your son sells the company a use license. Putting a photo credit on a billboard would essentially be useless and have zero value. How often do YOU look at photo credits?

The use license will describe the number of bill boards, the geographical area the billboards can be located, and how long the image can be used for.

If the company were to later decide they also wanted to use the photo on their web site and on the cover of a company brochure or Annual Report they would have to buy a couple more use licenses.

Pricing for commercial use varies by market area. Because of that variability, and the many differnt usage types, commercial photographers generally use pricing software like fotoQuote Pro 6. fotoQuote, fotoBiz, and the fotoKeyword Harvester

You can read up on use licensing at www.asmp.org. On the left side of the home page click on "Business Resources" and read through all the material.