Product photography and licensing

[fmw]

Can't help you. Sorry. The wholesaler simply wants an arrangement like they would get with any commercial photographer., No surprise there, Goood luck.

That's the part I'm trying to understand. I don't want to make it more complicated than it needs to be. I understood commercial photographers licensed their photos. Is that not correct? I've seen so many conflicting statements that I'm confused.

Perhaps you need to define commercial photography. Product shots need to belong to the client in my view. My view angers some people, however. I billed time, materials and expenses. You can do whatever you like.

How do you adjust your price to compensate for this, if at all? In other words, my client will be using these pictures in print and web ads, modifying them for promotions, and giving them away to their clients. The pictures could be in use for as long as they are selling that particular product.

I don't want to be involved with every little ad campaign they have, but I also don't want to sell the picture for $15 while they generate real business as a result of it.

I don't understand why I am not being clear. I didn't sell images. That is what portrait, stock and wedding photographers do. I sold photographic services. I did the job, billed my time, materials and expenses and turned the images (usually color trasparencies in medium and large format) over to the client. I went on to the next shoot. I shot products, factories, offices, executive portraits, fashion or whatever a commercial client needed. My images showed up in annual reports, catalogs, magazines, newsletters etc. I turned over the best transparencies to the client never to see them again. What they did with them was up to them. The only images I have from those shoots are the ones that weren't good enough to present to the client. I have some shots of hot casting machines and buildings under construction. Let me know if you want to buy one. Hope that helps you understand.

There may be photographers somewhere who would shoot products and then license them for a single use but that wouldn't have worked with my corporate clients. Perhaps times have changed. I did a lot of business with fortune 500 companies. I can assure you they tell the photographer how it is going to work.

Your best bet is to shoot the products, bill for what you did and say goodbye to the images. Make sure your hourly rate is adequate and all will be well. The wedding and portrait photographers that frequent this forum hate this concept but, in my day, that is how it worked with commercial customers and probably how it still works.

 

[gossamer]

I don't understand why I am not being clear. I didn't sell images. That is what portrait, stock and wedding photographers do. I sold photographic services. I did the job, billed my time, materials and expenses and turned the images (usually color trasparencies in medium and large format) over to the client. I went on to the next shoot. I shot products, factories, offices, executive portraits, fashion or whatever a commercial client needed. My images showed up in annual reports, catalogs, magazines, newsletters etc. I turned over the best transparencies to the client never to see them again. What they did with them was up to them. The only images I have from those shoots are the ones that weren't good enough to present to the client. I have some shots of hot casting machines and buildings under construction. Let me know if you want to buy one. Hope that helps you understand.

There may be photographers somewhere who would shoot products and then license them for a single use but that wouldn't have worked with my corporate clients. Perhaps times have changed. I did a lot of business with fortune 500 companies. I can assure you they tell the photographer how it is going to work.

Your best bet is to shoot the products, bill for what you did and say goodbye to the images. Make sure your hourly rate is adequate and all will be well. The wedding and portrait photographers that frequent this forum hate this concept but, in my day, that is how it worked with commercial customers and probably how it still works.

Okay, now I understand. Thanks for being so patient with me.
Do/did you have any sort of agreement, or just an invoice with your hours? Any indemnification? Liability disclosure? Copyright, stating that they authorize you to take those pictures?

 

[fmw]

I don't understand why I am not being clear. I didn't sell images. That is what portrait, stock and wedding photographers do. I sold photographic services. I did the job, billed my time, materials and expenses and turned the images (usually color trasparencies in medium and large format) over to the client. I went on to the next shoot. I shot products, factories, offices, executive portraits, fashion or whatever a commercial client needed. My images showed up in annual reports, catalogs, magazines, newsletters etc. I turned over the best transparencies to the client never to see them again. What they did with them was up to them. The only images I have from those shoots are the ones that weren't good enough to present to the client. I have some shots of hot casting machines and buildings under construction. Let me know if you want to buy one. Hope that helps you understand.

There may be photographers somewhere who would shoot products and then license them for a single use but that wouldn't have worked with my corporate clients. Perhaps times have changed. I did a lot of business with fortune 500 companies. I can assure you they tell the photographer how it is going to work.

Your best bet is to shoot the products, bill for what you did and say goodbye to the images. Make sure your hourly rate is adequate and all will be well. The wedding and portrait photographers that frequent this forum hate this concept but, in my day, that is how it worked with commercial customers and probably how it still works.

Okay, now I understand. Thanks for being so patient with me.
Do/did you have any sort of agreement, or just an invoice with your hours? Any indemnification? Liability disclosure? Copyright, stating that they authorize you to take those pictures?

Nope. Just a handshake and an invoice.