Uhh…?

Just to be clear, I’m no expert on image licensing but I wante to share my limited experiences to assist others and hopefully promote some discussion on licensing your photography. This is more focussed on liaising with clients rather than licensing your photographs through stock photography websites such as iStock which is a completely different beast and covered extensively elsewhere.

What are my experiences in image licensing and stock photography? A little. I’ve been fortunate to arrange licensing to images for a considerable amount whilst also negotiating one off licensing with small scale clients. Time after time I’ve noticed a few things which are important during the negotiating process.

 Two Things to Consider

Imagine yourself to be a designer sourcing images for your latest project. It’s likely you will be impressed by multiple photographers and have a short list with an order of preference and a vague idea of budget for the project. As a photographer, it’s important to use these two things carefully when negotiating with a client.

With photography being as popular as ever now days, you’re competing against many other photographers (both professionally and amateur) who will gladly accept less $ and even license their images for free. It’s a competitive market out there and you have to ensure you carefully deal with any offers coming your way.  I’m not advocating licensing your photography for free as this is detrimental to both yourself and the industry as a whole. Instead it’s important to negotiate a price that is fair.

When I first received my first contact from a client interested in the use of my work I was obviously extremely excited and had no experience in negotiating before. Many people suggested I reply with a set price with an all or nothing attitude. For me this was a gamble which made me reluctant and keen to explore other options. Instead I contacted the client and asked the simple question.

What is the budget you’re working with?

Sure this exposes you to the possibility that the client will lie and say their budget is considerably less than it actually is but at least it gives you some understanding of what you are working with. Fortunately for me the client responded with a figure that was 1000% more than what others had previously suggested I quote for the use of image. Jackpot. Being excited that it was my first considerable licensing arrangement, I gloated to others who had previously suggested I set a pre-defined fee and hope that the client took it. They responded I should now negotiate and try up them more. This is where it gets interesting. For me, if I’m happy with the figure than I take it. You could attempt to negotiate the client into increasing the quote however the ramifications of the client declining and quickly moving on to the next photographer in their short list is high. Obviously if they’re really interested in your work and are not willing to look at other photographers than they probably will increase their quote. But asking the client what their budget is for the project and the planned image licensing fees hoped to negotiate, you’re developing a level of trust with the client that might damage future opportunities that could possibly arise. In other words, it’s entirely up to you but consider the possibility of stalling your negotiation permanently and ruining any future dealings with that client. This is especially important when dealing with graphic design firms.

This goes without saying but when dealing with your client, approach the situation with a high level of professionalism and courtesy. They are people after all too and being a jerk will get you no where.

Licensing Terms

Once you’ve agreed on a price it’s important to define the usage terms for the licensing agreement. Most parties will be interested in using the image as a one off for a set period (i.e.12 months until their next brochure, posters, etc are created).

Whilst others might be interested in full rights licensing to the image forever. This means you cannot license the image to others, sold as a print, or use it in an exhibition. In some cases it can be agreed that the image will still be retained by the photographer for use as personal promotion (appearing in your blog/portfolio). By doing this, you rule out the possibility of future earning capacity for this image. It’s all over. Although when this type of licensing is agreed upon, it does normally result in a considerable amount extra than short-term licensing. Personally I’m quite open to the idea of full licensing if it’s an image that I’m not overly fond of and will unlikely receive many offers in the future. But consider things carefully if you know it’s a photograph that you’re particularly fond of and know there will be a lot of interest over time.

Another important thing to consider when licensing is that some clients will not be interested in using an image which has been used for licensing by other companies especially if in the same industry. So licensing your best image for $50 to a small scale might not be your best idea when a bigger company comes to you down the track and offers you $2,000 to use the image but are quickly disinterested when it has already been used by one of their smaller scale competitors.

Smaller scale companies are an interesting point. Many will have limited budgets available for the licensing of your photographs however will be open to the possibility of crediting you within brochures and other publications. This can be beneficial to you as although you’re not getting a huge amount of money, it’s putting your name out there to other local companies which can potentially lead into more licensing or even work for you. Plus sometimes it’s nice to give back to smaller companies especially if you’re a consumer of their product.

I hope this photography how to on licensing your photography has been useful for you. Obviously this post only touches the tip of the ice berg on image licensing with there being so much more to discuss in terms of the different licensing arrangements, increasing popularity of microstock websites (iStock, Shutterstock, etc) and the implications of using these websites. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll do my best to help.

Finally, I must credit Sidney Lo for his invaluable and realistic advice given a few years ago when I first received my real licensing enquiries. Be sure to check out his work. He’s going places.