How would you price these photographs ?

[Olegis]

Hi all, sorry about another pricing question ...

I have recieved an email from somebody who is interested in the photographs from the following gallery - http://www.pbase.com/olegis/rita__live_in_caesaria&page=all (some kind of an avid fan of the singer). The guy is interested in a small photographs (10x15cm), but asked me about bigger sizes as well.

The question is - how would you price these photographs ? I don't want to scare off the first potential customer with some unreasonable high-price offer, but on the other side I don't wish to "sell myself cheap", so to speak ... What do you say ?

[Vegas Poboy]

Not sure of the area market & very nice shots, but do you have a model release? Was you hired by the singer to shoot? Be careful & do some research before selling. Hopefully You'll be able to sell them since they're very good photos but I think you may run into some legal issues
Good Luck

[maderito]

I can't comment on the legal and model release issues but assuming all of that 's worked out . . .

These are great shots with good rendition of mood in interesting but difficult lighting which I suspect required quite a bit of post-processing skill on your part. Like all of your work, the result is outstanding. The singer is very expressive and you capture her very powerfully. For quality like this, buyers should pay!

You might consider selecting (with your potential customer) 3 to 5 of the best, enlarging them to a good size, and pricing them at $25 to $75 a print - more if mounted and framed. Set a high enough price so that it's worth your while to do the custom prints.

[Andy_T]

Olegis,

what maderito said .... great images!

Best regards,
Andy

[Digital Prophet]

I think that you are going to get stuck on the release issue.

There is no expectation of privacy for a public performance. So you would not need a personal model release as there would be no basis for an invasion of privacy suite. But, there very well could be an right to publicity lawsuit. That basically states that noone can profit from the likeness of a "celebrity" (commonly defined as someone trying to profit from thier own likeness) without his or her consent. And by consent I mean you give them cash, they consent.

Now some people are going to tell you that if the photos are used in a "editorial" fashion that you do not need a release. This is strictly correct for a personal release. But there have been many cases where celebrities has sued publications and photographers for profiting from thier image in places that were not strictly public.

For example: Street corner, an undisputably public location. You would have a pretty good chance of fighting that lawsuit off.

Private dinner at a friends house, not so public.

Concert, public and not. Technically a concert hall is considered private property (most times) but the performance is considered public through the general sale of admission. Then again, many many venue tickets state on them clearly clauses for indiminification and rights and rules of photographic and electronic recordings.

Maybe you out to contact a professional from one of the volunteer lawyers for the arts organiztions and ask them. Then be sure to report back to the hive and let us know.

- Digital Prophet -

[Steven M. Anthony]

Law suit wise, if you are making a few bucks off some photos, I don't see the entertainer busting you on it. That would be very bad press--unless you were making thousands off them...

Also, and maybe it's different for celebs, but the typical "non-commercial" use restrictions on photos of recognizable people relate to using the image in advertising--not the sale of art.

Priceing-wise, you could be honest with the guy and say that you don't want to scare him off, but that you want to have your time, talent, materials and effort compensated for. Maybe you will be able to negotiate a price you both can accept.