How many way to get pay?

[Tigerkn]

Dear POTNer,
Please correct me if I am wrong or help me to see these details. From what I've read around POTN, it sounds like there are at least 2 ways to get pay as Photographer (P):

1. Client (C) pay (P) an one time price for the entire shooting and get all the photo on CD to reprint as many as (C) needs.
2. (C) pay (P) a small price for the shooting session or none and (C) pay for prints and/or addtional prints.

Either way, the (P) retain the copyright to all photos and the (C) has also had the right to use all photo to self promote/marketing without selling photos.

I just want to know for sure so that I do not mess up the system. Thanks in advance for your help.
Kevin

[alduin]

It all depends on what the client wants. Some agreements will stipulate that the client holds the copyright, some place extremely strict rules on the client's usage of the photos. It's up to you, the photographer, to discuss your client's needs with them and arrange an appropriate contract.

Generally speaking, the more rights the client has to the images, the more money they're expected to fork over.

[RDKirk]

Dear POTNer,
Please correct me if I am wrong or help me to see these details. From what I've read around POTN, it sounds like there are at least 2 ways to get pay as Photographer (P):

1. Client (C) pay (P) an one time price for the entire shooting and get all the photo on CD to reprint as many as (C) needs.
2. (C) pay (P) a small price for the shooting session or none and (C) pay for prints and/or addtional prints.

Either way, the (P) retain the copyright to all photos and the (C) has also had the right to use all photo to self promote/marketing without selling photos.

I just want to know for sure so that I do not mess up the system. Thanks in advance for your help.

There's no "system," but there are different methodologies of payment that photographers (and others in similar service professions) have found to work. The main principle is just, "Get paid what you're worth, regardless of occupational status."

The first method you mentioned was always used by commercial photographers in the film days because the clients required transparencies--the actual film from the camera. That has translated to giving the client a CD of images in the digital age. Because the commerical clients operated on a business basis, it was effective and efficient to quote them a per-job fee as would any service business and bill them accordingly.

The second method you mentioned was the norm for personal-commission photographers, who usually shot with negative film, retained the negatives, and delivered prints to the client. By having only a small or no session fee, the photographer could lower the bar to "get them in the studio," and then price the products as necessary to balance profit with perceived value.

The usage license provided to the client is a separate consideration not actually connected with the method of payment. The usage license can be as liberal or as restrictive as the photographer and client can negotiate, although there are some expected norms from both parties.

Also, "license" is much different from "transferring copyright." Transferring copyright means the photographer gives up all rights in the work, including even claiming the work as his own (in the US, which does not recognize "moral copyright'). It's very rare that either a commerical client or a personal-commission actually needs the copyright. Usually a very liberal license suffices.

For my business clients (small businesses, in my case), I deliver a CD with license for all uses except packaging, billboard, and broadcast "in perpetuity." I don't put a time limit on these images because they're already perishable--the business will have to renew them in a year or two anyway. Licenses for packing, billboard, or broadcast are separate.

For my personal-commission clients, my consultation fee (collected when the session date is set) is nominal for the income level of my clients. It covers the amount of time I spend in consultation with them and planning--which will usually be two to three hourse.

My basic philosophy is that I am a portrait artist, not a picture-taker. Like a painter, my product is a wall portrait...if that is not what the client wants, then I'm not the photographer they need. I have a minimum package (a framed 16x20 print), and by the end of the initial consultation, I will have made sure the client understands and has accepted that package. My minimum package is sized and priced at a balance point that meets my minimum profit requirement for the basic time and effort of a portrait job and also provides satisfactory perceived value to the client.

Thus, when I start the photography session, my client and I have already agreed on a minimum product at a price that is acceptable to both of us. I'm not worrying about "selling up" after the fact to make the session profitable.

The client gets a CD of the images selected for enlargement as part of a "gift set" of smaller prints. If they buy the gift set, they get the CD (on an archival "gold" disk).

I never, ever give them all the images shot, any more than portait painters give all their shot images (many paint from photographs) or all their preliminary sketches.

[Tigerkn]

Thanks Alduin and RDKirk for your time. As details as it can be. You guys are great!!!!

[airfrogusmc]

I work for corporations and I invoice them and a check will hopefully show up in the mail within 60 days.

I charge by the hour, plus travel in some cases, and all expenses. They have one time usage rights after that we negotiate.