Someone inquiring about using my originals..

Tom Reichner wrote in post #7698692
Who the heck caares about the credit? What good will that do you? It seems amateurish to need to see one's name on things.

The prices being reccomended here are largely outrageous. The ad person knows they can just go to iStock and get the rights to use an image for a couple dollars. Why the heck would they ever pay $300, $500, $2000. Yes, these are prices that people on here actually suggested charging.

The way to get the most $ may be to offer a package deal for a number of images you took at that zoo. Give them unlimited rights to use the images for one year and charge a few hundred bucks. They'll probably just ignore you, but at least if they do take you up on it, you'll get a few hundred bucks out of the deal. I doubt they'd pay any more than $50 for the one image you mentioned. Actually, they'd probably only pay about $25 for it.

Another thing - by selling them the rights to use the image, you are in no way giving anything up. Sell it as unexclusive rights, meaning that you still may use & sell the image in any way you care to.

Tom -- the only part I will disagree with is the pricing. If the person contacting the OP would have wanted a stock image they would have gone that route. They contacted the photographer for a specific image that is not a stock image.
I have had people contact me for images for commercial use-- I typically price them at $500 for organizations like this-- the majority of the time the $500 is a fair price to them.

Not for profits are just that "not for profit" -- That doesn't always mean poor, it just means they aren't allowed to make money. There are a number of CEOs of non-profits earning 6 figures, with staffs earning very, very good wages.

Not saying photographers shouldn't help out non-profits they're interested in working with, but never confuse not for profit with poor.

http://www.charitynavi​gator.org/index.cfm?ba​y=studies.ceo

polarbare wrote in post #7698773
Not for profits are just that "not for profit" -- That doesn't always mean poor, it just means they aren't allowed to make money. There are a number of CEOs of non-profits earning 6 figures, with staffs earning very, very good wages.

Not saying photographers shouldn't help out non-profits they're interested in working with, but never confuse not for profit with poor.

http://www.charitynavi​gator.org/index.cfm?ba​y=studies.ceo

Good point. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a non-profit and the CEO makes 7 figures. There are a lot of "not for profit" organizations-- they still pay their folks well--- and their vendors.

stathunter wrote in post #7698731
Tom -- the only part I will disagree with is the pricing. If the person contacting the OP would have wanted a stock image they would have gone that route. They contacted the photographer for a specific image that is not a stock image.
I have had people contact me for images for commercial use-- I typically price them at $500 for organizations like this-- the majority of the time the $500 is a fair price to them.

If you can get $500, great! Go for it.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #7698818
If you can get $500, great! Go for it.

Typically I get $1,500 but for you $500.

polarbare wrote in post #7698773
Not for profits are just that "not for profit" -- That doesn't always mean poor, it just means they aren't allowed to make money. There are a number of CEOs of non-profits earning 6 figures, with staffs earning very, very good wages.

Not saying photographers shouldn't help out non-profits they're interested in working with, but never confuse not for profit with poor.

http://www.charitynavi​gator.org/index.cfm?ba​y=studies.ceo

stathunter wrote in post #7698804
Good point. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a non-profit and the CEO makes 7 figures. There are a lot of "not for profit" organizations-- they still pay their folks well--- and their vendors.

Thank you guys for bringing this up. It is similar here with the two major hospitals in SD. They are both non-profit. They have been in a constant state of expansion for the last 20 years because they have so much money that they just can't keep lying around. One of them even threw a $5mil party for their employees a couple of years ago, bringing in Rascall Flatts, Sheryl Crow and some big teenie-bopper group for entertainment.

There are non-profits that simply do not have much money and operate as basically wholly-volunteer entities.

In the OP's case, it isn't even clear whether the request came from the Zoo, or from someone the Zoo hired to do some graphic work for them. It may be someone that works for a major advertising firm that has a very nice contract with the Zoo, or it may be the ostrich handler that took a Photoshop class in college.

I agree with Tom that you will be lucky to get $25 for it. Not because it isn't a good photo but because it just isn't unique enough to merit $500. Do a search on a stock site for hawk on a wire and there will be plenty to pick from for a few dollars. I hope you make some good money from it though. Good luck.