Pricing Photo Usage or Licensing

There is no standard price for licensing/usage of images. It used to start at about $100 and go up to many thousands from there. But now, because of sites like Flicker, image prices start at about $2 and go up from there. A minimum for a commercial photographer is probably $100. Any less is often not worth your time and effort, unless it is a multiple image sale. It also sends a message to your clients that your photography is not worth very much. An exception, of course is non-profits or work for causes you believe in. But even they pay the going rate for electric, plumbing, printing, accounting etc. yet often expect photography or creative services for free. It shows how little we value the arts. In those cases I try and make it a donation rather collect a tiny fee. Or if I bill them only $100 per image I write on the invoice that it is a discounted non-profit rate and not the normal rate.

Prices for an image depend on:
 – How the image will be used- billboard, brochure, magazine ad?
 – Do they want exclusive rights or can you sell it to others?
 – How long will the image be used for: One time, one month, 1 year, 5 year, forever?
 – Is the publication local, regional or national?
 – How big is the circulation/how many will see the image?
 – If a brochure, what is the print run (how many are printed)?
 – If for an ad, what is the size of the ad: ¼ page, ½ page, full page. double page spread?

Using these guidelines, photo usage for an ad costs more than for a a brochure. A full-page ad costs more than a 1/4 page ad. But how much still depends on your experiene, the quality and uniqueness of the photo, how badly they need your image (as opposed to hiring a photographer to shoot it). Most of all usage fees depend on how the photo will be used and for how long.

In the end you have to determine what is fair to you and to your client, while finding the price point what you are comfortable with. It is good to know what is the lowest you would ever accept before entering into negotiations. You could also try and find out what they have paid for images in the past.

Pricing Your Photographs

Pricing is difficult and very subjective, especially when you are starting out. Prices can run from $50 (or even less!) in coffee shops to several hundred thousand dollars in galleries for the same size and type of print. Pricing ultimately is not decided by size of print, but rather by the quality of the work, notoriety of the artist, size of the edition and the whims of the artist.

If you are new to photographic print sales, the first question to ask yourself is what would it take to at least break even? How much did the paper cost, including test prints? How big is the print (bigger prints take more ink and ink is very expensive)? How much did you spend on matting and framing? Those are your hard costs. From there it gets even trickier to figure. There is the pro-rated expense of your camera equipment, computer, software, printer, etc. And how much is your time worth? Are you doing it for the thrill of a sale (a wonderful feeling). Are you trying to make a little money as a point of pride? Or are you trying to actually make a living from your photography? If so, then you actually have to make a profit to support yourself and stay in business long enough to sell the next print.

There is also the issue of respect for the medium; photos that are sold for way too little don’t respect the creator of the work (you) or the medium of photography and all those who take their craft seriously; while also devaluing yourself and maybe even disrespecting photography, making it harder for those trying to charge a fair price. 

You can price your work high and sell less, but too high and you won’t sell any. You can price your work low and (maybe) sell more prints, but too low and you will lose money. It’s also important to keep your prices consistent. The price in a gallery should be the same as if they are buying from you directly. If you undercut the gallery, they have no incentive to work with you and you will look very unprofessional and not trustworthy. Don’t forget that the gallery takes 40% – 50% of the sale price. Galleries work very hard for their cut and I don’t begrudge them that at all!

Pricing is one of the most difficult tasks. Just pick a number high enough to cover costs but low enough that someone might buy it on a whim (art is often an impulse purchase guided by the emotions of the moment). Once you have reached a certain proficiency, pricing is not reflected by time and materials (two identical sizes of prints made on the same materials and framed identically can vary by hundreds of thousands of dollars) but by quality and demand. 

Let’s start by going backwards from a price of $500. After the gallery commission, your half would be $250. Let’s say matting and framing were $85. That leaves you with only $165. Your materials (film, developing, digital paper; printing– all prorated) probably were about $15. So now you have $150. That’s $150 more than you started with so maybe that’s fine. Most would be happy that someone wants to buy their photograph! But it doesn’t reflect your investment of time (both to make the photo and execute the sale), the cost of your camera equipment, printer, computer, education, etc. or the cost of doing business (rent, insurance, maintenance, etc.). Those are all difficult costs to estimate but you should at least be aware of them when trying to set a price.

To be ‘professional’ means at least having enough respect for yourself to not lose money, not to undercut other professionals who have to make a living from their art and having enough respect for the medium of photography as to not price so low that you undervalue photography as an art. And it means staying in business long enough to make the next sale.

In the end, once your costs are covered, there is obviously a wide range of prices and you must use your intuition, tempered with knowledge and experience, to guide you to a price that feels right. Too low and you are disrespecting yourself; too high you are overvaluing yourself or being pretentious. Your task is to find the sweet spot in between. Listen to your intuition and let that guide you to what is right. And if in doubt guess, but guess on the high side…