Licensing help

brvheart

Hello all -

I am not sure that I am posting this in the right area - if it is not please move for me.

I second shot a wedding at a high rise that is a club. After the reception while breaking down we took time to shoot the city from the top floor that we were on and it was beautiful.

Fast forward to this weekend 2 years later I got an email from the private events director. He found my photo from the top of their facility and wants to print it off to use at the wedding booths and other trade shows - he wants an 8'x8' print.

I have no idea how to license this and no idea what tell the guy. I am thrilled and honored that he wants to use it and loves the photo - and see a potential to get some business from it if I do it right. Any help would be great as this is not my typical thing. Ironically it is the same photo that the president of a TV station here in town found and printed off large to hang in his office.

Sam

brvheart wrote: »

Hello all -

I am not sure that I am posting this in the right area - if it is not please move for me.

I second shot a wedding at a high rise that is a club. After the reception while breaking down we took time to shoot the city from the top floor that we were on and it was beautiful.

Fast forward to this weekend 2 years later I got an email from the private events director. He found my photo from the top of their facility and wants to print it off to use at the wedding booths and other trade shows - he wants an 8'x8' print.

I have no idea how to license this and no idea what tell the guy. I am thrilled and honored that he wants to use it and loves the photo - and see a potential to get some business from it if I do it right. Any help would be great as this is not my typical thing. Ironically it is the same photo that the president of a TV station here in town found and printed off large to hang in his office.

First thing that grabbed my attention was your statement that the president of a local (wherever local is) TV station found and printed off a large print for his office????????

How did this happen? Did he pay you for it?

Now as to the events director, I would think more in terms of relationship building than licensing for $. I would make it nice and friendly. You never know what events you might be able to get into, etc.

Sam

brvheart

Hey Sam - thank you for the reply.

On the press - he found it on my site and contacted me - paid for it and gave me an option to be on a TV show for a 5 minute segment on my photography.

As for the one now - are you thinking they pay for the print and don't charge them at all for licensing? I considered that before posting however I got to thinking and they are going to use it at all of their shows and other trade shows - if they print it and we have no terms there is no relationship there and there is no link back to me as an event photographer for the facility and no agreement in place for them to even recommend me. So I am a bit in a pickle. I don't think that there is any future business that I will get based on how he wants it - no logos etc.

Sam

brvheart wrote: »

Hello all -

I am not sure that I am posting this in the right area - if it is not please move for me.

I second shot a wedding at a high rise that is a club. After the reception while breaking down we took time to shoot the city from the top floor that we were on and it was beautiful.

Fast forward to this weekend 2 years later I got an email from the private events director. He found my photo from the top of their facility and wants to print it off to use at the wedding booths and other trade shows - he wants an 8'x8' print.

I have no idea how to license this and no idea what tell the guy. I am thrilled and honored that he wants to use it and loves the photo - and see a potential to get some business from it if I do it right. Any help would be great as this is not my typical thing. Ironically it is the same photo that the president of a TV station here in town found and printed off large to hang in his office.

brvheart wrote: »

Hey Sam - thank you for the reply.

On the press - he found it on my site and contacted me - paid for it and gave me an option to be on a TV show for a 5 minute segment on my photography.

As for the one now - are you thinking they pay for the print and don't charge them at all for licensing? I considered that before posting however I got to thinking and they are going to use it at all of their shows and other trade shows - if they print it and we have no terms there is no relationship there and there is no link back to me as an event photographer for the facility and no agreement in place for them to even recommend me. So I am a bit in a pickle. I don't think that there is any future business that I will get based on how he wants it - no logos etc.

Thanks for the info on the TV guy.

If he is opposed to your logo, then yes he can license whatever rights he needs. I was thinking about a more down home local friendly type of arrangement, but if all he wants is a clean image then by all means I would be charging him.

Sam

brvheart

That is kind of where I was at and why I was asking what a fair cost would be. He said I was the brides to see what the view is from the top of our location that is all.

bmoreshooter

First of all, is your image going to hold up at 8'x8'? Assuming that you shot on 35mm DSLR you will need to crop that down by about 30% to get a square image. Make sure he is aware of the final quality to expect. If you start talking lis. fees he will probably just drop the whole idea and send someone up to the roof to take the shot over, it may not be as good as yours but it's free. You would be amazed at what people will be willing to accept when the price is right. Get what you can up front and move on. Assuming that he will put you on his list of goto photographers based on one photo that he saw and liked is a bit naive. Go to him with the wedding that you shot there and talk about the possibility of future work before making any decisions about how to proceed with the image that he wants from you.

brvheart

@Glort -

I dont disagree with you, however I dont know a fair cost given that it is most likely a one and done type of sale. However he does want to use it as a advertising mechanism going forward to sell their location not only at weddings but also major corporate events etc. That is where my catch 22 is. Sell it as a normal photo and allow him to use it as advertising for free forever that gets him business and no reciprocation for me? That does not really seem fair does it? That is why I dont know how much to charge for something like that.

troopers

A couple hundred of bucks...look at costs from Getty or some microstock site.

bmoreshooter

Find out what the cost of the print will be and then mark it up from there. It's not like he hired you to shoot this photo and therefore owes you for shooting fees , travel or any other expenses. Your profit is solely in the mark up.

brvheart

right - but I believe he wants me to just send him the full resolution photo and he will take care of the rest. I totally he doesnt owe shooting fees and such. That thought never crossed my mind.

Sam

I think I missed a key factor here. He wants an 8 foot X 8 foot image. I read it as an 8 inch X 8 inch.

Hopefully this is a nice clean image. He may need to down size the final print size for a better quality print. Not only for resolution but for existing print technology for various sizes.

For me that really does put this is a different category.

I too am at a bit of a loss for price.

Maybe think about pricing out an 8' X 8' or so print, charge him appropriately, add a couple hundred $ and offer him the completed print , and file for his business use.

IE: Print costs you $350.00. Charge him $925.00 for the print and file. This way he is getting something tangible in his hands as well as the file.

If he wants to send someone up on the roof to get a cheap image let him do it.

Sam

Sam

brvheart

Sam you hit my thoughts right on the head!

Matthew Saville

Often times when they want a print that size, they have a printer and a medium already in mind and they just need the file. (Sorry I couldn't read every single word in these replies, maybe you've mentioned otherwise?)

Generally speaking though, I say go for it. Who cares about the resolution, I wouldn't try and talk them into going with a smaller size, that'll just bum them out. Simply forewarn them that it's a pretty large size so it will look gorgeous but isn't going to be super high-res if a viewer sticks their nose up to it. That's all you need to say. Bill them a few hundred bucks for the image license, and send them a full-res file with minimal sharpening so they can up-scale the crap out of it.

As for it being a potential advertising source, I disagree with Glort's slightly pessimistic outlook on this. If it's a freaking eight foot print, then a 6" logo in the corner could go a LONG way towards getting you traffic and inquiries. You just have to play your cards right. So yeah, I'd ask the venue person if they'd be willing to let you put a small watermark in the corner, for a discounted rate, and/or ask them more directly if they plan to put you on any sort of referral list or vendor list for the venue.

HOWEVER, if you were a 2nd shooter at the event you created this image at, I'd be careful. Your lead shooter could consider this to be a massive toe-stepping move, and depending on whether you'd like to remain on good terms with them or not, (or if you don't care about being on good terms but at least want to avoid them trying to blast you either legally or just on social media) ....I'd get in touch with that lead shooter and present them with the opportunity for "free advertising" as well.

Good luck!