How much to charge for corporate website Image?

kdog · October 22, 2009

A small legal firm specializing in construction law with around 8 people contacted me to use a photo of mine on the home page of their website. I'll have to set a price for it. Anybody have any guidelines on what to charge? I may generate a couple of prices, one for unattributed use, and another price if I can include a watermark or get a photo credit for free advertising. I sell copies of this image, so the free advertising doesn't hurt. Of course, I have no idea if they'll bite for the free ad, probably not. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to price this would be welcome.

Here's the photo in question if anybody's interested.

Thanks!
-joel

JohnBiggs · October 26, 2009

I like that photo. I'd ask for $150-$250 and only provide a size large enough for web usage. But everyone is different and every market is different.

kdog · October 26, 2009

JohnBiggs wrote:

I like that photo. I'd ask for $150-$250 and only provide a size large enough for web usage. But everyone is different and every market is different.

Thanks, John! That's right in the range I was thinking, and along the lines of what the client expects as well. The only hitch is that his web designer wants the image at 14" at 72 DPI (~1300 pixels wide). That ain't happen'. :nah

Regards,
-joel

JohnBiggs · October 26, 2009

I'd do that. 14" at 72dpi just means it will fill a large monitor. If they print the image then they are violating your copyright. Yeah, they could probably turn that into a print if they really wanted, but I wouldn't sweat it if it means keeping the client happy.

kdog · October 26, 2009

JohnBiggs wrote:

I'd do that. 14" at 72dpi just means it will fill a large monitor. If they print the image then they are violating your copyright. Yeah, they could probably turn that into a print if they really wanted, but I wouldn't sweat it if it means keeping the client happy.

But... my issue is that then there'd be a 1300 pixel image of mine, no-watermark, on their website, unprotected, and basically up for grabs to anyone who wants to steal it.

Regards,
-joel

CWSkopec · October 26, 2009

kdog wrote:

But... my issue is that then there'd be a 1300 pixel image of mine, no-watermark, on their website, unprotected, and basically up for grabs to anyone who wants to steal it.

Regards,
-joel

Joel,
Congrats on the photo that keeps on selling!! I can tell you honestly that I wouldn't be concerned with having an image that size up. At print sizes (generally 300 dpi for a quality print) you're talking about an image less than a 4x6. Printing it above that size is going to start looking pixelated and not very good at all. In extreme circumstances at work, we'll sometimes stretch a 300dpi image to 150%. Meaning your original 4x6 "could" be printed at 6x9. And even at that size, it shows that it's not a quality print.

Granted, having your image printed even at a low quality at 6x9 by some cheap skate isn't a great idea, but they're folks that probably weren't going to buy a quality print anyway.

It's definitely easier for me to say it about your photo than mine, but I wouldn't worry too much about the image at that size if I were in your shoes.

Regardless, it's an awesome image and congrats for it's continued success, my friend!

kdog · October 28, 2009

Thanks, Chris! Appreciate your viewpoint and kind comments.

Take care and hope to see you again at another shootout sometime soon.

-joel

Jeremy Winterberg · November 4, 2009

Id say contact a lawyer near you to write up a contract, stating exactly what it can and cannot be used for, that way you don't get screwed over..

The lawyer might be able to convince the web designer that you don't want a high res image on the web. You also might be able to charge more if they want a high res image. like - $150-$250 for a low res image, and like $300-$500 for a high res image. Just saying that might convince them to back down on the high res image... even though its really not that high of a resolution. I agree with CWSkopec... in that the people that will try to make a print from it obviously do not appreciate photography or artistic ability in the first place.

BTW, nice image of the new bridge at the Hoover Dam. I was there this summer... looks pretty cool at night!

kdog · November 4, 2009

Thanks, Jeremy. By way of an update, I ended doing almost exactly what you suggest. We agreed that they could use a smaller version of the shot at a lower price. It turns out they're not going to use it on their homepage after all, but on some subordinate page. Or that's the plan. I sent them the image and haven't gotten any confirmation back yet.

That image has turned out to be a real money maker for me. So far I've sold dozens of prints of it and it appears on the cover of a brochure that was sent to every lawyer in Nevada.

(With my contact info, but it hasn't generated any sales yet. :cry)

Cheers,
-joel

dlplumer · November 4, 2009

I just charged $1000 for a high resolution image and a commercial license. I got turned down

W.W. Webster · November 4, 2009

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

Id say contact a lawyer near you to write up a contract, stating exactly what it can and cannot be used for, that way you don't get screwed over ... the lawyer might (also) be able to convince the web designer ...

And still leave a healthy proportion of the $150-250 revenue after legal costs?

kdog · November 4, 2009

dlplumer wrote:

I just charged $1000 for a high resolution image and a commercial license. I got turned down

Good. That would be way too cheap for one of your images, Dan.

kdog · November 4, 2009

W.W. Webster wrote:

And still leave a healthy proportion of the $150-250 revenue after legal costs?

Hahahaha, yeah, the lawyer thing wasn't really too realistic, was it?

PupWeb · November 4, 2009

Apply an unobtrusive water mark
I would apply an unobtrusive water mark on your image. This way if you run across a right click and saver you can go after that person. Make sure the company you sale the image to claims on their site that the images are copyrighted and are the property of blah blah......
If you use a unique design water mark, you can do a google image search every now and then.

-David

JohnBiggs · November 5, 2009

PupWeb wrote:

I would apply an unobtrusive water mark on your image. This way if you run across a right click and saver you can go after that person. Make sure the company you sale the image to claims on their site that the images are copyrighted and are the property of blah blah......
If you use a unique design water mark, you can do a google image search every now and then.

-David

These images are usually expected without a watermark, I wouldn't do this.

And is google image search doing something new I'm not aware of?

Dionysus · November 5, 2009

JohnBiggs wrote:

These images are usually expected without a watermark, I wouldn't do this.

And is google image search doing something new I'm not aware of?

just wondering, but how is this image being found by so many people? do you have it on a stock site, or are they just finding it by google searching?

Jeremy Winterberg · November 5, 2009

W.W. Webster wrote:

And still leave a healthy proportion of the $150-250 revenue after legal costs?

yes, lol... no I'm not sure how much a lawyer would cost in this situation... but at least consulting one to see what they thought would've been better than getting screwed over in my opinion.

But it sounds like everything went well... so far at least.

ChatKat · November 5, 2009

Commercial Contract
I use a contract from www.Photographerstoolkit.com

I just did a commercial shoot for web for a small business, gave them full sized images with credit and copyright on the website for $2250. Two hours to shoot and then processing of the 10 images.

Cygnus Studios · November 5, 2009

kdog wrote:

Anybody have any guidelines on what to charge? I may generate a couple of prices, one for unattributed use, and another price if I can include a watermark or get a photo credit for free advertising.

Ask 10 random people that you know who are not into photography if they even notice a watermark or photo credit. People read headlines and text, they may appreciate an image, but they will not take 2 seconds to notice who took it.
I agree with the low res - high res price difference.

Eketelon · November 5, 2009

Just my 2 cents....I would get the contract ensuring they understand the copyright belongs to me. Give them the images as they asked for them to be. I'd rather have the deal than not. Of course, you may be "rocking it like that" and in such high demand that you don't need it. But I'd rather have the deal. The 2nd thing I'd ask for is a bi-line some where on the site with credit given to me and possible a link to my page.

Again, just my 2 pennies.

PupWeb · November 5, 2009

JohnBiggs wrote:

These images are usually expected without a watermark, I wouldn't do this.

And is google image search doing something new I'm not aware of?

Watermark was the wrong word

sorry that would suck if I was going to purchase a photo. I meant signature. The photo is your work of art. Having a creative signiture will make it easier to search the images.

The search software is based on facial recognition logic. Picasa 3.5 is incorporating this currently for face recognition but logic can be applied to any image attributes.

I did find somewhere in Google where you could do this.. maybe it was in Google labs.....

I'll get back to you when I find it.

kdog · November 5, 2009

ChatKat wrote:

I use a contract from www.Photographerstoolkit.com

I just did a commercial shoot for web for a small business, gave them full sized images with credit and copyright on the website for $2250. Two hours to shoot and then processing of the 10 images.

Wow, congrats!!

kdog · November 5, 2009

Dionysus wrote:

just wondering, but how is this image being found by so many people? do you have it on a stock site, or are they just finding it by google searching?

Some folks saw it on a dgrin thread, and followed the link to my Smuggie account. It was also printed on the front page of the local paper, and that generated most of my sales. I posted it on motorcycle forum I frequent, and that generated this particular website sale that we're discussing.

kdog · November 5, 2009

Eketelon wrote:

Just my 2 cents....I would get the contract ensuring they understand the copyright belongs to me. Give them the images as they asked for them to be. I'd rather have the deal than not. Of course, you may be "rocking it like that" and in such high demand that you don't need it. But I'd rather have the deal. The 2nd thing I'd ask for is a bi-line some where on the site with credit given to me and possible a link to my page.

Again, just my 2 pennies.

I stipulate that they are licensing the image for a single use as indicated. I always ask for a credit as well.

I appreciate all the comments and discussion everybody.

-joel

Dionysus · November 6, 2009

thanks for the info...i was trying to find out, because I've been trying to drum up sales for my huge bank of photos, that are just sitting there.

kdog · November 6, 2009

Dionysus wrote:

thanks for the info...i was trying to find out, because I've been trying to drum up sales for my huge bank of photos, that are just sitting there.

No worries. My bridge pictures are the only ones I've ever sold. Funny story, I put the one "money" shot (above) in a folder, and put in two more shots with different views in there as well because the one shot looked so lonely. Most of the folks who've bought prints end up buying the whole set of three. Maybe I should have put a few more in there. :giggle

Good selling, to all of us.

-joel

How much to charge for corporate website Image?

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