Commercial Photography Pricing
Because there are so many diverse ways in which commercial images can be used, I base my fees on the system devised by the Association of Photographers (AoP). If you haven’t already, I recommend you read the Commercial Photography page of my blog before continuing here
The system takes every possible use of images and applies a “value factor” based on the value to the client. For example, images to be used for advertising have more value than images for a one-shot press-release
Media buyers in advertising agencies would be familiar with the system but it may appear a little confusing to someone unfamiliar with licensing of professional photography images although most of what appears below is purely for the purpose of defining the fee. The client receives a simple quotation outlining the number of images, period of use, territory of use and the category (or categories) of usage.
In addition to setting the initial fee, the other purpose of this system is to set a Base Usage Rate (BUR). The BUR is the figure that includes everything necessary to produce the images that the client requires and includes some, but rarely all of the following. In many cases only one or two of the items will be included in the BUR, but this is the complete list:
1. Pre production time
2. Photography time
3. Post production time
4. Travel Time
5. Retouching
6. Crew / Assistant
7. Stylist / Hair / Make-up
8. DVD & back-up
9. Prints / Contact sheets
10. Insurance
11. Location / Studio fee
12. Props, Wardrobe
13. Rentals
14. Sets / Expendable
15. Courier / P&P
16. Actors / Models
17. Travel / Fuel
18. Miscellaneous
Once those basics are worked out the overall sum is divided by the number of images required and then the BUR per image is known.
It’s then a matter of applying the AoP guidelines to arrive at the licence fee per image and this is where the “weighting” based on value to the client for different types of media use comes in (media being the type of usage, not The Media as in newspapers and TV!)
The categories that include (just about) every possible use of commercial images are:
Ambient
Billboards / Posters
Brochure / Catalogue
Direct Mail
Inserts / Prints
Marketing Aids
Magazine Advertising
Magazine Editorial
Newspaper Advertising
Newspaper Editorial
Packaging
Point of sale
Television / Cinema
Worldwide web
Each of the above will have a different percentage weighting based on the perceived value. Magazine advertising would be higher than magazine editorial (PR) for example. If a client is paying for advertising space they would expect a higher fee than for a speculative press-release which doesn’t guarantee usage. If a client is prepared to accept a lower fee for one, then they have to expect a higher fee for the other.
It’s important for the client to realise they are not “buying” images. They are licensing for a purpose. Again, it would be simple to charge a licence fee for all the possibilities, but it would be costly and there is no need for the client to pay to licence images for a purpose they don’t need. However, if they are quite happy to accept the fee to suit the purpose initially, then if they wish to licence additional usage later they need to pay the additional fee. This is where the BUR comes into effect again.
The BUR per image is known, so it’s just a matter of applying that to the additional usage to determine the additional fee
Once again though, all of this is just for information as to the how and why. The client would receive a simple quotation that quotes the licence fee for the number of images, the territory of use, the period of use and the media (category of use).
