Help! Advice - A Photo Editor has contacted me regarding one of my photographs...

[Ginger Pixie]

Hi,

Looking for some advice please! A photo editor for a magazine has seen some of my photographs and asked if I can email her some low res images to show to the magazine's art director.

What do I do? If I send the images, does that mean I am giving them permission to print them? Or will she come back to me about higher res images if they want to publish them?

At what point do I mention payment?

What constitutes low res?

If anyone could offer me some advice asap I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

Beccy

[BigFuzzy]

My first response would something along the lines of:
"I'd be happy to send you some low-res, watermarked images as soon as you can provide me with some details regarding the intended use of said images". Unless you already know how they will be used?

If they're watermarked, they can't really use them in any useful way.

[Ginger Pixie]

The intended use is for the cover of a magazine. (I don't want to start mentioning which one as I don't want this message to be traceable!)

[Brian Mullins]

Send them watermarked low res photos. A photo at 800px on the longest side will not be printable for a cover. Watermarking it shows who "owns" the photo as well. No big deal to send them samples and if they do want to use one for the cover, then you can talk money.

[Ginger Pixie]

Originally Posted by Brian Mullins

Send them watermarked low res photos. A photo at 800px on the longest side will not be printable for a cover. Watermarking it shows who "owns" the photo as well. No big deal to send them samples and if they do want to use one for the cover, then you can talk money.

Okies, 800 px it is (Glad I asked as I was going to do 1400!) Have you any advice on watermarking? I don't want to detract from the image, as it might spoil the pic...?

I'm sorry... I have no idea what I am doing - I feel a little out of my depth, but having spent enough time digging around this forum I don't want to be ripped off because I don't have any experience of this!

Thanks for all your help

[BK553]

Large, semi-transparent and annoying. Don't block the subject of the photo too much, but don't put it down in the corner either.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by Ginger Pixie

Okies, 800 px it is (Glad I asked as I was going to do 1400!) Have you any advice on watermarking? I don't want to detract from the image, as it might spoil the pic...?

I'm sorry... I have no idea what I am doing - I feel a little out of my depth, but having spent enough time digging around this forum I don't want to be ripped off because I don't have any experience of this!

Thanks for all your help

My first question would be:

"Can you send me your rate schedule?"

Without that, you don't know if it's even worth following up.

I just went through a similar process with a magazine that invited me to submit for covers for the upcoming year. They sent me their rates, I sent them a gallery and they selected a few images to test with their upcoming layouts. If all goes well, I'll probably have about 50% of their covers next year.

[NicolaB]

As an aside, you should think about watermarking all images you put on the web, including on here and on Flickr.

[Jim Bryant]

Ask her about usage rights and if they are also planning on using them on their website.

[Ginger Pixie]

Originally Posted by BK553

Large, semi-transparent and annoying. Don't block the subject of the photo too much, but don't put it down in the corner either.

Done. First time I've watermarked anything...

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

My first question would be:

"Can you send me your rate schedule?"

Without that, you don't know if it's even worth following up.

I just went through a similar process with a magazine that invited me to submit for covers for the upcoming year. They sent me their rates, I sent them a gallery and they selected a few images to test with their upcoming layouts. If all goes well, I'll probably have about 50% of their covers next year.

I didn't do this, but I will if she gets back to me and says she is interested without mentioning payment. What is the going rate for a cover? I have no idea... (I thought this bit was a few years off, I hadn't figured anyone would come and find me before I was ready!)

Originally Posted by NicolaB

As an aside, you should think about watermarking all images you put on the web, including on here and on Flickr.

Really? They annoy me on other peoples photos. I can see the logic, but they ruin the photo to look at. I do all the meta tagging (is that what it is called?!) or whatever and put in my name as author and my copyright info though.

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Ask her about usage rights and if they are also planning on using them on their website.

Jim, any chance you could give me a quick breakdown of what are acceptable charges for usage rights? I have no idea...

Thank you all so much. Like I said - I haven't been seeking this sort of thing, because I am not prepared!