Commercial Job opportunity!!!

[sarahgirl777]

I received a phone call out of the blue today asking if I would do a commercial photography assignment. They sent me a copy of the contract and basically it would be a 2 hour shoot for a local building supply company, taking pictures to convey a storyline type shoot for a TV commercial, they haven't sent me the storyboard yet, but probably pictures of customers buying things, employees at work, some of their products and the building etc. They said it pays $135 for the two hours and I would give them the CD of requested images with the rights to them. Their contract does say they don't want them edited, however I'm sure color correction etc. isn't a problem, but that would mean little post work for me. What do you guys think? I've only been in business for a year now so I think it would get my name out in the community and they said they have other jobs coming up too. I usually charge about $75 an hour so it seems pretty good however the CD's are generally extra. Anyways just excited that someone liked my work enough to offer it to me and yes I'm confident that I can get any shots requested. Just wanted some opinions or thoughts from you guys.

[Jim Poor]

Congrats, but $135 for two hours even with no images included sounds extremely low to me for commercial work.

[candleman]

well. i think its a good opportunity.
its doesn’t sound hard, and your stuff is good anyway.
It will certainly be easier than a wedding, of which you have done a few now.
And whatsmore.. its not like you're working with models or having 20’ billboards printed. (I guess you’d need to make that clear with them as to print sizes)
Just be wary of their contract… make sure they dont take exclusive world wide rights and copyright.

i'm no Chase Jarvis, and have much to learn,
even so, I just did a commercial job for someone i knows’ clothing company he's just launched. which was paid at an hourly rate.
they didnt have a big budget, and he liked my style, particularly my self portrait project.. so i did it.
and i'm gald i did. (and so is he)
http://digital-photography-school.co...ial-shots.html
we did something like 20 different designs over about eight separate sessions. including thumbnails for the website and catalogue.
( I still don’t think the website is running oddly enough)
The launch went well, sales are up, and as of January he’s going to be running the business full time. So yay! It wasn’t a failure.
The images are printed on A2 sized posters in stores, a catalogue that goes to the big-wigs that buy the stuff, and I believe some will be in a new magazine that’s just launched (MENU Magazine)
As well as all the watermarked images on facebook… its increased the number of google searches on my website quite allot over the last month.
i just made sure i kept copyright, and anything in social networking sites has to have my watermark on it.
Model releases for anyone in the images.. (that’s something you wil need to get their employees to sign.. they may evebn give you their standard release)
The way I did it, was the model signed a release to me and my company.. then through the contract I sold “usage rights with exceptions” to the clothing company.

**edit**
you probably wont have these luxuries if they are dictating the contract.. and there will be no socail networking.. but still, it wil opne more doors for you than if you dont do it.
**edit**

I say do it.. even tho' $135 for 2 hours isnt much.. it will be good for you, great for our porfolio.. and its paid.

[sarahgirl777]

So I got a little more info and I think I'm gonna do it. They do get copyright of the photos and they don't want me to display them anywere else, but I really don't need to use them myself, so I don't think it would bother me like doing personal photo shoots or weddings, however I could take a few extra while I was there, ones that I didn't give them and use them as my portfolio ones I suppose. Anyways what I found out is it is actually the city I live in who is putting this together. This company that contacted me has been hired by my city to do a video montage type thing for the city's website, not TV afterall. It will have pictures and videos dipicting our town and some local businesses. Come to find out my friends business will also be a part of it (they are a home builder) so if I take their contract, I could be hired to do this for 15-20 different businesses. Still at $135 each but I guess if I do a few it could add up. By looking at their website the photos should be fairly easy, picture of a home, the inside of it, some business fronts, customers in action etc. nothing that looks like it would require a bunch of special lighting/ time consuming set ups. Anyways, the first shoot is on the 12th, so if I do it I'll let you guys know how it goes. Worst case I'll waste some time, but I'll chalk it up to experience if that is the case.

[nokiN]

Originally Posted by sarahgirl777

So I got a little more info and I think I'm gonna do it. They do get copyright of the photos and they don't want me to display them anywere else, but I really don't need to use them myself, so I don't think it would bother me like doing personal photo shoots or weddings, however I could take a few extra while I was there, ones that I didn't give them and use them as my portfolio ones I suppose. Anyways what I found out is it is actually the city I live in who is putting this together. This company that contacted me has been hired by my city to do a video montage type thing for the city's website, not TV afterall. It will have pictures and videos dipicting our town and some local businesses. Come to find out my friends business will also be a part of it (they are a home builder) so if I take their contract, I could be hired to do this for 15-20 different businesses. Still at $135 each but I guess if I do a few it could add up. By looking at their website the photos should be fairly easy, picture of a home, the inside of it, some business fronts, customers in action etc. nothing that looks like it would require a bunch of special lighting/ time consuming set ups. Anyways, the first shoot is on the 12th, so if I do it I'll let you guys know how it goes. Worst case I'll waste some time, but I'll chalk it up to experience if that is the case.

You should visit American Society of Media Photographers and learn about use licensing. Pricing Guides | American Society of Media Photographers

Professional commercial photographers don't easily give up copyright to their images and when they do each image is usually worth at least a couple of thousand dollars.

You might invest in a couple of books:

Professional Business Practices in Photography a compilation by the ASMP and
Best Business Practices For Photographers by John Harrington

You would do well to have an attorney take a close look at that contract and make sure your interests are being protected.

Frankly, I think they are taking serious advantage of your lack of knowledge about how pricing commercial photography works.

[CanonRebelz]

Don't give away the copyrights, Nevar!!!! unless you're being paid an upwards of maybe $500 an image? IF you give them the copyright, they are free to use that image in ANYTHING they want. Billboards, magazines, stuff that generates revenue and since you gave them the copyright, you don't get a share in the profits, I think that's called "royalty free", meaning they owe you no royalties since you gave them the copyrights.

[nokiN]

Originally Posted by CanonRebelz

Don't give away the copyrights, Nevar!!!! unless you're being paid an upwards of maybe $500 an image? IF you give them the copyright, they are free to use that image in ANYTHING they want. Billboards, magazines, stuff that generates revenue and since you gave them the copyright, you don't get a share in the profits, I think that's called "royalty free", meaning they owe you no royalties since you gave them the copyrights.

Once you give away your copyright, the image is no longer yours. You have NO RIGHTS AT ALL.

Ultimately, the only thing a photographer has to sell is their copyright. Copyright is a bundle of rights and parts of that bundle can be leased to image users, by the photographer.

A contract like the OP described is known as a 'work for hire' agreement. Work-for-hire agreements are typically avoided by commercial photographers because of the loss of copyright ownership.

Royalty-Free (RF) usually means you still own the image but the entity you licensed it too doesn't have to pay anymore to use the image. You still own the copyright and a RF agreement normally allows the photographer to sell use licenses for the same image to other companies including stock photography houses.

Exclusive use costs more, much more, than non-exclusive use.

Commercial photographers usually write a use license that is Rights-Managed (RM), so called because the photographer is specifically managing the publishing rights for the content. Rights-Managed usually entails a time limit. 12 months is typical. If a company wants to continue using RM images after 12 months they can purchase an extension or a new use license agreement. It's a good idea to write a 12 month use license with a clause that lets the client know, now, what an extension will cost them. That helps them budget for next years advertising.

Stock photography houses many times fall into one or the other category. Some of the bigger stock houses do both RF and RM.

[sarahgirl777]

Thanks everyone for your info. I agree they are not paying much for what they are expecting. But these are photos of a local hardware store, the outside of the building, some people inside and some displays. No I won't have the copyright, but what else are they going to do with these pictures? The company is in business to make a web site presentation so I don't think they're going to try and put my photos on a billboard or anything, not with what I'm taking photos of, lol. If it was something of more importance or beauty I'd be concerned. But with just taking 15 pictures of a hardware store and tools and stuff, and getting $135 I guess I don't really care about a copyright of them. Yes it is more of a for hire type deal. They just want Raw files, well .jpgs but not edited or anything so hey, I'll make a few extra dollars, give up some generic photos and buy myself a new lens or something. (I'm doing three businesses so far)