How much to charge for a photo?

[Rhody31]

I freelanced a girls lax championship game and took a good picture of two sisters on the team hugging (happy accident; I was shooting everyone hugging and was trying to get the scoreboard in the backdrop.).
Anyway, paper ran it and Mom called asking for a print. I thought they owned the pic if they ran it, but they told me it was mine to sell.
Problem is, I have no idea how much to sell it for. I want to sell the jpg and give up my rights, because I'm not going to hustle around trying to get it printed.
The photo is a little larger than what was run; the editor had to crop it tighter than intended because there is a photog in the background. I was planning on sending the woman the photo cropped how it ran, the photo with the photog in the back and a photoshopped version where the photog has disappeared.
I'm thinking 20. Is that a good number?

 

[Songbird]

When I was in sports, especially here in Bennington then over in Brattleboro, I'd have a ton of prints made and gave them away to coaches and parents. It created a lot of goodwill.

That being said, $20 or $25 for the right to keep it sounds fair.

 

[JackReacher]

Just give it to them.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Just give it to them.

They'd be perfectly happy paying for it. $20 sounds like a good number for your time and trouble. Hell, tell them to email the team and that you probably have pictures of everyone. You might pocket $200 out of the exchange and they'd sing your praises for doing them such a great favor.

 

[Rhody31]

Just give it to them.

If I had a full-time gig, I would. I did that.
Unemployed? Gots to get mine son. $20 pays for 18 holes on my Daddy Day Off on Tuesday.

 

[JackReacher]

Fair enough. $20 seems reasonable.

Then again, if I'm out of work and worried so much about $20, I'm not sure I'd spend what little money I have on golfing. Just me, though.

 

[Rhody31]

Fair enough. $20 seems reasonable.

Then again, if I'm out of work and worried so much about $20, I'm not sure I'd spend what little money I have on golfing. Just me, though.

Mrs. Rhody supports me. The money I make freelancing and from unemployment guarantees I don't have to ask her if I can have money to go golfing.

 

[PeterGibbons]

Wow, we charge $20 for just the print (8x10 or two 5x7), I'd probably look at charging more. Wouldn't take and less then 20 for sure

 

[SixToe]

Twenty bucks? You're going to give up all rights forever for twenty bucks?

Don't give away your work. Charge at least a decent rate for an image, $50 if not more, and if you're going to give away the rights forever then make it worth your while and ask $250 or something.

Or sell it to her cheaply but under the condition she can't use it for any kind of commercial use. You don't know what she might do in the future - start a business, make this the main image and score a million bucks. You're left with nothing.

Six or seven years ago a company wanted an image I shot with their product in it. I told them $250 for the image for one-time use, $500 if they wanted it for their catalog and for $1,500 they could have the image and all rights forever outright, and I'd delete the similar images. I consulted with a freelance friend who does the same thing, often, and gets paid.

The company refused and asked another photographer for a photo for free. Then they used it on the web, in their catalogs, in all their advertising and the photographer didn't get ****. Not one penny. They capitalized on his work and kind heart. Kind hearts don't pay the bills, though.

 

[ringer]

You might want to consider these things first (if you haven't already):

What did the paper pay YOU for the photo?
What does the paper normally charge people asking for reprints? I'm sure it's not the first time anyone's asked.

But yeah, if it's a parent of a kid, I'd probably just give it away and just make it clear that it's for personal use only because photography is your livelihood. If they decide to use it for anything else, leave them your business card and ask them to call you first as a courtesy. And hey - you never know. Maybe the kid will get married some day and they'll think of you when they're hiring a wedding photographer. The goodwill gesture might lead to more work.

 

[Here me roar]

Don't give it away. Don't treat the woman like she's a company either. At least $20

 

[HejiraHenry]

$20 is fine, but it's a decent idea to limit them in such a way that they don't scan it and make T-shirts to sell or whatever.

 

[Rhody31]

Thanks for all the advice.
We agreed on 20. I wrote a simple agreement saying the photo is for personal use only and any commercial use would be a violation of the copyright. This was a mom who wanted a pic of her kid, so I'm not super concerned.
I'm at the point of my photo career where I'm flattered someone wants to buy them.
I did get paid by the paper, which is why I was surprised they let me own the photo. In my past experiences, whatever photos ran in the paper belonged to the paper.
Thanks again y'all.
Oh, and here's the photo, edited with the photog in the backdrop out. Paper ran it tighter and cropped most of the stuff on the left.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Thanks for all the advice.
We agreed on 20. I wrote a simple agreement saying the photo is for personal use only and any commercial use would be a violation of the copyright. This was a mom who wanted a pic of her kid, so I'm not super concerned.
I'm at the point of my photo career where I'm flattered someone wants to buy them.
I did get paid by the paper, which is why I was surprised they let me own the photo. In my past experiences, whatever photos ran in the paper belonged to the paper.
Thanks again y'all.
Oh, and here's the photo, edited with the photog in the backdrop out. Paper ran it tighter and cropped most of the stuff on the left.

Lovely moment. Good for you. And thanks for sharing.

 

[Pilot]

Yeah, be sure this parent doesn't sell 1,000,000 copies of your photo of her daughter. I'd have her sign a contract, and be sure to have your lawyer there.

Seriously, $20 is just right. Obviously she's not going to profit from it. Who in the world wants a picture of her daughter?

It is a very nice photo, though. Nice job.

 

[Songbird]

Since we're sharing happy-happy joy-joy shots:

Girls hoops coach jumps into assistant's arms as team wins first of back-to-back New Hampshire state titles. Funny thing is he was weirded out about the shot afterward. Someone made a comment and I think the coach felt there was a gay vibe about it that he didn't like.

Johnny hits first home run of his LL career during a 3-pitch tournament in Lebanon. His eldest sister won 12 or 15 N.H. track titles and the middle child was a strong athlete. All-around great athletic family:

One of my favorites: These 4 Hanover hockey players led the team to back-to-back Division 1 state titles and they combined to score 650-something career points. This is after the second title awaiting the trophy. It appeared as a double-truck in Varsity Magazine, too. They went on to play at Yale, Wellesley, Dartmouth and Middlebury:

 

[slappy4428]

Since we're sharing happy-happy joy-joy shots:

Girls hoops coach jumps into assistant's arms as team wins first of back-to-back New Hampshire state titles. Funny thing is he was weirded out about the shot afterward. Someone made a comment and I think the coach felt there was a gay vibe about it that he didn't like.

Couldn't have been the pink shirt and legs around the waist, could it?

 

[SoCalDude]

Thanks for all the advice.
We agreed on 20. I wrote a simple agreement saying the photo is for personal use only and any commercial use would be a violation of the copyright. This was a mom who wanted a pic of her kid, so I'm not super concerned.
I'm at the point of my photo career where I'm flattered someone wants to buy them.
I did get paid by the paper, which is why I was surprised they let me own the photo. In my past experiences, whatever photos ran in the paper belonged to the paper.
Thanks again y'all.
Oh, and here's the photo, edited with the photog in the backdrop out. Paper ran it tighter and cropped most of the stuff on the left.

You can probably get a few hundred from her orthodontist.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I think Hustler used to pay $50 for Beaver Hunt photos. That established an industry standard at the time.

 

[Football_Bat]

If it was my photo, I'd charge, but very few are, so I don't particularly care.