Advertising prices

chau

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2007
Messages
613
Hey guys. Can anyone help me out with pricing please. One photo that I know of has been used in a magazine for advertising without my permission and I'd like to send the company a nice invoice. The photo is slightly smaller than a 1/4 page.
Anybody have prices or a place I can get prices from?
Thanks

EDIT: I forgot to add in that I sold them a once off use license earlier in the year to use the photo for a banner at the Argus expo. I don't have a model release as they said they would take care of that.
 
Last edited:

AniV

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
1,142
It isn't about the size of their ad, it's about what your photo is worth.

Are you an industry professional who gets paid to take photographs? Do you have a high level of skill? Did you plan to use the photo to sell to other publications for income?

How did they get their hands on the image? Did you post it on an image share site, like Facebook or Flickr for the world to see? If you were planning to use the image to market to make money, you would not have uploaded a high-res image without a watermark to a place where anybody can save it and use it.

Is it a large company or a small company? Have they done this before? Do you have sufficient time and money to pursue a (potetially) legal fight to claim money from them? Is the photo particularly exceptional? Does the image contain people who have not signed an advertising release form?

All of these things need to be taken into account before you issue an invoice for unauthorised use of your photograph. You will need to provide them with evidence that the original image was yours and that their advertising agency used it without permission. You will need to draw up a clear contract to attach to the invoice to clarify whether :
>> you are charging them for the one-time use of the image retroactively,
>> whether you are claiming damages from them (their use of the image has negated the income you would have received from selling the image to someone else) and
>> whether by them paying you you are authorising them to continue using your image in future advertising campaigns.

You are probably not going to get more than a few hundred rand out of the image, maybe R1000 at most (if I had to take a guess from your question about the pricing to begin with). The first step in any of this is to contact the company and inform them that they used your image without authorisation. It's very likely that the lazy designer who created the ad just grabbed your pic and used it without the company even being aware that it was unauthorised. Your fight is probably going to be with the ad agency, not the company themselves. You need to first understand exactly who you're trying to claim from.

Good luck. Best you'll probably get is an apology.

Edit: I've checked out your gallery and I see you've got some really great photos in there. You obviously do do this either professionally or as a serious amateur with skills. Some extra questions this raises are:
>> Was the image used one you were contracted to take? Or did you just snap it on your own?
>> Are the people who used the image in an ad the owners of the object in the picture? (eg I see you have a lot of pics of racing cars - the owners of the racing car might have more right to make use of a pic you took of their car than a nature mag making use of the pic you took of a bird).
>> You mark most of your images - did the person who took and used the ad purposely crop your signature or watermark out of the image?

I still believe it comes down to you working out how much the image is worth to you - to sign away your future sales rights on that image used. As a pro you know what you charge for images, so work out a rate that seems reasonable to you and submit an invoice to them.

If they do pay you, remember to declare it in your tax :D
 
Last edited:

hilton

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
1,807
and pay us all a small commission for giving you moral support. :)
 

chau

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2007
Messages
613
It isn't about the size of their ad, it's about what your photo is worth.

Are you an industry professional who gets paid to take photographs? Do you have a high level of skill? Did you plan to use the photo to sell to other publications for income?

How did they get their hands on the image? Did you post it on an image share site, like Facebook or Flickr for the world to see? If you were planning to use the image to market to make money, you would not have uploaded a high-res image without a watermark to a place where anybody can save it and use it.

Is it a large company or a small company? Have they done this before? Do you have sufficient time and money to pursue a (potetially) legal fight to claim money from them? Is the photo particularly exceptional? Does the image contain people who have not signed an advertising release form?

All of these things need to be taken into account before you issue an invoice for unauthorised use of your photograph. You will need to provide them with evidence that the original image was yours and that their advertising agency used it without permission. You will need to draw up a clear contract to attach to the invoice to clarify whether :
>> you are charging them for the one-time use of the image retroactively,
>> whether you are claiming damages from them (their use of the image has negated the income you would have received from selling the image to someone else) and
>> whether by them paying you you are authorising them to continue using your image in future advertising campaigns.

You are probably not going to get more than a few hundred rand out of the image, maybe R1000 at most (if I had to take a guess from your question about the pricing to begin with). The first step in any of this is to contact the company and inform them that they used your image without authorisation. It's very likely that the lazy designer who created the ad just grabbed your pic and used it without the company even being aware that it was unauthorised. Your fight is probably going to be with the ad agency, not the company themselves. You need to first understand exactly who you're trying to claim from.

Good luck. Best you'll probably get is an apology.

Edit: I've checked out your gallery and I see you've got some really great photos in there. You obviously do do this either professionally or as a serious amateur with skills. Some extra questions this raises are:
>> Was the image used one you were contracted to take? Or did you just snap it on your own?
>> Are the people who used the image in an ad the owners of the object in the picture? (eg I see you have a lot of pics of racing cars - the owners of the racing car might have more right to make use of a pic you took of their car than a nature mag making use of the pic you took of a bird).
>> You mark most of your images - did the person who took and used the ad purposely crop your signature or watermark out of the image?

I still believe it comes down to you working out how much the image is worth to you - to sign away your future sales rights on that image used. As a pro you know what you charge for images, so work out a rate that seems reasonable to you and submit an invoice to them.

If they do pay you, remember to declare it in your tax :D


I sold them the image earlier in the year for a once off use in banner form for the Argus expo. It is a photo of a cyclist from SA Cycling Champs and I think the bicycle distributor may sponsor him his bike. I don't have a model release for the cyclist but they agreed to sort that out with the cyclist.
This is more of a hobby for me, well getting more serious now, and I'm not quite keen on companies making money off my "work" and I lose out in the end.
BTW I think I earn too little to fit into a tax bracket ;) haha
 

HelmutRS

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2011
Messages
23
As I understand it, If you sold the image to them they can use it as they wish unless you discussed terms with them for only a one time use.

Regarding the Tax thing if they pay you cash, who cares. If they ask for invoice charge them triple. That is the true south african way.
 

Freaksta

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Messages
3,748
As I understand it, If you sold the image to them they can use it as they wish unless you discussed terms with them for only a one time use.

I sold them the image earlier in the year for a once off use in banner form for the Argus expo.

Seems like that was the terms!
 

chau

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2007
Messages
613
Seems <> Agreed

We agreed that it would be for once off use but I forgot to state it again on the invoice. Also being my first time and not knowing how importanta licensing agreements are... I didn't get one signed. If we agreed that it would be for a once off use, am i still able to pursue this matter?
 
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