How to License Your Images: A Beginner’s Guide
The first thing you need to know about licensing your images is that it’s not a one-time deal. You have to license your images every time someone wants to use them, and the terms of each contract will be different depending on who they are and what their needs are. The good news is that there are some basic rules for how to go about this process. We’ll cover the basics in this article so you can get started right away!
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1) Know Your Market
Before you start looking for images to license, make sure you understand where they’re going to end up. If you don’t already have a business plan or marketing strategy in place, now would be a great time to do that. Once you’ve got something written down, take a look at the market for which you want to sell and license your images. What kind of products does your target audience buy? Do they like things with lots of colors or black & white photography? Are they more interested in nature shots than portraits? Knowing these kinds of details before you even begin searching for potential clients will help you narrow down your search results much faster.
2) Know What Kinds Of Photos Are Worth More Than Others
The truth is that many images will never sell for anything close to their actual value. However, knowing which types of images are worth more than others can go a long way towards helping you license them for maximizing profits. For instance, if you know that portraits tend to bring higher prices than landscapes, then you might consider focusing your efforts on those kinds of subjects instead of wasting valuable shooting time on less lucrative assignments.
3) Find Potential Clients To License Your Images To
Once you’ve figured out exactly what type of images you’d like to create, it’s time to find people who might actually pay money for the license. This could mean finding companies that produce similar items as yours, but also includes individuals who may be willing to purchase prints from you.
4) Understand How Different Types Of Images Can Affect Prices
There are two main factors that determine how much someone is willing to pay for a license for particular types of images. First, the demand for that subject matter varies greatly based on location, season, and even time of day. Second, the cost associated with producing that photograph depends largely on its size. Knowing both of these facts can give you insight into how to price your work accordingly.
5) Use Pricing Software To Determine Your Images License Fees
Pricing software programs are available for almost all major operating systems. They’re easy to set up and provide a wealth of information about pricing trends in different markets. You may find that using one of these tools helps you make better decisions regarding your images license rates and overall profitability.
There are also image licensing fee calculators online to get a rough idea of what you should charge, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution when determining what price you should charge.
6) Determine How Much Clients Want To Pay For Your Images
Now comes the fun part—figuring out just how much you should charge per image. Of course, you won’t always hit that mark, but knowing roughly what price you expect for an image will help when negotiating a price.
As far as pricing goes, it depends on several things including the type of photograph, its size, and the number of photographs being licensed. Generally speaking, however, photographers charge anywhere between $25-$100 per picture. Again, though, each case must be considered individually.
The pricing model should take into consideration on how much time it takes to create an image, whether or not there are multiple versions available, and how much time you spent post-processing the image.
7) Don’t Be Afraid Of Negotiating Licensing Fees Or Terms
While it’s important to understand what each party wants from the other, it’s equally important to make sure that you’re comfortable with whatever terms you agree upon. The key is to keep things fair and reasonable for everybody involved.
If you want to be successful at photography, you must learn how to get paid fairly while still making enough money to live comfortably.
8) Make Sure Everything Is Legal And Clear Before You Sign Anything
If you haven’t done so yet, make sure all parties agree to license terms regarding ownership of the images themselves. Also, check to see if anyone has registered the copyrights associated with the photographs. Finally, make sure everything is clear and signed properly. Otherwise, you run the risk of having someone else claim ownership later on.
9) Get Paid When All Parties Agree On Payment Terms
Finally, once everyone agrees on payment terms, it’s time to collect your funds. Depending on the situation, you may need to wait until after the client pays you before sending him his final invoice. Or maybe he wants to send you half upfront while keeping the rest paid upon delivery. Either way, make sure you know what each party expects before signing anything.
10) Keep Track Of Payments
After receiving payments, it’s important to track every single one of them. Whether you use a spreadsheet program or simply write down notes next to each transaction, make sure you record the date, name of the person making the payment, total dollar value, and any special instructions given along with the payment. Then, whenever you get ready to bill another customer, you’ll have a list of previous transactions to reference.
11) Don’t Forget About Licensing Fees
While licensing fees aren’t technically considered “royalties,” they often add up quickly enough to become significant expenses. As mentioned above, you’ll typically pay anywhere from 5% – 15% of the license fee (depending on who owns the rights). If you’re not careful about this, you could end up spending more money than you actually earned!
12) Be Prepared For The Worst Case Scenario
As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, things rarely go according to plan. Sometimes clients will change their minds at the last minute, others might be late in delivering payment, and sometimes even worse, people just don’t want to buy our images. In those cases, you’ll need to find out exactly why they didn’t purchase the license right to use your images. This information should help you determine whether or not you’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line.
13) Never Give Up Your Copyright To Someone Else
The bottom line here is simple: never hand over control of your intellectual property to someone else. Even if you feel like you’re getting ripped off, chances are good that you’re giving away far more than you realize. After all, you own the copyright to your images, regardless of whether or not you sold them outright.
If you decide to sell your photos online, then you can also protect your copyrights by registering U.S. Copyright Office. For more information about registering photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office, go here.
14) Make Sure That All Parties Agree On What They Want From Each Other
The most common problem I see among photographers is that they assume everyone knows what they mean when they say “noncommercial” or “personal.” Unfortunately, many people think that noncommercial means free, which isn’t true at all. And personal doesn’t necessarily mean private either; it can refer to both commercial and noncommercial uses. So, always ask questions and clarify everything before agreeing to anything when you license your images.
15) Understand When Not To Charge Anything At All
There will come a point where you just don’t want to deal with clients anymore. If this situation arises while you’re still learning how to license your images, then you may choose to simply walk away from the whole thing. But once you know what you’re doing, you might consider charging less so as to avoid burning bridges.
18) Learn About License Options For Your Images
When licensing photographs, it’s important to understand the legal implications involved before signing away rights to your work. In addition to copyright laws, you may also face issues related to trademarks, privacy, and publicity. Before agreeing to any contract, always read it carefully and ask questions until you feel comfortable with the terms.
19) Get Help With Your Business Plan
As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, there are no shortcuts to success. In order to succeed as a photographer, you need to plan ahead and take steps toward building up your business. One way to do this is by creating a detailed business plan. This document outlines exactly what you hope to accomplish over the next year, including specific goals and strategies designed to help you reach them. It also serves as a great reference tool whenever you run into problems along the road.
20) Start Building Up An Online Presence
One of the best ways to build up your brand online is through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, etc. These platforms allow you to connect with current and prospective customers, share photos and videos, promote yourself, and more. By taking advantage of these opportunities, you can increase your visibility and ultimately grow your client base to license your images to.
21) Stay Organized And Keep Track Of Your Licensed Images
Whether you use paper files, digital folders, or some combination thereof, it’s essential to stay organized. Keeping track of who owns what, when payment was due, and why certain tasks were completed becomes increasingly difficult without proper organization.
22) Sell And License Your Images On Your Photography Website
Do you have a photography website? If you do, you can sell and license your images on it.
If you don’t have a website for your photography it’s time to set one up! You’ll need a domain name, a website host, and a theme for your website. On this site, I use Blue Host as my website host as well as for my domain. WP Engine and HostGator are good options too.
Check out the Resource Page on this site for more options and look under Website Resources. I have multiple options listed that include templates, drag and drop templates to build landing pages and websites, and eCommerce sites for photographers to showcase, share, and sell their work online.
23) Sell And License Your Images on Stock Photography Sites
There are several specialized marketplaces for selling your stock photography such as SmugMug, Shutterstock, Alamy, PxBee, StockSnap.io, PicJumbo, and Vecteezy. Each offers unique features and benefits, and are fairly easy to navigate. There are stock photo sites that specialize in travel photography, aerial photography, food photography, and many others as well.
If you are looking for a way to make money with image licensing, it’s worth exploring stock photography websites to see what license options for your images they have available and what they offer their users. It’s one more way to make money with photography.
24) Work With An Agency To License Your Images
An agency will be able to help negotiate on behalf of you as well as provide some legal advice if needed. They may also be able to get you paid faster than working directly with the client. However, it’s important to note that agencies often charge fees based upon a percentage of sales so make sure you understand exactly what you are getting into before signing anything. Also, keep in mind that most photographers don’t work exclusively through agencies but rather find clients themselves.
Copyright and Licensing Your Images
What Is Copyright Law?
Copyright law protects original works of authorship such as books, movies, music, software programs, websites, etc., by giving them exclusive rights over their creations. The author or creator owns these copyrights until he/she transfers ownership to someone else. This means that once you publish something online, you retain copyright on it unless you transfer ownership to someone else. If you do decide to give up your copyright, then you must make sure that any images used within your work remain under your control. You may also want to consider registering your copyright at www.copyright.gov.
Why Should I Register My Copyrights?
Registering your copyright gives you legal protection against anyone who uses your copyrighted material without permission. It allows you to sue people who infringe upon your copyrights. However, there are many reasons why you might not register your copyright. For example, if you plan to sell your artwork, you will need to register before selling it because federal laws require that all artists file registration statements with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to making sales.
What Is Image Licensing, Exactly?
Regardless of copyright law, it’s easy for people to illegally share and use images both on the internet and in print, so an airtight photography license agreement is your best tool for making sure you get fairly compensated for your work. Image licensing refers to any type of contract between two parties who are sharing their works.
Types of Licences
Licenses are a necessary part of the business world and they can be tricky to negotiate if you don’t know what you’re doing. We’ll walk you though the different types of licenses so you have a better understanding of what is required when it comes time to create your own licences.
Commercial Rights
Commercial rights enable the buyer to use our images for commercial purposes including advertising, marketing materials, catalogs, brochures, websites, books, magazines, newspapers, billboards, posters, packaging, product labels, direct mailers, corporate presentations, trade shows, events, promotions, and so forth. This category covers any kind of business or organization where they want to promote their products or services using your image. Commercial licenses usually include unlimited usage with no restrictions.
Non-Commercial Rights
Non-Commercial Rights. NCRs allows you to limit how often your photo can be reproduced in print media, digital publications, social networks, blogs, eCommerce sites, email newsletters, etc. They also restrict how much text can accompany your image. These licenses don’t allow the buyer to make any profit from using your images but they may require payment for its reproduction.
Exclusive Rights
An exclusive right means that you own the copyright to your work. It does not mean that others cannot make derivative works without paying you royalties. However, you do retain ownership of the original artwork. When you sign a contract granting an exclusive right, you give up the ability to share your work freely. Instead, you agree to let the publisher/client exercise complete discretion over its use. There are many reasons why publishers ask for exclusivity agreements. One reason is that they don’t want anyone else creating similar pieces while theirs is still being published. Another reason is that they want to protect themselves against potential legal action. Finally, sometimes clients request exclusivity simply because they feel uncomfortable sharing their ideas with others.
Non-Exclusive Rights
This type of right allows the purchaser to use the photo without restriction but does not allow him to re-sell the picture. For example, if I am selling my photographs to an art gallery, I might choose non-exclusivity because they could potentially put up my pictures anywhere else. However, if I were selling my photographs to a magazine, I’d probably go with exclusivity so that no one else can take advantage of my hard work.
One Time Use Rights
This kind of right allows the customer to print only one copy of an image from his collection. The number of prints allowed varies depending upon the size of the original file. For example, if the original file was taken with a digital camera, then the number of copies printed by the customer could vary anywhere from 1 to 10. However, if the original file came from film, then the number of prints might range from 50 to 100.
Royalty Free Licenses
Royalty-Free Licenses are the most common type of license. They allow you to use a photo in any way that is not restricted by copyright law, including commercial and editorial uses. Royalty-free licenses do not require payment for each usage or renewal. Instead, they provide a set fee per year which covers all future rights to your image. This means that if you want to reuse this image again next year, there will be no additional cost.
Creative Commons Licenses
A Creative Commons license allows you to share your content with others as long as you give credit where due. It also lets people remix, tweak, and build upon your original material while sharing under certain conditions. These licenses are great because they offer a lot of freedom but still keep things legal.
Attribution/Share Alike
Attribution/Share Alike allows you to distribute derivative works provided that those derivatives are distributed under the same terms as the original. For example, if I take a picture at my friend’s wedding and post it online, I could release it into the public domain so anyone else can download it and use it however they like. However, if I wanted to make money off of it, I would need to get permission from the bride and groom. In order to comply with attribution requirements, we recommend adding a link back to the source website.
No Derivatives
No Derivatives is similar to noncommercial, this license does not permit modifications to the original work. So, if someone took my photo and added text over top of it, they couldn’t claim ownership of the new version unless they had written consent from me.
Public Domain
A public domain license gives everyone worldwide the right to copy, distribute, display, perform, adapt, translate, and even sell copies of the work without asking permission from the author and had been allowed since January 1st, 2020.
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