Licensing
Using a photograph.
Photographs get licensed rather than sold. What you’re buying is the right to use an image in particular places for a particular stretch of time. It sounds more complicated than it is.
This page is about stills. Motion is quoted per job, with usage built into the estimate.
Start here:
what’s it for?
What the image is doing moves a price more than how many images or how long you keep them. Three categories cover almost everything.
Collateral — Your own channels
Your site, your social, your deck, your email. Nothing with media spend behind it.
Advertising — Anything you’re paying to place
Paid social, out of home, broadcast, print placement. Media spend is the line.
Publicity · editorial — Outlets you don’t control
Press, trade, editorial features. Often the most straightforward, sometimes free.
Where behind the scenes fits
Behind the scenes sits with your own channels. The moment an image runs somewhere you’re paying to place it, that’s advertising, and it’s a different category rather than a bigger version of the same one.
You don’t have to know when you book. That usually sits with someone else on your side, and we work it out in prep. If it’s still not clear then, or the images land and you want to do more with them, we sort it as we go. And plenty of jobs are behind the scenes and nothing else, which is a normal booking.
“We want everything.”
All rights is a real option and it’s priced like one. Most jobs don’t need it.
The price follows the scope, and that works both ways. Tell me the use and I’ll price it. Tell me the budget and we’ll find the scope that fits.
What else
moves it
Media — Where it runs
Social, web, print, OOH, broadcast, packaging, in-store. Each is worth something different. Grouped together they cost less than one at a time.
Term — How long
Six months, a year, two years covers most jobs, and longer if you need it. Longer terms are discounted. Renewals are normal.
Region — Where it runs geographically
One country, a group of countries, or worldwide. Inside the US it can be split by region too.
Who is
in the frame
A license from me covers the picture. It does not always cover the person in it.
Sometimes I already hold the release and it comes with the image. Ask, because it changes what you have to do next.
Where I don’t, and the person is recognizable and the use is commercial, the release is yours to get rather than mine to give. On an ordinary shoot that is usually a short conversation. On a celebrity it means going through their publicist, which is a longer road, but people do it every day.
Ask early. Usage, media, term and region can all be agreed and the picture still cannot run, and this is usually why.
How it
gets decided
In prep
There’s nothing to request. Tell me what you know about where the images will run, and the rights go into the estimate. If you don’t know yet, that’s what prep is for.
Tell me which image
A screenshot or a link to the project page is fine. If it’s from a job I shot for you, say so. You may already have the rights.
Tell me the four things
Usage, media, term and region. If you don’t know yet, give me your best guess and I’ll shape it.
I send a quote and a license
One page, plain English, with what’s included and what isn’t. No surprises later.
You get the files
Full resolution, color managed, delivered how you need them.
Worth
knowing
Ask about any image
Some work is under exclusivity to the client who commissioned it, or was shot without portfolio rights. If an image can’t be licensed I’ll tell you immediately.
Exclusivity
Every job is different. Images shot for a client stay exclusive to that client. Where there’s a real choice is my own series and editorial work, and exclusive use inside your category is priced separately.
Shot for you already?
Check your original agreement first. If your term has run out, renewals are quick.
Prints
Personal prints are a different thing entirely. Just ask.
Licensing runs through Adam Film Co.
Ask about an image