When someone emails you to ask for copies of some images because they were in an event and they want them for personal use, what do you say? If they wanted prints then I'd charge them print costs but there are no real costs on the web. If they were a band I'd charge them the price of an A4 print as I know they'll be used for promoting their band. But say for a guy who was in a performance, for what I can only assume is to show friends and family or for a record of a great day. Free and watermarked web sized copies?
Non-comercial personal use
- Thread starter petemc
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mho
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I would watermark it near the bottom, but make it 72dpi. they wont get any usable prints of anysize from it but they can show it and email it around their friends. also just add if they wanted prints etc you can do them etc etc.
TG.
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i would charge him pete and if he wants it that much he will pay, after all if you do photography for a living you have to draw the line somewhere,and as already mentioned if you do email it, downsize it so prints won't be any good.
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Perhaps he does know how to right click and save and is just doing the right thing by asking. If you don't mind him having them tell him it's ok to do the save thing (as long as he links to you if he uses them on the web) but if he wants anything better quality he'll need to pay.
Woodsy
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I think this is the most reasonable idea put forward so far. It shows on his part that he has the common courtesy (SP?) to ask, and tbh its only a small, low res and watermarked copy, which as said, will be no where near good enough to get prints from. Mentioning also that they are copyright etc. If he does want larger prints etc then they are at a charge. I think that sounds fair.
Of course, this is your living pete, so its your call in the end.
pswillies
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I offer my bike shots for a couple of quid each at 800px wide if people really want digital images rather than prints. I usually try and sell them a cd though, making the per-image cost much less (and more attractive to them).
The stuff on my website always has huge watermarks on them to try and deter the 'save-as' brigade, but there's still plenty who are happy to use them anyway. If that's the quality they're happy with and they won't pay for anything else (even if it's only a few pence), then what can you do?
Of course, if the quality of the web image is good and there's a watermark on there that can't be cropped out, then it's a great advert for your work... maybe it'll lead to more print sales in the long term?
Paul
The stuff on my website always has huge watermarks on them to try and deter the 'save-as' brigade, but there's still plenty who are happy to use them anyway. If that's the quality they're happy with and they won't pay for anything else (even if it's only a few pence), then what can you do?
Of course, if the quality of the web image is good and there's a watermark on there that can't be cropped out, then it's a great advert for your work... maybe it'll lead to more print sales in the long term?
Paul
Something hit me today. No, not a brick. I give out free desktop images of my work sometimes, in larger resolutions to that of my normal images. So, how can I justify charging someone for images of them at an event for personal use? I can't really. I can justify print costs, but I can't really justify the cost of saying "Yes." There's no usage involved, no reproduction cost.
CarlOgden
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I've amended my web site stating that it's £2 per desktop image (800 wide and ppi of 72), if they want them by CD, thats £2.50 extra. Payment by bank transfer or Paypal.
I'll keep you in touch with what response I get!
Do you not charge for time? Post processing to make the images acceptable, plus then the resize and then emailing out? A couple of quid per image isn't breaking anyones bank, is it?
Carl.
I'll keep you in touch with what response I get!
Do you not charge for time? Post processing to make the images acceptable, plus then the resize and then emailing out? A couple of quid per image isn't breaking anyones bank, is it?
Carl.
I dunno. Its a stock image. I did the images for myself not him. There is the whole Creative Commons thing too. Allowing non-comercial use of photography. Bigger photographers than me don't even watermark and still manage to make a living.
EOS_JD
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just so you are aware the ppi has no relevance if you resize to a specific number of pixels. An image of 800px x 600px is that size whether it's 72ppi or 300ppi. ppi only matters when printing.
I'd save as 600 pixels on the longest edge and heavily compress it so that the file size is very small. Save for web and a file size less than 60k should be enough. Will look ok on the PC but won't print too well on anything higher than an inch or two wide/long.
If they want higher res - then you'd need to start looking at what it cost you to take the image, edit and resize it. might be 10 minutes but at £30/hour that's £5........
I've started sending very small images. But really it's down to how you feel. Also depends on the person I'm dealing with. I've given many things away free but now realise that I'm the only one who suffers! For a couple of years I've gave away prints to people at my local club and it's probably cost me in excess of £100 and have had nothing back in return! (Well the odd thanks)
JD