Feel bad for those trying to make a living at this...

I was contacted recently from a group wanting to print a hummingbird guide. They expressed interest in several of my photos, and wanted a price quote.

I'm pretty cheap, especially if contacted directly instead of through the stock agency. I usually just tell them I'd give the price I'd get paid from the stock agency, not counting their cut, so figure it's a pretty good deal for the buyer who contacts me directly.

So, I work up what the price would be minus stock agency cut, quote that price, and even deduct a little more since they wanted so many photos.

The reply? Sorry, we're only looking to spend $15 per photo, and had found alternative photographers to work with them.

These were HALF-PAGE photos, and they got away with $15 a photo.

I've only been into photography for 6 years, only selling photos at all for perhaps the last 4. But in those past 4 years, even I can tell how much cheaper people expect photos to be priced.

Does make me feel bad for those of you doing this for a living, and that thought alone keeps me from selling photos at such ridiculously low prices.

I hear you, Terry. I've basically given up trying to attract book and periodical publication clients.

So far, while I have a few regional publication clients and one calendar producer who pay pretty well, I make the bulk of my photography income on weddings, portraits and guided photo excursions. Luckily, people who can produce decent wedding photography and can teach others about nature photography while out in a natural setting still have markets that don't seem depressed by the glut of hobbyists (I mean absolutely NO offense toward hobbysists, by the way).

And, of course, Ely and the wilderness surrounding it sell themselves. I hope that all continues so I can keep finding ways to finance this nature photography thing that I REALLY love.

You should have told them, "When you are ready to purchase professional quality photography, then feel free to contact me again."

I had the same situation a week ago but I'd rather not discuss this online on a forum.

I think in a lot of cases, these are buyers who wouldn't have even considered buying stock photos in the old days - don't let them overly influence your view of the industry. I don't give buyers like this much thought - fortunately, most major magazines continue to pay fair rates, I have had a couple customers recently raise their rates.

I don't understand - what is there to feel bad about? They asked you to name your price, which you did, and based on that they decided to look elsewhere. From what you describe, they didn't force/trick you into a sale so I don't see anything wrong with it.

Like Ron says, it's not all bad, but cheap images are not only being sold in new markets. Though my efforts might be futile, I always try to give public constructive critisism when I see bad use of images. For instance the latest tourist brochure of my home regeion looked like it was made by a five year old and the photos were horrible. I did not let that go unnoticed in the local media.

I was having dinner in Montrose, CO, earlier this year and saw an ad for a local insurance/investment company that had me laughing for the rest of the night. The portrait of their staff was lit from a low angle and had a strong reddish tint. It looked as if their company should have been called ‘Devil and Associates.’ They probably paid little for the company portrait, but their ad probably hurt rather than helped their business.

The way we look at it (and in our experience), the cheaper alternatives do us nothing but good in our studio/location work. We get several reshoots a year after others have done a poor job. We come away with new best friends and loyal customers after they compare our results with those of others. It's great advertizing when satisfied customers rave about your work and tell others our higher price is justified. I see lots of parallels in the other posts.

While I do not sell my photographs (there has been an occasional exception), I still sell my services in the optics field. I found that if I price myself at the high end, I may lose a few jobs but I do get a lot of respect from my customers. Rule: Never sell yourself cheaply!

No matter what you are selling.....


something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay you for it..

so to the buyers wanting your images, your images were not worth that much to them. It's that simple! Don't be offended or upset, just sell your images elsewhere!

They got what they paid for, and now every hummingbird enthusiast must suffer! Few buyers in this world understand the concept of value. Most are just looking for price. That's how business buyers are today. It's a sad sign of the times.

Too many photographers, digital techniques making it easier to improve photos to a great extent - so these will happen more and more. In pure economics term, too many suppliers, market entry low, high buyer power - pricing gotta to go down. Make no mistake - find your niche, or you will be commoditized - sorry for the textbook language, but is not that true?

Myself, I'd rather wait to have one person buy limited rights for $200, than give 200 people the same image for $1.00. Somewhere in between will always be the newer photographers, or many hobbiest shooters that find value in just being published, to the point of being satisfied with far less $$$ or even no money at all; the famous, "You'll get a credit line" offer. There are as many or more buyers that are happy to grace the pages of their publication or product that ar only "OK" but cost less, rather than pay more for exceptional eye catching images. A shame that, really. The only real solution is through education, but I don't think the situation will ever change.

I haven't tried yet to sell any images but I am aware that prices are depressed due to people offering low priced images. This is what happens in any market. But in any market there will be people who want higher quality products and are willing to pay for it. Photographers who offer high quality work will need to position themselves such that they can profit from this. A lot easier said than done, probably.

I was surprised recently to get a call from Better Homes & Gardens about a photo they wanted, and they wouldn't pay my price of $50 per quarter page, which I think must be really low for a national mag. The caller was obviously trolling for freebies. They must be scoring 'em out there somewhere....