Are you ready with your photos for the press?

Natasha Schlesinger in Poets and Artists blog

Allison Kanders in Architectural Digest

Nathalie Molina Niño in Forbes

Are you ready with your photos for press?

In the past 2 hours, I have received two completely different, urgent requests for images. One came from a client, the other from the magazine directly, both with huge circulation. Both wanted images to illustrate profiles about these women in leadership roles in their communities.

In each case, my client was ready. She had a fabulous image to offer, retouched (but not overly so!!) and ready to go. In each case, people were reaching out to me for the highest resolution image available. (My clients already had them, they just didn't know it)

In one request, an assistant photo editor asked me for access to more images from our shoot (and showed me the one my client had sent them).

So did I give her access? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I told her I'd ask the client, and get right back to her. I also asked what her editorial usage rate was. (Please tell me you know that publications need to pay photographers for usage, and that "credit" is not payment!!).

I texted the client. She said "no, please don't send other images. I want them to use the one I sent" (her eyes are closed, she is laughing, and we both love this image!)

So I wrote back to the photo editor, apologized for not being able to send other choices, and asked where to send the invoice should they choose to run the photo. Notice my client always comes first, and just because a magazine has one photo does not mean my client wants them to have more!

Here's the thing.....publications WANT images that haven't been seen before. But you don't HAVE to give them anything you don't want to. And you DO need to check in with your photographer about usage. Are you allowed to give these images to anyone, anywhere, without further compensation to the photographer? Do you know the difference between editorial and commercial usage? Do you need to pay your photographer if the magazine won't pay for usage?

Already, the publication responded that they don't have the budget to pay for usage (which is how they respond about 80% of the time...even a the highest levels) So as the photographer and copyright owner (whoever pushes the shutter owns the copyright, unless otherwise agreed) the choice is mine.  In this particular case, I decided to let them use this photo, because they reach my exact target market of upscale New Yorkers plus many hotels in the city, and because I love the image so I would like to see it in print. Otherwise freebies are a non-starter.

I don’t need "exposure" which is always what the publication is offering, and when someone else benefits financially from the use of my images, so should I. My exceptions are limited. My other option would be to ask my client to pay for this extra usage. In some cases I do that, and the fee for them is nominal given the advantage of the exposure for them.  People DO look at the photos in an article, often before they read a word.  They DON'T look at photo credits.

So what if the magazine or publication is send a photographer to photograph you?
A photographer shooting for a publication is generally paid an editorial rate, though the publication typically asks that the photographer not release any other photos until 6 mos after the publication is released, which is usually 3 months after the shoot. For you, as the subject, that means you wait 3 months to see yourself in print, then you have to wait 6 more months to get any images from the photographer. (Always ask about these terms....a lot of people I photograph are surprised by them). Not only that, magazine editorial rates are typically between $100 and $500 (far less than a day rate for any serious professional photographer), so if you want copies of those images, and a look at what the magazine didn’t print, you should expect to pay a fee for them. All photographers work differently, so be sure to ask!

Lee Harris, multi- page feature story in Face The Current magazine

So when the media comes asking you for an image to go with a story about you, ARE YOU READY?

-If you have done professional photos, do you have the print-ready, high resolution images at your fingertips?

-Are you super clear whether you can have these published without your photographer being paid further? Do you own the copyright? Or just the right to use an image for your own media? For how long? Do you know the difference in usage agreements?

-Are the images being published in a magazine or blog that makes a profit? If so, THEY are benefit from your images (this is a type of commercial usage), and chances are high your photographer needs to be paid above what you paid for the shoot originally. Check before you end up in a copyright infringement situation! Professional publications generally know better, but younger bloggers may not remember to ask!

-Do you know exactly what the photo credit on the images should be? Will the online version have links or tags, for you AND your photographer?