Image licenses

[Jonny Gawler]

If it's 500 for you time & expenses, then they will feel you have been paid in full.
If it's 500 for a Licence fee to use your images - and you clear state what the Usage is, that that fee relates to - then they should have no problems understanding that asking for more will cost them more.

i love that you're getting clients with enough money to pay what you need to come up with the work that you do, and i love that you have the energy to spread the word about how and why that works, but i'm really interested in moving this discussion on.

i believe there are a lot of people in a similar situation to the one sam outlined in his original post. if the market you're trying to do business in will not tolerate a restricted licence model, what then? you can italic and bold until you're blue in the face – if other photographers are charging 500 for work-for-hire for that job, or the client will not employ you because the restricted licence doesn't give them the uses they need for their 500 quid, you are faced with a difficult choice. stand by your principles and see the other guy get the 500 quid, or work on the terms the client requires and know that you sold out cheap.

[JoeKitchen]

i love that you're getting clients with enough money to pay what you need to come up with the work that you do, and i love that you have the energy to spread the word about how and why that works, but i'm really interested in moving this discussion on.

i believe there are a lot of people in a similar situation to the one sam outlined in his original post. if the market you're trying to do business in will not tolerate a restricted licence model, what then? you can italic and bold until you're blue in the face – if other photographers are charging 500 for work-for-hire for that job, or the client will not employ you because the restricted licence doesn't give them the uses they need for their 500 quid, you are faced with a difficult choice. stand by your principles and see the other guy get the 500 quid, or work on the terms the client requires and know that you sold out cheap.

Would Tiffany's sell a diamond ring at the same price as Sears just to stay competitive with them?  No!  Why?  Because they produce great work and they know that it is worth much more.  I am sure they get plenty of ladies asking for outrageous discounts and conditions of sale, but I do not see them changing their prices just to make the sale.  Doing that would degrade their reputation and desire, and would force them to produce a lesser quality of work due to lower profits.  

Produce the best you can with nothing held back, shoot for the clients who respect your work, say no to those who dont.

[Morgan_Moore]

Ash  -my quotes are always based on Use - not work for hire

But bands of use for example rather than specifics

Banded use..

web only X years

or

web brochure and local press advertising, X years

Specific use..

Image XXX at 400PX banner on homepage, image YYY as 100X300 upright on about us page

Or brochure 2010 cover, a4 size

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I initially learned about licensing over a decade ago when I was working and my 'for the local press' images started appearing in brochures reports - because my photo shoots were exceeding the clients expectations - I felt exploited and nailed down my T+C

Those changes of use occured about the time my digital images actually became sharp enough for using in a glossy environment - shooting D1 offers a lot of protection !

The bottom line I think is to charge as much as you can in whatever method possible and quality work will push what you can charge up

So upping the game will up the fee - simple