2d

First your title is wrong, that may be a term stock agency use, but allow me to clarify you are licensing the images so the Inn can use the images in "any" of their marketing material in perpetuity? the difference is wether the Inn can turn around and sell the images or share the images with other parties. the other aspect is gauging costs if you go to Getty and look for RF stock images of course they are going to be low, if however you look for RM images and then plug in hospitality and 5year marketing you can get an idea of worth. Second I highly recommend the book: https://www.amazon.com/Licensing-Photography-Victor-Perlman/dp/1581154364 A couple of things you need to clarify with the client, is this in perpetuity or do they need unlimited use for say seven years? Do they want exclusive use to the images so you can not license them to another organization? I don't know your Inn or what corporation is behind it, if they are asking for unlimited use good chance they've been down this road, have a lawyer, know what images cost, have a reason why they need unlimited use (because they don't want to tell you they're purchasing multiple ad space for a campaign that would raise the licensing costs, etc.. they may play dumb but in all honesty a Vermont Inn could very well have financial backing of a NYC corporation. With my own experience unlimited use non exclusive I have always asked for over $6,000. The funny thing is whenever someone asks, they play astonished and tell me they will have to get back to me, then they agree. And it always turns out their legal department required it and knew the cost of licensing (from professionals) along with a budget to buy ad space. Don't be afraid to ask for a fair price and stand firm, if you see your picture in an ad in a national magazine or an ad campaign around NYC for a hospitality vacation get-away you are not going to be proud but bummed if you didn't negotiate for a fair price.

I still think the a7R2 is a great camera and while anything updated is going to be better does the value truly justify the cost? Detail is nice but a boring composition is a boring composition. A couple of thoughts on the benefits of the older model, first you can basically buy a7r2 on craigslist right now for a steal (and come on nobody is over using cameras these days - not like it's a ten year old model) It has a 500,000 shutter, who's going to get close to that number? With the costs saving of a used a7r2 you can easily justify an extra lens. There is a piece of mind traveling with less expensive gear in case of an accident or theft. Plus used and third party batteries are plentiful. The battery issue is such an over bloated internet whine - yes I am constantly facing it, under one certain circumstance, when I'm recording 4k for extended (multiple multiple segments longer than twenty minutes in the winter cold) I have never had a single problem shooting stills and I'm normally working eight plus hours continually bracketing - I do have to change batteries but I had to as well on my 5d's. The great feature the a7r2 has is usb power I can plug in a usb power brick and truly extend the length or recharge the battery while at a coffee shop with the usb battery brick. Would I carry three extra batteries with me out walking around yes but I would do that with any camera I've ever owned. Could I get by with two batteries and a slim usb brick, easily. The gripes I have with the older model is the lcd screen scratches easily and the lag time shooting fast action with the black out of the evf. If money was no object sure the latest and greatest is the way to go - do you want to go banging around airports, taxis, and unknown streets with the latest and greatest or would a second lens, extra travel day, additional aps-c body be a better choice? An extra thousand for travel expenses sure comes in handy.

If you’re planning to use Affinity for the actual processing of the files you may want to look at these open-source programs for photo-management. Obviously not as refined as C1 but could very easily work for an advanced enthusiast. digiKam RawTherapee Blog darktable - the photo workflow software Again just presenting these as an option to look at. None of them are great but I like the concept of open source for the archival nature of software that hopefully will last(and the cost). I've tried the other software talked about in this thread and find them all to be overily complicated, trying to be both photo management as well as editor. For me personally I would rather just a photo-management software knowing I will have to do any and all processing through Affinity including any Raw conversions. I apologize if I'm sidetracking your orginal question, not intended.

Really did not want this to become an Adobe subscribition debate. So allow me ask a technical question. I also have been working digitally since the mid 90's and have many hard drives in my archive. If I go through all the drives opening up all the layered files, flatten them then saving the 16bit tiff and throw away the layered file. Will this have any unforeseen negative effect on the hard drive's health? What would the best practice be for making sure the hard drive is in good health. Yes I have redundant copies of all the drives.

Wtih the very real expectation that I'll be moving away from software I've been using for quite a while I am questioning how to archive many many many past projects. Yes all the raw files are kept but a significate portion of my digital work is saved in layered files with the psd suffix. I guess my question is a little technical and a little philiosical. I could (over the course of the winter) go back through the folders flatten the files and save them as tiff or I could leave my archives alone and in the off chance I need an image from the past start over processing the raw file in whatever software I'm using. What are other's thoughts on the subject of archiving layered files in an ever changing software landscape?

I think you need to elaborate on when and where you are working. Are you working as a second shooter for an event shooter? If so what types of events, what type of locations? You're asking about an equipment want list without any description to your activities. :confused:

One other thought, there's a reason why our brains recognize red flags, if things sound crazy now experience tells us the actual production won't get any easier nor will certain client's last minute requests and change orders magically stop because the production has started.

What Paul said. Just politely apologize about giving them an inaccurate proposal and send a proposal that will remedy any headache they are causing. Let me say this again (from the other thread) make sure your contract states they must sign it and pay 50% upfront before scheduling. This really does help remove the sketchy clients

I think it very wise not to book projects until the client has both signed your contract and paid a 50% upfront fee. Without that check don't schedule the day. You are running a business not doing someone a favor. Learn this line "it's my company's policy..." As for transferring copyright or licensing unlimited usage. I don't like to do it so I present two proposals one for a reasonable amount of usage and the second for the requested unlimited (normally three times my creative fee). Once they see the difference they understand. That said in the past year I've had three separate assignments ask for the unlimited usage and while their initial budget response was NO WAY. All three times their legal department insisted and opened up their budget. You're not running a business if you can't stand up for your policies. I agree that the request for raws at the end of the shoot is a massive red flag!!! I would have no trouble presenting a large proposal so she moves on. However you handle it I am a firm believer in both a signed contract and the 50% upfront fee before wasting any energy on a sketchy project. I like most others have at least one or two clients that never paid up.

The Copyright Office is looking to increase their registration price up to $100. My feelings this is a tax to deter artists(USA) from protecting their hard work. While the internet has spurred the free sharing culture, we artists/photographers, should be able to protect our work and this increase truly seems to make that impractical. The link below is looking for opinions and I hope others will voice their support for artists/photographers being able to protect their work economically. Copyright Office Proposes New Fee Schedule | U.S. Copyright Office

charge a rate so you don't care what they do to your photos. My problem with our industry and places like AirBNB is that if a national motel chain contacted you to photograph their property, even if they only charge $50 a night for a room, it would be completely understandable to charge over $3,500 per day for the interior photography minus any type of national print ad licensing. Yet AirBNB comes along and freelance photographers, who have all the bills of running a small business, think it's completely acceptable to let them(AirBNB) dictate the photographer's rate and at such a ridiculous low amount. Shooting low budget jobs is NOT a stepping stone it's the way to pick up bad habits that can be debilitating both to your creative workflow and your business. Earning the same amount of money (especially if you account for the expenses /insurance) one could spend the day working as an assistant to an established pro and actually learn something.

I agree with Phil S we've gone from a print media where only the super big companies employed the use of photography in their marketing to the internet where every company, the local auto mechanic to the motel, needs to have a website and consequently visual artwork to communicate with their prospects. In all this discussion nobody is mentioning that our education system for the most part ignores the business aspects of being an entrepreneur. Every time I hire a new assistant (with a 4 year + degree in the arts) I have to coach them in how to write up an invoice. A while back I was a DP on a short film project for a UCLA professor and in our down time discussing the nature of the industry she admitted none of her classes touch base on the business aspect of production. In other words students are coming out of school with minimal experience using spreadsheets, accounting practices or even any type of education on licensing their artwork. They are given a false sense that a production costs zero money and at some time in the mystical future bills will be paid. My rift with ASMP is that for the past ten years they have had more educational programs welcoming students into the realm of professional photography but not the business talks/seminars they had fifteen twenty years ago. I feel the last hope our profession has is the internet forums and even that is peppered with non-working fanciful opinions or fear mongering. Finally here in the US art/ photography/ images in general are completed devalued. Could you imagine if the internet /digital couldn't handle the photograph and everything online was text based? How much photography helps communicate. If home sellers had to put up with 5 times more walk throughs from buyers that weren't even interested in the home the moment they got there. I'll bet they (both the home owner and buyer) would be more than happy to pay five times what a real estate photographer is charging today. Local motels use to advertise with a big sign (in ten years can you imagine how ridiculous that is going to seem) Today I can get a much better sense of a hotel miles down the road and Quality images communicate quality. just my humble opinions on the subject

I would really look at Affinity as I find it very capable. Just a friendly heads up or IMHO - I'm a long time Apple user and I do desperately need to upgrade my Mac Pro and my laptop. I don't want to get into an Internet thread debate as there are so many unknowns for your specific needs. I personally am not upgrading until the next hardware release hopefully in June. Having followed a lot of Mac forums the latest OS seems to be rather beta, the next mid price level updates could have 6 cores. And with Apples new file system, while it might work great for immediate working files on SS drives - time really has not tested it with archival files on spinning hard drives. Of course I have a friend who just got a Macbook and loves it.

not sure your point, can you provide examples of companies prospering that don't use visual marketing material in today's world as your post claimed? you're the one trying to scare young photographers into thinking they should cut their price and be happy to get any offer available because photography has no value in the business world

I'm sure you can provide examples of companies in the AEC business that are surviving and prospering without any visual marketing material on their website or in their print collateral? If I want to fix my toilet I can hire a plumber or I can go to the hardware store, if someone wants a photographer to photograph their space: $3,000 camera, $2,500 lens (1), $5,000 in lights and grip, a vehicle to transport gear, insurance, $5,000 in computer, and software, years of learning software wether at a school or on photo forums/youtube/lynda.com, etc... We provide a service and we should charge a fair wage.

p.s. I've had a couple of prospects ask me to estimate big jobs and call me skeptical I feel that they think you'll reduce your costs in order to get the project or are afraid of big numbers. then when the project comes around it's scaled way down so now your proposal needs to follow suit. Somewhere between a game of Chicken and the classic "we have ten projects for you can you reduce the costs on the first one" Just saying, what manufacture truly has and needs 150 separate buildings photographed in a single region?

Owen, as an architectural photographer serving the Washington DC region I can assure you are low balling the market with a number such as $1,300 that's easily $1,500 to $2,500 below what other photographers are charging for the type of work you are describing. You have not done your CODB to come up with that rate, even up in Baltimore cost of living is rather high. I wouldn't listen to people like Phil S he refuses to do basic math or have any respect for our craft/services we provide. 400 per building at 150 buildings?! That's $60.000. there are 365 days in a year, here in the mid-atlantic you could say 50% those won't be good for exterior. The going rate for a full time employed corporate photographer in the DC area is $70,000 plus (if you can find an opening) That includes health, retirement, and equipment. Being responsible as a independent business to produce images of 150 buildings around the region will be nothing less than a full time project plus you have all the responsibility of an independent business and it's expenses such as liability insurance, hotels, gas, etc. I know you did not do any viable math calculations with your low bid. These pricing questions always boil down to one common denominator and that is the person asking the question doesn't take even the slightest effort to figure out there own Cost Of Doing Business. It's a simple mathematical equation might take you two hours tops if you want to be thorough. Instead of replying why don't you figure out your CODB and report back on that? I'm a single guy living extremely modestly no kids, no vacations, rent is very cheap in a very poor part of town - I know for a fact you are way below the DC Baltimore CODB It would be great if for everytime someone starts a pricing question thread they would specify their CODB number and how they came to that number so we could understand their question better or where it went astray. CODB is not your price it's the absolute lowest you can charge

<p>have you looked at modernPostcard? although your run numbers are going to be on the short side</p>

<p>Thanks Gareth for the response. Yes I would never delete clips on the camera, I'm thinking more along the lines of transferring them to external hard drive that I could go through from my old laptop without needing to import them into a big piece of software such as Premier just to do the logging work. Maybe adjusting file names will be beneficial enough.<br> thanks</p>

<p>Curious how others are logging in b-roll stock footage and then cataloging it? Especially with b-roll there are a lot of clips that could be thrown away without even bringing the footage into an NLE project or even taking up space on the hard drives. You know, you blew the pan or started the camera and things didn't happen etc.. Other than folder naming how are you archiving stock footage for easy retrieval months later?</p> <p>The other question is how to preview footage on my underpowered laptop (that does not have an NLE software) and somehow create selects or notes that when I am working on my workstation in an NLE project and import the clips I already know the specific clips I want to look at.</p> <p>Any ideas or advice dealing with b-roll stock footage is very appreciated.</p> <p>thanks, jeff</p>

<p>I'm sure others will chime in with more specific info, in the meantime I would recommend going to the ASMP.org site and looking over their paperwork share. To answer some of your questions, yes it is very common and recommend to have separate post processing fees spelled out when putting clipping paths on objects or any PS work. Transferring copyright can be three to four times the cost. </p> <p>Question 4) It use to be common to get 50% of the overall estimate upfront with a <em>signed contract. </em>Now with internet delivery and online payment options, you still want to get a signed contract, but if your website allows it might be easier for your contact to pay (with a card not having to run you through their accounting dept) at the time of download. Depending upon the estimated clipping path work you might see it easier to quote based on a price per image rolling all your creative fees and production costs into a single number then dividing that into how many products you are going to photograph. The big benefit is if they add items during the shoot they already know it's going to cost x amount extra.</p>

<p>Posting this question in business because I imagine it really only applies to photographers who run a photo business. I am looking for a label maker to apply labels to equipment (lighting/grip stuff) - has to be <em>extremely</em> durable. I noticed a rental company not only has labels that can withstand major abuse but also are QR coded so I imagine it can all be scanned into a database via an iphone. <br> any insights or advice to either an industrial strength label or a way to database equipment via QR codes would be very helpful.</p> <p>thanks, jeff</p>

<p>yes I know I purchased it, I was referring to the Adobe's subscription. </p> <p>I really really want to use Affinity more but I'm so use to jumping around via Bridge that I can't seem too. And I honestly don't see Lightroom having ten more years of life. It just doesn't seem to be a <em>Great</em> cataloging program for the long haul, especially if you start factoring in motion clips.</p> <p> </p>

<p>I like Affinity and will need to be making buckets of money before I agree to a $70 per month subscription plan. (The irony is if I was making that kind of money I would not want to be editing anyways.) But until Affinity has contact sheet software like Bridge it really is going to be hard to let go of CS 6 </p> <p>I do remember in the 90's when most of the alternative photo editing software was only made for Windows, <em>Picture Perfect </em>wasn't that one of the names.</p>

<p>Stabilizing a 400mm lens for a long exposure requires a fairly stout tripod. However if you just want a tripod to put the camera and lens on while using a fairly fast shutter speed you can get a way with a lot less. Tripods seem to be a very personal choice, weight considerations, height, uses. Is travel by car or air. I would error on the side of a bit bigger/stout version.</p> <p>Something I would take into consideration is the mounting plate for the quick release. At one time in history all my tripod heads had the same release plate it was nice. Now I'm forced back into five different plates for specific tripod heads - if I could have everything with that Acra-swiss plate style that works well with L-brackets I would.</p> <p>The other factor and benefit from a brand like Bogen/Manfrotto is being able to order any specific tiny part of the tripod should something break. I'm sure some others do this, but I know some very highly talked about brands do not (from personal experience)</p>