Giving away your pics.

Everybody is my friend, therefore I can't charge them.
 
Mark if you read the post, you would see I also do photos for friends and photography for free. I am a teacher by profession and also help friends kids with extra tuition and stuff. Friends are not the problem.

I did read the article and found the content somewhat at odds with the title.

Note that just because I help friends and family out for free I don't always do so - they know not to take the pee. Your computing requirements would fall into that category and no one I know would ask me to undertake that amount of work without offering compensation, at which point is my cue to say no (to avoid tax returns for self-employed type work). It's one thing to set up a PCMCIA wireless adapter or install AV software both 10 minute jobs but there are limits.

As for brakes, I don't do brakes on anyone's cars but my own for what I hope are obvious reasons and squeaky brakes still work. You wont kill anyone by giving them extra tutition or a free photo, if I make a mistake on someone's brakes I might. I did a bit of supervision a few months back when a friend wanted to change his front pads to ensure he didn't miss anything important, but I made him do the work following the Haynes manual. It's not rocket science, understanding the relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture is more difficult than about 90% of jobs on a car.
 
I did read the article and found the content somewhat at odds with the title.

Note that just because I help friends and family out for free I don't always do so - they know not to take the pee. Your computing requirements would fall into that category and no one I know would ask me to undertake that amount of work without offering compensation, at which point is my cue to say no (to avoid tax returns for self-employed type work). It's one thing to set up a PCMCIA wireless adapter or install AV software both 10 minute jobs but there are limits.

That was the point though, do you not think that a company asking to use a photo for free, which in turn will be used by them for commercial gain is not taking the pee? That is the point I am making.


As for brakes, I don't do brakes on anyone's cars but my own for what I hope are obvious reasons and squeaky brakes still work. You wont kill anyone by giving them extra tutition or a free photo, if I make a mistake on someone's brakes I might. I did a bit of supervision a few months back when a friend wanted to change his front pads to ensure he didn't miss anything important, but I made him do the work following the Haynes manual. It's not rocket science, understanding the relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture is more difficult than about 90% of jobs on a car.

I know what you mean, but again it was a general meaning though, it could have been changing my oil for example. Again it was a point that if a random person came up to you and asked for something for free then chances are you will tell them where to go, but when a random person/company asks for a photo for their own personal gain/business use, many say yes.

It also knowing the value of what your do as a photographer. You know your expertise has worth, but people sometimes give away their photos they don't deem them to have worth in a financial sense. They cannot see why just a photo can be worth money.
 
Am i being thick here but surely the only point that carl is trying to get across is the fact of if a company want to use your picture and they are making money from it would shouldn't you earn from it.???

I don't know anyone on here haven't been around for long but i find it hard to believe that if you knew that someone wanted to use your picture and make money from it you wouldn't ask question about getting paid. (unless it was for charity mate)
or perhaps its me just being tight :)
 
ive done photos for bands in the past for nowt.
i still tag the odd ones on myspace/facebook (with a watermark of our webby).
but when bands aproach me for photos , theyre given a price.
i know i can produce good photos for them. i know i'm good enough to charge them.
why should i do it for nowt.?
 
A valid point for both sides of this debate, I applaud your sentiment.

Pro's do a pro job for pro money, that's the business and why they earn it, they are great at what they do.

Am / hobbyist's do it because it's a great feeling to get 'that' shot. I don't think many of us are in it for the money, we are not at that level where we would feel comfortable with that pressure. A generalisation I know, it's how I feel. But I agree that if I were approached for an image where they stand to make money, I want some cash.

I would like to think that we all would do something for nothing, if not, society has just crumpled away before my eyes. But freeloaders have no room in my 'civilised' world.
 
Apologies for not reading the whole thread, but I'm on my mobile and CBA. :)

I don't mind "giving" my photo to Schmap, as it's a little thumbnail they're using, and it links back to my own Flickr, and it has (or will have) my name next to it. I doubt they will gain or lose anything whether I let them link to my image or not.

If it was a high res version with no credit then things might be different.

Three years ago I took a nice photo of a friend's car. "The best photo of it", apparently. He gave all of the photos of his car to a design agency (including the one I said he could have at the time. It's only a daft P&S image, after all), who unwittingly used the photo that I took in an advert that now features across the top of a lot of car forums as a banner.

So I can see it from both sides. He has offered to recompense me for use of image, but I've taken the high road, as I've already said he could use it. It's my own fault. Good blog post, regardless. :thumbs:
 
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