[TER-OR]

I've allowed nonprofits, science advocacy and nature centers to use photos for free. The mission of these groups is to educate the public about ecology and nature, this is also my mission. I'm not taking professional-quality images of these flowers and insects, though I've thought about doing it in the future. Isolating some plants in the wild with backdrops etc. would make for a better picture, but I don't think that's what these groups necessarily want. I'm also not pursuing photography as a career, but as a hobby with a purpose.

it's a tricky subject for sure, and I think it depends on your goal and the requester's goal.

[Lowell Goudge]

if it were me, i would want the following

- credit printed under the photo(s) in the book
- the publisher has the right for one printing only, reprints of the book or later editions that use the photo(s) would have a monetary value equal to the copy of the book they initially provide, for each subsequent reprinting. if they earn more you should too.
- the publisher has no continuing rights to use the photo elsewhere, or to sell the rights of use to others
- no restriction to the right to use the photo for my own use
- the right to use the publication of the photo to promote my photography business

[tuco]

Value the picture at $10K. Donate the picture and get a receipt. Save that for your taxes...

[DeadJohn]

For a commercial venture, the answer should be a firm NO. They can gather a bunch of free photos and keep all the profit. Great business model for them but terribly one-sided. Giving free photos to a non-profit means you are charitable. Giving free photos to a business so they can sell a book and keep the money means you are being taken advantage of.

[pete-tarmigan]

I've got a request on flickr to use some of my photos of seals and walrus for a book revision. In the message it states "Although a commercial venture, we are only funded to provide complimentary electronic and hard copies of the book to photographers who provide images, and as such are mostly relying on colleagues and researchers who support the project."

Is it worth it giving permission to use photos for free to a commercial venture?
They are willing to give me a copy of their book so it isn't actually giving away my photos for free.

A friend who is a birder, and who also spends about 30 hours per week photographing wild birds (in addition to his 9-5 job) routinely provides photos to authors of specialized bird identification books in exchange for a free copy of the book. Given the relatively small print runs of specialized books like that, given the fact that the market for photos of wild birds is flooded with good photos, and given the fact that he uses the books that he receives, he is satisfied with the compensation. In your case, if the book is a mass-market book, you might expect better slightly compensation, but take into account the number of similar photos from amateur photographers. If the supply is high, expect low value for such photos. The number of print magazines and books, and the size of print runs are also crashing because declining demand. Sad to say, when it comes to wildlife photos it is getting very hard to sell a photo at all, much less selling one for a token payment.

[DeadJohn]

Value the picture at $10K. Donate the picture and get a receipt. Save that for your taxes...

I hope anyone who follows that advice likes to wear orange or striped outfits.

[tim60]

I have done work which has been published by associations of which I am a member. In this case I am happy to allow publication because it is part of my participation in the organisation. I have one commercially published, by a normal publisher, photo. I was not paid - but the author of the book was closely connected to me and had given me the lens used for the photo. In the credits my name was correct but the place of the photo was wrong - it was near his house on the east of the Pacific, not near my house on the west of the Pacific. Except for the caveats mentioned by some others above about the prestige of being in this I would be inclined to not publish in a commercial place without payment and when I had no other relationship with them.

---------- Post added 02-20-15 at 06:35 AM ----------

Value the picture at $10K. Donate the picture and get a receipt. Save that for your taxes...

That only works in Australia if the recipient of the donation is a tax-deductible registered charity. And, I believe a donation must actually be in cash. Found that out because my employer is tax-deductible registered and expects massively more than standard hours work, so I suggested a 'free' way for them to remunerate staff for the donated time would be to send a receipt for the value of the time donated (which can be as much as 20 -25 hours per week, on a whole of year average - it is a university.)

[BrianR]

That only works in Australia if the recipient of the donation is a tax-deductible registered charity. And, I believe a donation must actually be in cash. Found that out because my employer is tax-deductible registered and expects massively more than standard hours work, so I suggested a 'free' way for them to remunerate staff for the donated time would be to send a receipt for the value of the time donated (which can be as much as 20 -25 hours per week, on a whole of year average - it is a university.)

As I understand it, where I am (Canada) you can give items to charities and get a tax receipt for the value (these are called 'gifts in kind') but "the gift of time" isn't eligible for a receipt. There's also the issue of properly valuing items given for a donation and a registered charity won't last long if it gets caught handing out massive tax-receipts over-valuing stuff.

[Lowell Goudge]

As I understand it, where I am (Canada) you can give items to charities and get a tax receipt for the value (these are called 'gifts in kind') but "the gift of time" isn't eligible for a receipt. There's also the issue of properly valuing items given for a donation and a registered charity won't last long if it gets caught handing out massive tax-receipts over-valuing stuff.

Just look at all the current tax fraud cases where people donated over valued musical instruments

[Chaos_Realm]

I made the mistake of providing one of my images to a group like this (although a research report on the impact of cats on wildlife).

I never heard from them again, never got a copy of the work. Fortunately I only provided a web sized image to them.
In retrospect, I also have come to learn that pretty much what they are saying is: "we want your image for free because we don't value the photographers hard work to get this image."
They don't go to a publisher and say "can you print 1000 copies for free?"
And they don't expect that their work is done without pay - otherwise it would not be a commercial venture.

it is just their way of reducing costs to maximize profit.

As a follow up to my statement above I must partially retract my annoyance with the researcher I was referring to.
I found the article that she wrote and as it turned out the report had the reference I asked for and was exactly how I was informed it would be, except I was never told that is was completed and availiable.

The association (to quote thier web site); "SWILD is an independent research and consulting association of wildlife biologists is from Switzerland"
So the report is not really comprehensible to me but my image featured on Pg14 and as-per standard referencing systems Identified in the reference list.
http://www.zuerchertierschutz.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Projekte/pdf/catlit_S...0521_gross.pdf

So it took a little digging to find but I got there in the end. - Not as annoyed by this group as they are not-for-profit and did as I requested (mostly). But I still take this as a lesson and advise against giving images out for free.