A very common problem that photographers face is businesses, cafes, restaurants, magazines and newspapers who contact them, asking to use their images for free. In return, they offer to “compensate” them with offers of exposure, links, credits and QR codes.
Photographers want exposure for their work and where the competition is concerned, getting exposure and raising the profiles of photographers is a fundamental aim. All our efforts are focussed on this and we give photographers exposure in the books, exhibitions and in the media.
Where businesses are concerned, getting photographers exposure is not their aim. Their true aim is to make money for themselves and far too many businesses see photographers as easy targets to get free use of their images.
Why businesses really want your images
The competition gets the same requests as photographers do – all the time. In almost every case, it is a businesses looking to dress up their website, decorate the front page of a corporate report or run a marketing campaign. Photographers rarely get exposure for their work and never get any sales from these campaigns.
Cafes, coffee shops and drop in restaurants
Whilst giving away your image files to businesses will not incur you any great expense, giving your images over to cafes, coffee shops and restaurants can leave you significantly out of pocket.
Cafes, coffee shops and the like do not care about selling your images. They just want nice prints on their walls to provide nice surroundings for their customers, so don’t be fooled.
The worst part with dealing with cafes is that you have to supply the prints and you meet the costs.
You may be hopeful that people will come in and start buying your work, but this never turns out to be true. People go to cafes and restaurants to drink coffee and eat meals. They’re not there to buy prints so your work will stay on the walls, gathering dust or grease or warping from changes in humidity. We’ve seen this in countless cafes and restaurants all over Scotland.
Beware those bearing gifts
Over the years, the way businesses make contact for free images is more or less the same, so we’ve listed the most common ones below.
Number 1 – We’ll credit you in all our marketing material.
The minute they say “all our material” this as a big red flag. If you agree, they may credit you once on one page, but they will invariably use your images on hundreds of other places, such as adverts and flyers.
Number 2 – we have 10k followers, we’ll compensate you with a link from our website and our socials.
They may well do, but they usually don’t. If they really wanted to share your work, they could easily share it from your social media page. What they really want is to obtain your Hi Res files to use elsewhere and then say you gave them permission. Links and shares are not compensation.
Number 3 – we’ll put a QR code next to your image for our customers to scan and buy your work.
This is becoming increasingly common with pubs, restaurants and cafes. NEVER agree to any business that offers you to put a QR code on your work – especially if the business supplies the QR code. Business can direct the link anywhere they want and you would never know. You images could be used to direct people to the business’s products and they make all the money. Worst of all, the QR codes can be used in scams. NEVER AGREE
Sweet talking, sob stories and persuasive tactics
When contacted, watch out for these common tactics meant to persuade you
- We have no money for photography
- We have a limited budget.
- We’ve used other photographers like you and they gave their mages for free.
- Ansel Adams gave us one of his images for free so you’d be seen in the same light (Yes, companies have actually used this.)
- Other photographers gave their images, you’re the only one refusing.
- We’re on a tight deadline, can you not just do it this one time?
Conclusion
If any commercial company asks to use your work for free, never give it away. Tell them your fees and if they are genuinely wantyour work, they will pay for it. If not, they’ll just move on to the next photographer.