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Key words in this issue: Website Pricing | Infringement | Photographers’ Insurance | Photos that Sell |

## PhotoAIM weekly newsletter for 07/12/03 ## 394b

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PhotoAIM, the weekly newsletter from PhotoSource

International. <http://www.photosource.com> ==>

ISSN 1530-0511

If you no longer wish to receive PhotoAIM, see the instructions at the end of this newsletter.

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HOW TO PRICE PHOTOS FOR WEBSITE USE

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Advance Notes: Picasso once said, "You can sell a painting for $25 or you can sell it for $25,000. It just depends on how long you want to wait." When it comes to website pricing, however, you don't have the luxury of waiting. Here's one method you can use to base your fees on, that will dependably put your fees within the range of the industry norm.

WEBSITE PRICING of your photos is easy if you use what I call the "One Dollar" formula. It applies to both editorial and commercial markets.

A client asks, "What do you charge for website use?"

Answer the question with your own question, "How many visitors (actual visitors, not number of hits) does your site get each day?"

This question may stump them, and they may admit, "I don’t know." But you can easily look like the expert when you return with, "Just a minute, I’ll let you know."

Using the free software from www.Alexa.com (a company owned by Amazon.com) you call up Alexa.com. Next: type in the URL of your client’s company. When the Alexa page comes up, click on the button that says "Site Info." Alexa’s assessment of the site will come up.

The statistics on the Alexa page will show you the owner and address of the company (you can spout that back to the client also, for verification). Also included: the number of "Alexa visitors" the client gets each day. Alexa has its own complex formula for determining the visitor number, but it’s generally based on a percentage of the total hits a website receives each day. Example: the client’s site receives 7500 hits per day; Alexa estimates the site gets 1500 actual visitors (about one-fifth the total number of hits).

THE ONE DOLLAR FORMULA

Now that you’ve determined this figure, you are ready to apply my One Dollar formula. You’ll find that most inquirers who contact you wanting a photo to use on the Web, are interested in acquiring a photo for their Home Page, and my Dollar Formula applies to this usage. If your client currently receives 300 daily visitors, you will charge them $300 per year ($1 per visitor). If they receive 3,000 visitors per day, you will charge them $3,000 per year, or $250 per month, which is probably within their standard advertising budget.

Want to read more of this article? Go to: http://www.photoaim.com/ntpd291.html

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This week's featured photographer on PhotoSourceFolio: Peggy Morsch:

(http://www.photosourcefolio.com)

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ANNOUNCEMENT

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WATCH FOR IT. In October, your PhotoAIM will be delivered weekly in a choice of three formats: HTML, PDF, and regular text. As we move through the summer months we'll keep you posted on progress.

BUSINESS NOTEPAD

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INFRINGERS BEWARE. That's the message Corbis recently sent to the websurfing public when it won a big settlement from Ofoto, a web print-on-demand company owned by Kodak. The lawsuits results, which barely paid for the legal costs, sent a message to would-be-infringers that it is illegal to capture a non-public domain photo on the web and use it for commercial purposes. Corbis initiated the case in 2001 after it noticed large amounts of its photos on Webshots, (now gone bankrupt), an image file-sharing site then owned by the Web portal Excite@Home. Many Corbis photographers' images were infringed. As one Corbis photographer put it, "By persuing this suit, Corbis established a precedent. I think a lot of potential infringers will think twice before doing that to us again." –RE

TAX TACTICS

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MEDICAL INSURANCE DEDUCTIONS FOR STOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS

Those kinder and gentler folks at the IRS have a nifty present for stock photographers and other self-employed individuals: a better break on what they spend for medical insurance, starting with returns for 2003 to be filed in 2004.

You need no reminder that the cost of medical care keeps climbing. Worse yet, you have to absorb more of the cost because so many charges are not covered by your insurance.

Understandably, these outlays loom large in your eyes. Unfortunately, they usually fail to measure up to a deductible size in the view of the IRS: As you laboriously list your itemized expenses on Schedule A of Form 1040, you'll find that the only expenditures deemed allowable are those exceeding 7.5 percent of your AGI, short for adjusted gross income, the figure on the last line of page one of the 1040 form.

But for 2003, stock photographers and other self-employeds are able to deduct 100 percent of their medical insurance premiums for themselves and their spouses and dependents without regard to that 7.5 percent threshold, up from just 70 percent of such premiums for 2002.

Who qualifies: (1) self-employeds, whether they operate their businesses or professions as sole proprietorships, partnerships, or limited liability companies; and (2) S corporation shareholders owning more than 2 percent of the stock. (S corporations are companies, taxed much the same way as partnerships are, that pass profits through to their shareholders.)

Want to read more of this article? Go to: http://www.photoaim.com/txtct88.html

GOOD STUFF

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How to Shoot Stock Photos That Sell, 3rd edition, by Michal Heron. Allworth Press, 2001, 224 pages, $19.95, ISBN 1-58115-087-3. Although Heron also discusses commercial stock (corporate, advertising, etc.), most of her book is directly applicable to editorial stock photography. The emphasis, as the title promises, is on how to shoot saleable stock. Her chapter "Thirty-Five Stock Assignments You Can Shoot," with detailed instructions for self-assignments that can generate saleable photos, is especially useful. There are also chapters on equipment, editing and organizing, marketing, negotiating prices, etc. Contact person is Birte Pampel, Publicist, Allworth Press, 10 East 23rd Street, Suite 510, New York, NY, 10010; (212) 777-8395; http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#1581150873 . - David Arnold

LEARNING TO LIGHT, by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz. Although this book is subtitled "A Practical Guide to Photographic Lighting for the Amateur," it’s equally appropriate for most pros. In 62 concise chapters the authors show you how to handle practically every lighting situation you’re likely to encounter, including large interiors, buildings at night, polished surfaces, food, and group portraits. Helpful lighting diagrams show exactly how the book’s many illustrative photos were taken. ($24.95; Amphoto Books; ISBN 0-8174-4179-4; 160 pages) Contact: Watson-Guptill Publications, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. – David Arnold

http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstoreone.htm#0817441794 .

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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"A people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

– James Madison

FREE THIS WEEK

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Gardeners! FREE 40-POUND BAG OF FERTILIZER. Sign-up and get a free certificate to take in to your local garden center. Hu-More Plant and Soil Builder is a multi-use organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. Provides nutrients to flowers, vegetables, and trees. Specially formulated organic humus provides nutrient-rich organic matter blended with alfalfa which supplies natural growth stimulators.

http://www.hu-more.com/htmlsite/newsletter.asp

THIS WEEK'S WEB FEATURE

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Would you like to stay current with this kind of information in a convenient newsletter - mailed to your home or office the first every month? Subscribe to our parent newsletter, PhotoStockNotes - 8 pages filled with vital stock photography tips and trends, delivered to your postal mailbox. How-to and insider articles on pricing, copyright, stock photo agencies, legal issues, and monthly updates of photobuyer address changes. Only $36 per year.

http://www.photosource.com/psnorder.html

Watch for developments in the field of stock photography in PhotoAIM's

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS

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You'll be the first to know…

Note: If the URL is long, it may extend to two lines. In that case - clicking on it won't work. Instead, "copy and paste" the URL.

Get those captions right!

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20030707/localnews/603913-photos.html#1

Corbis Wins $1M Infringement Settlement, More Suits Pending....

http://www.pdn-pix.com/news/

Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing - Among the board's preliminary recommendations to NASA: improve launch photography.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030708/ap_on_sc/shuttle_investigation_9

Marcel Saba Resurfaces With Redux Pictures - Three years after selling his agency to Corbis, photo editor Marcel Saba is back in business with his new venture, Redux Pictures. Saba hopes the editorial-driven agency can offer an alternative to the bigger agencies.

http://www.pdn-pix.com/news/ - 1

Court backs thumbnail image linking - Search engines' display of miniature images is fair use under copyright law, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, but the legality of presenting full-size renditions of visual works is yet to be determined.

http://news.com.com/2100-1025-1023629.html

Dell plays up audio, photo bundles - Dell Computer is offering new music, printing and photography bundles designed to help consumers get more out of their PCs.

http://news.com.com/2100-1041-1023441.html

Digital camera sales will surpass film cameras this year

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3977799.html

Canon Raises 2003 Digital Camera Shipment Forecast

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aAbhCVu_GgcQ&refer=asia

Birth of photography seen in daguerreotype exhibit

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/09Jul2003_news34.html

Are camera-phones good news or bad for the photography industry?

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1901134

Lewes photography gallery has new name

http://www.delmarvanow.com/debeachcomber/stories/20030704/589322.html

San Diego County newspaper apologizes for altering photo

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/6260226.htm

Want to read more of this article? Go to: http://www.photoaim.com/pitn0512.html

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If you haven't ALREADY... be sure to put your stock list on the PhotoSourceBank (715) 248 1512

http://www.photosourcebook.com/bank/index.html

PhotoAIM is a collection of excerpts from our monthly newsletter, PhotoStockNotes (We now have it available in German.) PhotoStockNotes is also available via postal mail in the USA: $3.00 per month. Outside the USA: $5 per month. >http://www.photosource.com/psnintro.html

Feel free to forward this issue of PhotoAIM to your photographer friends.

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394b

Next Week: Gone Fishin’