General Licensing Policy
This page describes my image-licensing policy in general. I have separate pages covering
personal and
school use, if your intended use falls into
one of those categories.
General Information
With very rare exceptions, all of the photos on my site are greatly reduced and
compressed versions of high-resolution scans from original 35mm or
(occasionally) medium-format film. However, there are still a few digital
shots out there.
From a Web standpoint, they both look pretty much the same, but in the case of digital
shots, I cannot provide extremely high resolution scans (which is why I switched back
to film and currently shoot film exclusively, by the way).
Most of the original film images are on transparency film, if they are in color.
Black and white images usually are on black-and-white negative film—typically true
B&W film (Tri-X, etc.), but sometimes chromogenic (Portra 400BW). Occasionally
I desaturate color images to black and white for display on my site, so if you need
an image in color and you see only B&W on my site,
ask me about it, as the original
might be in color.
I scan all images myself. Scans of 35mm shots are typically 3600x2400 pixels
or 5600x3700 pixels, depending on the date of the scan and the type of film I used;
all medium-format scans are approximately 8900x8900 pixels in size. Note that
this latter size is sufficient even for wall-sized enlargements.
Available Rights
I can license images to you with just about any rights you require. I favor simplicity,
with a single payment for a single use (although I'm very flexible on how broadly a
given use can be defined, depending on your requirements). About the only restriction is
that I usually do not license exclusive rights, because it's a lot of bookkeeping and
it's not very cost-effective for me. In particular, I never license with exclusive rights
for images in their Web format—in other words, if you just want to use a picture
as-is right off my site (as opposed to a high-resolution original scan), I won't license
it exclusively (but it will be very affordable).
In any case, you'll need to
contact me with your
requirements and we can work something out. I generally reply to e-mail
queries within 24 hours, and often within 1-2 hours, if I'm near my PC when they arrive.
Delivery Methods
I deliver electronically, as a general rule. I do my own scans, and I've scanned many,
many thousands of images, and the scans are of excellent quality. I can
e-mail images or
make them available to you via FTP. If necessary, I can send large images to you
on CD (at your expense), although that is slower.
All of my original scans are RGB, usually 8-bit but sometimes
16-bit for the most popular images, set to Adobe 1998 RGB. However, I can
prepare a file to your specification at no extra charge (except non-standard CMYK
conversions, for which I charge extra).
Model and Property Releases
I don't normally obtain model or property releases for my images, since I usually
license them only for editorial or informational use. If I do have releases, I'll obviously
say so; otherwise, you should assume that I do not (I include a notice to this effect on
my invoices, when applicable).
If you do have commercial or other released use in mind, ask me about it, as there's
always a chance that I might have a release.
Of course, many of my photos don't show anything that needs a release, anyway, so this
isn't necessarily a problem.
Required Information
When you
contact me to ask about licensing,
please including the following information:
- Identification of the images you wish to use.
- Identifying information for yourself and your
organization.
- A description of your intended use, including medium
(print, Web, TV, etc.), circulation or viewer statistics,
reproduction size and type (half-page, full-screen, or
whatever), expected publication date, and duration of
publication (for media that require this, such as the
Web).
- Whether or not your organization is non-profit.
- Whether or not your organization is a tax-recognized
charity (and in this case, describe the nature of the
charity).
- The type of rights you wish to purchase.
Online Use
I treat online use as any other type of use. Licensing for print use does not imply
licensing for online use; if you need a license to use an image online, be sure to
tell me this, and include the following information:
- The final size of the image you plan to use.
- The number of unique visitors you expect will see the image over the period
during which you'll be using it.
- The period of time during which you'll need the image.
- The context in which it will be used (that is, what else will be on the page).
Derivative Works
You need to ask permission from me before creating derivative
works (paintings, sketches, etc.) substantially incorporating
imagery from my photos. However, be advised that, unless your
work is either a very exact copy of my photo or something that
involves big money (such as an opening title sequence for a
movie—yeah, right!), I usually grant permission for
free.
For what it's worth, I have a really liberal attitude towards
derivative works. Unless you are preparing a work that looks
like a direct copy of my photo, I normally will not have any objection.
This means that if you wish to paint an impressionistic canvas
based on one of my photos, or any type of hand-made artwork that
doesn't loook like an actual photograph, I'm not likely to give you a hard
time; but it doesn't hurt to ask me about it by contacting me, and in any
case, you agree to indemnify me against any actions taken by
third parties opposing your work (in other words, if you paint
something based on one of my photos, and somebody sues you over
it, that's your problem, not mine).
Commissioned and Assignment Work
I sometimes do commissioned and assignment work for specific
photographs. The price varies a lot depending on circumstances,
requirements, expenses, and disposition of rights (work for hire,
licensing, etc.), and it may or may not be higher than simply
licensing an existing image from me.
Sometimes I'll take photos on request and license them
according to my usual fee schedule if the photos are of a kind
that I think might have substantial resale value (and if you do
not insist on exclusive rights, of course).
For very simple documentary photos that do not have high
quality requirements and can be taken digitally, I may charge
only my hourly rate with a token fee for the rights you require.
This can be economical if you only require, say, a picture of a
Parisian mailbox or a photograph of the Seine from a certain spot
on a certain bridge, and digital quality (1600x1200 pixels) is
good enough for your purposes.
Contact me
if you have a project in mind.
Image Licensing
