Hey all! I've been asked to photograph a young woman's baby so that she may send the photos off to an agency. I'm charging her $20 plus a photo CD. I don't know if I should watermark the photos I send off with this woman or not? It's my gut instinct to do so but I have no idea how an agent would view that action. Ah!!

First off, a watermark is not needed if these images are to be compressed in order to be viewed through a monitor only. They can't do anything with them except view them. Resize them to 720 pixels from the long edge, 72 dpi. You can include your information on the photo's metadata. If dispute should ever arise as to where these photos originated from, there's a way to track it down all the way down to the camera # that took them. Arbitration would likely be required.

Why did you charge so little?

If the woman is expecting full-resolution images so that she can print them, then you should charge her a lot more than $20, or sell her prints. Unless, of course, she's a family member or someone you know. Full resolution images must never be watermarked.

This post was edited by onepagememory on Apr 11 2011 05:39pm

Thank you! They will be compressed, so this is good to know. I forgot about how useful the metadata aspect is.

I've never seriously charged for my work before, and this girl is the 'friend of a friend' type of person. I know her a little bit. She is sending them away only online I believe, she just said a CD won't even be needed. As well, it's completely nerve wracking setting a price for myself! I've just upped the prices on some of the prints I sell, but offering a service by request is a whole new game.

Hehe, she'll love the photos and want a full res disc or some prints. Don't be afraid to charge what your work is worth!
Considering the quality of your self-photos, I'd be charging ~$100 / hr session.

Edit: corrected some spelling mistakes. I'm tired

This post was edited by onepagememory on Apr 11 2011 05:45pm

I'm thinking of making a disc, then putting a few of the top shots at high resolution so that she can print them off if she'd like to. She is young though... I probably should start charging more as well, but I'll see how being hired for a job goes and see how it all plays out!

don't. It's ok to be generous, but charge her for HR files. It's best if you gift her an 8x10 print.

Okay! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this helps me out.

If she's paying why would you be watermarking them?
She's paying you for the copyright, she owns the rights to the image once you accept payment for it.

Exactly my thoughts.

I do have a second job that requires casting photos, and the first time I paid a pro to do them.
With the price I was paying, there is no way a watermark would be on my picture.
A casting photo is used by the model/actor to sell himself off, not to advertise the photographer.
So it's a big no for the watermark.

Now the casting agents prefer more natural photos, colors instead of black and white.
Also minimal retouching on them.
If an agent looks at a photo but can't recognize the person that shows up, it's a big boubou.

A watermark is used for security matter, to prevent people from stealing your work.
My regular Flickr account has no watermark on my picture.
On the other hand, on the Flickr account for my horse pictures, I had to do it cause within only a couple days, someone had already downloaded some of my pictures...

I've rarely sold my photos except in art galleries which yeah, are watermark free. Just curious though! I kind of panicked when someone asked me straight up for some photos that they would pay me for. It's so new, and it's becoming more than a hobby faster than I've anticipated.
I was hoping for bright, coloured photos so I'm glad that's what I should be doing. Thank you guys!