Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

Here we are at one of the trickiest topics: Image Licensing. Pricing for licensing isn’t easy. After all, you have to work out the value of a photo in line with how much your client will profit from it. There are agreed-upon values and subjective values—and then you have to consider what your client is willing to pay.

As I said, very tricky. Let’s explore how you should approach licensing.

How to Determine Image Value

To determine the value of an image—and therefore its license—you need some information from the client:

What the image will be used for
Where the image will appear—website, social media, in print, TV, billboards, etc.
How long the image will be used for—one time only, three years, etc.
Image size—⅛, ¼, ½, full page
Size of exposure/audience—print run, circulation, distribution

There are some great tools—some paid, some free—that you can input these figures into and get a price for image licensing. That said, beware of tools that are outdated.

My top pick? Getty Images. Once you get the required information from the client, you plug it into Getty’s Rights Managed category search to help you find the price. Most countries have a regional Getty website that will give you a quote in your local currency. It’s a quick, easy way to find figures for what you can charge for your licenses.