Since these photos aren’t their primary source of income there seems, apathy sets in and it is easier for people to just give them away.
I think most people would argue that much of the photo giveaways are primarily due to people just not being aware of what their photos are worth.
#Fotoquote pro pro
The Solution - Cradoc fotoSoftware’s fotoQuote Pro 6 In fact, even respected publications such as Newsweek, Time and National Geographic have been rumored to pay significantly less than the market rate to acquire rights to photos that would have in the past been provided by full-time pros. There are even rumors that big agencies that charge large sums of money for photo rights taking advantage of these people by trolling popular photo sites and gaining rights to photos for mere pennies. This practice has hurt the full-time pro photography industry because they now find themselves competing with “free” and that’s resulted in a lot of photographers going bankrupt or having to change professions. Sadly, most new photographers are so honored at the thought of getting published that they simply give their photos away. The ProblemĪ common trend these days in this tight economy is for ad agencies, magazines, etc… to troll sites like flickr trying to find photos that are “good enough” for what they need, and then try to get the rights to use them for way below the market rate. It happened to me, and since it was just a simple picture I took when I was at the zoo with my kids I thought – what they heck, why not? However, I quickly began to realize I was fueling a growing problem that is destroying the full-time pro photography industry. Hardly a week goes by where I don’t see or hear from someone asking “how much is my photo worth?” because they have been contacted by someone like Schmap who found their photo on flickr, and they want to use it without paying you anything more than a photographic credit.