Part 4

Newspapers pay for prints according to their breadth of circulation. A widely-read daily will pay more for photographs than one of small circulation. Very often, newspaper-editors prefer that the press-photographer send a bill for his services. If you are asked to do that, do not hesitate to charge a price you think is entirely just; but don't grasp the opportunity to profiteer. Better, discover the price asked by the newspaper's favorite commercial-photographer, and mark down your price accordingly. That is business; it isn't taking an unfair advantage.

Whatever the price that is paid, don't object if you think it is too low; accept the payment and seek a more remunerative market next time. This applies to magazines as well as to newspapers.

The prices paid by magazines vary likewise, but none of any reputation pays less than one dollar per print. There are many factors which decide the size of the cheque which the press-photographer receives. The first is the circulation of the publication, for its financial reserve depends on the number of buyers. The size of the print in some instances decides the price paid. Thus, one magazine pays $1.00 for prints of one size and $2.00 for larger ones. However, there are not many magazines who pay according to the size of print.

Sometimes, retouching must be applied to a print in order to make it suitable for reproduction; and, as the service of a retoucher is expensive, something is deducted from the photographer's cheque to pay for the work. _Popular Science_ is a magazine of that policy. The photographer can avoid such deductions from his cheques by supplying photographs of such quality that they will need no retouching.

If a photograph is offered for the exclusive use of one magazine it may bring a higher price than if it were non-exclusive. Thus, _Collier's_ pays $3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive ones. Some few magazines rarely accept any print that is not exclusive; indeed, non-exclusiveness may be a reason for rejection. Calendar-makers and postcard-makers, of course, buy only exclusive rights. A publisher is always more favorably inclined toward an exclusive than toward a non-exclusive print; and, very often, the added favor means added dollars to the payment.

The use to which a print is put is also a deciding factor in payment. A print bought for use as a cover-illustration will bring home a bigger cheque than if it were used merely as one of many illustrations. Too, _Illustrated World_ pays $3.00 and more for prints used in its pictorial section, but $2.00 for those used in its mechanical department. Other magazines do not make this distinction.

After all, the price paid depends wholly on the usefulness and quality of the print. If, sometimes, as in the case of the _Ladies' Home Journal_, the payment is made with a view to the photographer's reputation, it is only because news-photographers of experience produce prints of a higher average quality than beginners do. But, if a beginner "delivers the goods," the editor is just as glad to pay to him the large cheque as he is to pay it to any one else.

A few examples of prices paid will be of interest. _Collier's_ pays $3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive prints, and from $25.00 to $100.00 a page for layouts (spreads). _Illustrated World_ pays $3.00 for each print. _Popular Mechanics_ pays $3.00 and up, and $25.00 a page for layouts. _Popular Science_ reimburses at the rate of $3.00 for each photograph, and sometimes more. The _Saturday Blade_ pays $2.00 for each. The Thompson Art Company pays from $1.00 to $5.00. Underwood and Underwood pay from $3.00 and up, according to the value of the print. The Woodman and Teirman Printing Company pays at rates varying from $5.00 to $50.00.

"But when is payment made?" you ask. The answer is, "Either upon acceptance or upon publication."

By far, most magazines pay according to the more desirable plan--upon acceptance. As soon as such a magazine decides that a photograph is useful to it, it mails a cheque to the sender. Sometimes, a receipt is sent with the cheque, which the recipient must sign and return; but, more often, the cheque itself is the receipt. Payment upon acceptance is by far the more desirable method, for with it the worker is paid as soon as his work is done; there is no waiting for weeks and months for payment, as in the case of pay-on-publication magazines.

There are a few magazines who wait until the photograph actually appears in the pages of the publication before payment is made. In such cases, the photographer has no recourse but to wait until the editor is ready to print his contribution whenever it may be.

In the case of pay-on-publication magazines, notice is usually sent that the photograph has been accepted for publication and that it will be paid for as soon as it is published. Sometimes, no notice is given at all of publication or acceptance; and in that case the photographer must scan each issue of the magazine in order to find his contribution when it appears, or he must wait until the cheque arrives that denotes publication. Either method is uncertain; but there is nothing to do but to endure it. Some publications even wait for some time after publication before making payment, as in the case of the _Kansas City Star_, which pays on the fifteenth of the month following publication, and the _Saturday Blade_ which also mails all cheques the month following publication. This is a discouraging policy; but as the cheque always arrives in the end, there is little to be said in condemnation of it; the photographer is obliged to make the best of it.

The contributor should always keep a record of prints accepted and to be paid for on publication. Otherwise, by an oversight, a cheque for published material may never come, and the photographer may never miss it. Too, a cheque may arrive unexpectedly from a forgotten source and cause an attack of heart-failure.

The beginner does not achieve mountain-top prices except by a lucky shot now and then. Prices increase with your experience and your reputation.

The photographer who develops his "nose for news" until it can scent a salable photograph in every conceivable situation is the photographer who has the large cheques forced upon him.

The sky-high cheques come to the camerist who, night and day, through sunshine and storm, earthquake and cyclone, is always "hot on the trail" of the salable photograph that is tucked away somewhere, where only a keen scent and a large amount of perseverance can lead him; and when he arrives, the subject will be singing truthfully, "Shoot me and the wor-rld is tha-hine." There are enough of these subjects to shame the biggest choir on earth by their "singing." However, the photographer must know good music when he hears it.

X

ART PHOTOGRAPHS

An art-photograph may be either of two things: a photograph, itself artistic; or a photograph of some artistic thing. There are markets for both. Artistic photographs are used by calendar and postcard makers; also, by photographic magazines, and magazines given to the beautiful in art or literature. When submitting such photographs to makers of postcards and such, they should be submitted in the usual manner.

The subjects used by card- and calendar-makers are interesting landscapes, beautiful seascapes, pretty girls, attractive children, and animals, as every one knows. Such pictures are sometimes bought outright--indeed, they usually are; but some firms pay according to their value as indicated by the demand for them after publication. Thus, one firm pays on a fifty-fifty basis.

An example of beautiful photography, at the same time picturing an unusual or artistic subject, will usually find a market in a photographic magazine, as _Photo-Era Magazine_ or a magazine such as _Shadowland_. The _Architectural Record_ demands that its prints, although of architectural subjects, be artistic and beautiful. Indeed, there is such a wide market for photographically artistic prints of beautiful subjects that the photographer is doubly rewarded who can supply these, as well as hot-off-the-bat news-photographs.

Artistic photographs are printed on sensitive-paper of a surface suited to their subjects, and are trimmed so as to carry the correct compositional balance; and after, they are tastefully mounted.

Photographs which are not themselves artistic, but which are of art-subjects, may be prepared as are other photographs intended for publication. Such photographs are of statues, pictures, new art-museums, art-collections, paintings, mural decorations, drawings, and anything at all of interest to artists. Material of such sort is sought by such publications as _American Art News_, _Art in America_, _Art and Decoration_, and others that appreciate the very best.

In short, the photographer may market his game among a wider patronage if he can bring down birds of paradise as well as ducks and geese and the common denizens of the air.

XI

COMPETITIONS

Competition is the life of business. Certainly, then, an aspirant for honors from publishers experiences no lack of life. Often, however, after a print has proved unavailable for publication, when offered by the regular process, it may be entered in a photographic competition where current interest is not essential; and so, perhaps, even bring home a larger cheque than it could have captured otherwise.

The two leading photographic publications, _Photo-Era Magazine_ and _American Photography_, conduct monthly competitions. The monthly prizes for the Advanced Competition of _Photo-Era Magazine_ are $10.00, $5.00 and $2.50 in value of photographic goods. Although cash is not paid, a prize awarded will go a long way toward obtaining for the photographer a desired piece of apparatus, or in supplying sensitised material, developing-agents and such with which to produce photographs intended for other magazines. "The contest is free and open to photographers of ability and good standing--amateur or professional." The publisher of _Photo-Era Magazine_ assigns subjects for each month, as "Winter-Sports," "Speed-Pictures," and so on. Since the photographer must buy supplies in any event, the awarding of such to the amount of $10.00 is a distinct help.

_American Photography_ also conducts monthly photographic contests. For these no subjects are assigned. The prizes for the Senior Class are $10.00, $5.00 and $3.00, paid in cash. "Any photographer, amateur or professional, may compete." This magazine last year held an Annual Competition, which it intends to repeat, with prizes of $100.00, $50.00, two of $25.00, and ten of $10.00, not to mention one hundred subscriptions for the magazine. Highly artistic work is necessary for recognition in the Annual Competition. Both _Photo-Era Magazine_ and _American Photography_ supply data-blanks which must be sent with entries.

Competitions for amateur photographs are also conducted by the _American Boy_, which offers monthly prizes of $5.00, $3.00 and $1.00 for "the most interesting amateur photographs received during each month." These are worthwhile.

Photographs of popular interest are used in monthly competitions by many magazines; and many manufacturers conduct occasional, if not regular, prize-contests.

Probably the largest company to offer prizes in competitions is the Eastman Kodak Company. The Eastman company for many years conducted a yearly contest with thousands of dollars in prizes offered. Last year, it decided on an innovation; the running of a monthly contest with prizes of $500.00. This practice has been continued for many months and shows no signs of being discontinued at this writing. Prizes are offered for four classes of photographs, the class being determined by the camera with which the photograph was made. In all, twenty prizes are awarded each month, the highest being $100.00 and the lowest $7.00. Frequently one person wins two or three prizes. The photographs entered must be of good workmanship, of human-interest and must preferably tell a story. No subjects are set. Upon writing to the company, a leaflet is sent which gives rules and an entry-blank. A good many photographers have cleaned-up in these competitions.

Now and then, different manufacturers and magazines, who do not ordinarily do so, offer prizes for photographs. At every opportunity, the press-photographer should enter his prints, for if they win a prize, he has the advantage of a larger remuneration as well as a boosted prestige among editors and publishers.

XII

PRINTS FOR ADVERTISING

Advertisers who are manufacturers are all possessed of the belief that the buying public is painfully ill-informed of the unequalled merits of their products. Consequently, any photographic evidence of the superiority of their goods which will enlighten the public is welcomed with open arms.

Any photograph that shows plainly the excellent service that any product has given will bring the photographer's own price from the manufacturer. The demand is almost universal.

Makers of camera-lenses are continually on the lookout for unusual photographs made with their products. The Wollensak, the Bausch and Lomb, and the Goerz companies frequently buy negatives that portray vividly some features of their lenses.

Makers of camera-shutters also buy photographs which were made with cameras equipped with their shutters. Usually, the point emphasised in the pictures bought is the shutters' ability to "stop motion" at their high speeds. As press-photographers frequently find it necessary to use the shortest exposures given by their shutters, they should have something in their negative-files which the shutter-makers should be eager to obtain.

Makers of photographic material other than lenses and shutters often buy examples of work done with their goods. Thus, the Ansco Company "uses photographs of natural scenes for advertising-purposes," the photographs being made on _Ansco_ film and _Cyko_ paper, or other Ansco products. Burke and James, makers of _Rexo_ cameras, "use photographs for advertising-purposes which must be of unusual interest and must illustrate their goods in use, or be made with their cameras or films." Inasmuch as the news-photographer, in his daily work, finds many unusual things, he should find no difficulty in selling a few prints to camera-makers.

An advertiser is always seeking any information likely to help sell his product. If, in your work, you see an old storage-battery with electric energy still unimpaired, or a well-preserved tire, or a shaving-brush of "strong constitution" unweakened by much use, it would very likely prove profitable to photograph it and describe your find to the company that makes the product.

Thus, an insurance-agency may buy a photograph of a garage destroyed by fire, the cars in which were fully protected by their insurance. A maker of strong-boxes may appreciate a photograph of one of his boxes raked out of, perhaps, the same fire, the box having held valuable papers which were fully protected from the terrific heat. The makers of a portable typewriter once purchased a photograph of one of their machines which had fallen from an airplane and which had to be dug from the ground; but which, of course, suffered no injury whatever because of its fall and burial. If you should unexpectedly come upon Irvin Cobb writing a masterpiece with his Neverleek fountain-pen, snap him (with his permission) and see what the makers of Neverleeks say. Manufacturers of patent roofings use photographs of roofs covered with their products; makers of steam-rollers want photographs of roads tamped by their machines; and so on and on and on.

It is wiser to write first to the advertising-manager of the particular company favored, and to inquire if he is buying photographs that show plainly the unparalleled merits of his excellent product, and if so--etc., etc.

Some advertisers will ask you to name a price for your work, and on such an occasion you should judge fairly the value of the print to them. If they require the negative also, raise the rate. Any prints should be worth $10.00 even to a small manufacturer, and if it is acceptable at all, a larger firm should pay from $25.00 to $1,000.00 for suitable propaganda. This branch of press-photography is little used by many workers, yet it is remunerative.

Besides furnishing the manufacturer with advertising for his product, the photographer supplies himself with some advertising to the effect that "he delivered the goods once, and could do it again, so there."

XIII

COPYRIGHTS AND OTHER RIGHTS

If, as often happens, one photograph is useful to more than one publication, is it all right to sell the one photograph to as many magazines as will buy it?

When a publication prints a photograph on its pages, it copyrights it in the name of the publishing company. The photographer then has parted with his _entire rights_ to it, and cannot sell it elsewhere, _unless_ one of two precautions has been taken.

The first precaution is the writing on the back of each print: "First Magazine-Rights Only." Those "mystic" words mean that the print is offered for publication only one time, after which it again becomes the property of the photographer. That is, the magazine, when buying such a print, buys only the right to print it the first time. Immediately after its publication, it becomes again the property of the photographer, although he cannot of course sell "First Rights" again, any more than he can sell the same horse twice at the same time.

After "First Rights" has been sold, the photographer may then sell "Second Rights," _provided_ those words are written on the back of the second print. "'Second Rights' is the right to publish a photograph in some other publication than the one in which it originally appeared." For instance: a photograph of a novel shop-window display may be acceptable to _Popular Mechanics_, which buys a print _marked_ "First Magazine-Rights Only." But the same photograph may be acceptable too to an advertising-magazine, and so it buys "Second Magazine-Rights." Unless these terms are written on the backs of prints which are sold to more than one magazine, trouble is apt to result.

Another plan by which it is possible to sell a photograph to more than one publication is the labeling _each print_ as: "Non-Exclusive" or "Not Exclusive." When that is done, the photograph may be sold to as many editors as care to buy it.

If no mention of any rights or of exclusiveness is made at the time of sale, it is inferred that the publisher buys "All Rights." In that case the photographer loses _all_ claims to the photograph; if he attempts to sell it again without the consent of the editor who first bought it he is breaking the copyright laws; in fact, he is selling another's property.

There is no need to affix any such terms to any photograph which can sell to only one, or which is to be offered to only one magazine. Magazines are more partial to prints which they can buy outright, and thus acquire "All Rights." Indeed, there are very few prints of enough value to sell to more than one magazine.

Now we plunge deep into the mysteries of copyrights. When a print is copyrighted it is unalterably the property of the person _first_ copyrighting it until he signs "Transference of Copyright." A copyrighted print may be published in a dozen publications if they will buy it, and it still remains the property of the one who first copyrighted it. Copyright laws were passed for the benefit of those who "promote the progress of science and useful arts." This is done "by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to use their respective writings and discoveries." Under this law, "author" includes makers of photographs, and "writings" includes photographs.

The process of copyrighting a photograph is not an involved one. A request should be addressed to the Register of Copyrights at Washington, D.C., for a few copyright-blanks, form J1. (Form J1 is for photographs to be sold, J2 for photographs not to be sold.) One of these cards is then filled out, and two prints of the photographs sent with it to the Copyright Office, as well as the necessary fee. "The fee for the registration of copyrights ... in the case of photographs, when no certificate (of copyright) is demanded is fifty cents; for every certificate, fifty cents" additional. A certificate is not usually necessary, and is useful only in cases of disputed copyright ownership, etc. The fee should be sent only in the form of a money-order to the Register of Copyrights, and the photographs must bear the mark of copyright, which is "either the word 'Copyrighted' or the abbreviation 'Copr.' accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor. In the case of photographs the notice may consist of the letter C inclosed in a circle _provided_ that on some accessible portion of such copies ... the name of the person copyrighting shall appear." Upon the Copyright Office receiving the photographs, the sender is notified; and again, when copyright is granted, he is sent a small card notifying him, or the certificate is sent to him if he has ordered one. Then the print is considered copyrighted.

It is useless to copyright any except those prints of extraordinary value, the rights of which the photographer wishes to retain at all costs. The average quality prints are not likely to be stolen, and so the copyrighting of them is unnecessary. If the photograph is merely to be offered to two or more publications it is only necessary to mark each print as directed in the foregoing paragraphs.

Publishing companies are business-institutions which are of necessity conducted according to the highest ethics. To unwittingly sell to another magazine a print one magazine purchased as exclusive, would be likely to exile the photographer's work from those particular magazines. The photographer should remember that a print of his making is not his property once it is first copyrighted by someone else, _unless_ he has sold only certain rights of it. It is nothing less than theft, to make a photographic copy of a published photograph and to offer it as original and unpublished. The photographer should never try to sell what is not his own work. But since not many have the urge to do so, undue emphasis on that point would be offensive.

"The sum of the foregoing advice is that the author (photographer) should exercise common sense in disposing of rights," says J. Berg Esenwein, editor of the _Writer's Monthly_, in one of his books. "In most cases it would be better to allow the publisher to have 'All Rights' than to forego the chance of a sale; but nearly all magazine-editors are disposed to be reasonable and will agree to share any future profits that may arise from supplementary sales of a manuscript (photograph). The chief point is that author and publisher should clearly understand each other, without the author's losing his rights, yet, without harassing the publisher by making unnecessary stipulations regarding a trifling matter."

The law of copyright should be followed strictly when attempting to submit the same photograph to more than one publication or buyer. If the photographer keeps an eye on what rights he has sold when he cashes his cheque, and governs himself accordingly, he will sail along without trouble of any kind.

XIV

ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL ARTICLES

It would require a surveyor of extraordinary skill to mark the boundary between the lands of _Photographs-With-Explanatory-Data_ and _Articles-Illustrated-With-Photographs_. Since the dividing line is so vague it is not difficult to pass from the one to the other.