Jain Lemos » Photography and Publishing

Just when you thought you were done for the year along comes one more assignment for 2008 . You are to shoot the cover for a glossy magazine called “Nights” and the photo has to be a vertical. Make a night portrait using street/storefront lighting as backdrops. Your subject can be any adult but they need to display some type of trendy fashion accent. If you find good Christmas light displays, go for it, but don’t make the shot look too holiday-ish, as this is for the March issue.

The cover story is “Best Places for Evening Strolls.” Work with flash to light your subject. Be sure to leave enough negative space in the frame. In post, create a masthead logo and drop it in place. Add some type around the sides for inside articles to complete the cover mock-up. An alternate assignment is to only shoot night verticals with cover art in mind for the next several days.

Enjoy, and to all my terrific mentees out there: Thanks for sharing your journey with me this year and keep up the good work!

Have you tried teaming up with another creative person lately? Here are some ideas:

• Ask a writer if you can take photographs for something new he is writing. Turn this into a new post for both of your blogs.
• Take an illustrator on a field trip and let her draw the situations you are shooting. Combine your art into a promotional booklet for your next mailings.
• Call a decorator and offer to document his day while working on a project. Pitch this as an article for a regional home magazine.
• Make some quality prints of your best images and ask a framer to come up with a new way of displaying your art. Create signage with your credits and find a public space to exhibit your works.

This Adobe Illustrator exercise on CreativePro.com, my favorite site with DIY stuff, is a great example of a step-by-step tutorial. Photographer, etc. Chad Newman just whips these babies out!

This month, write any type of “How To” article using your own illustrations. Instead of a software demo, think of a process you know well and then photograph its stages. If you grow plants from seeds, let’s see your method. Amuse us with your technique for hanging a shower curtain or washing your dog. If you have Chad’s knack for writing tutorials why not make some extra money?

However, if you become lost every morning trying to measure the right amount of coffee for six cups of water without referring to the instruction manual, then equal credit will be given for submitting before-and-after Silhouettes ;-. Please don’t tell me you don’t take “busy” photos or have Illustrator. You have many resources. It’s a long month. Stay frosty.

The June Mentoring Assignment prompted several interesting comments, such as this one from Chris DeLellis, President of Art Life Images:

“As a stock photography company owner, I was enthralled by your calculation of the license fee for the shoe client and your scenario and teachings on Rights-Managed licensing. I ask you to continue in this vain as you may be one of the few voices out there expressing the true or proper value of the work, on top of the fact that you obviously really know your stuff.”

This month, you are the photographer. The client is a manufacturer of upscale aromatherapy and bath and body products. Their Marketing Director found you through the shoe company’s ad agency after seeing your “Cinderella” photograph. He needs an estimate for shooting one model with their products in a four picture mini-story. You’ve said that your creative fee is $3500/image plus expenses. You retain copyright; they can use all four images exclusively for one year in any application.

But the client wants to own the images. You’ve explained that a buyout or work-for-hire agreement is four times your creative fee (a total of $56,000). He’s allocated $25,000 for everything (rights and expenses). What he needs most beyond the initial ad campaign is flexibility over the next five years to use the images in product packaging and collateral materials for their distributors.

Think about what rights you can provide within their budget. What can you manage for $6250/image total? Is there a way to cut down on expenses? What about the model’s fee? Can you shoot all four images in one day, maximizing assistants and stylists? Consider your options under territory of use and exclusivity. Work out several scenarios on paper including the rights transfer language needed for your final agreement.

Now that we have a photo selected for our shoe client, this month we need to calculate a usage license.

For purposes of this quoting exercise, you work for the stock agency representing this image, which falls under a Rights Managed agreement. Your agency receives 60%; the photographer receives 40% of the total license.

The art buyer has told you (under the radar) that the pick-up photo budget for this advertising campaign is USD $18,000. They have asked for Industry Exclusive for North American (NA) footwear companies. He’ll need to see your breakdown for each usage so he can present it to his boss who will determine what she may want to adjust or drop. But everyone really loves the photo .

Your task: Determine the costs (break it down) for all six elements of usage. Can you get to $18K without one usage being under priced if it was a standalone quote?

1. Three consumer and three trade magazines, single placement on any interior page, up to full page image, one insertion per publication, one year, total circulation all magazines up to 12 million
2. Art display, up to 4′x6′, one version, in-store poster at 150 locations, two years
3. eNewsletter usage, three electronic issues, six months, total 2 million circulation
4. Company website, home page for six months up to ½ screen, home page spot/link for six months up to 1/8 screen, secondary pages for one year, up to ¼ screen
5. Web banner ads, all Internet distribution formats, multiple placements on any pages, size up to 300 x 600 pixels banner, single version, two years
6. Trade show presentation, projected display at booth, single placement on screen, looped, up to full screen image, single version, any quantity of shows up to six months

You can use online pricing or other tools to check each individual license. There is no deadline or winner, but if you have questions or want to show me what you came up with, my contact info is over on the left. As always, should you or any of your force become caught or killed….

That’s $10,800 for the stock agency and $7,200 for not having to figure all of this out.

The May Mentoring Assignment is closed. Thanks for participating .

I’ve combined the best selections. Here are the lightbox links:

Art Life Images
Stock Shop
Digital Railroad Marketplace
Jupiterimages

Corrine Geertsen is the winner, not so much for her image selections but for this alternate tag: Celebrate Life! Celebrate Yourself! Buy Shoes!

Based on Corrine’s headline, I selected the winning shot from Jupiterimages. It has an imaginative feel and good ad space composition. Many thanks to Jessica Stewart @ Jupiter for permission to post the comp file.

Place and Show? Which do you like based on the final selects? The June assignment is coming tomorrow so please join us for some fun.

I had a few meltdown conversations yesterday. Folks are on overload. Even Bill Jay says he’s had it with this business. The consensus is to get very serious about one direction, and one direction, only.

Another piece of advice: “It’s not who you know, it’s who you don’t know.” Make a call next week and introduce yourself and your idea. Have your elevator pitch ready. Or head over to the Joy of Giving Something or the Forward Thinking Museum for a workout. Trust your intuition and fan your burning desire again.

A great way to build overall photo knowledge is to perform searches. For this exercise, you can use any online photo site that allows you to search and save images to lightboxes. When you are done, email me up to three lightboxes with a maximum of 10 images per lightbox.

The brief: Find a stock photo from any online source (RM, RF, Community, Microstock, etc.) for a major shoe company that manufacturers all shoe types. The image will be used for a national ad campaign. You can submit both vertical and horizontal images. Ideally, the image should not feature shoes as this is a conceptual promo. The company wants to highlight their new tag line: “When the Shoe Fits”.

There will be Win, Place and Show categories with your researching credit and link to your site or portfolio. Deadline for submission is June 16, 2008.

Good luck, Mentees!