Not only have I been a victim of someone editing out my watermark and not paying for the package but I’ve been seeing people ask for Santa photos for cheaper than $20?
Why is this normal ? I don’t understand how someone can want a professional photographer with exspensive equipment and high quality skill to take time out their schedule to not only shoot the photos but edit and proof them. If that’s not worth at least $50 then why not just get creative with that iPhone you dropped $1k on ?
In the late 1990’s, I worked for a stock photography house doing Photoshop editing work. Average sale per licensed image = $800. This was before the age of Royalty Free images and Microstock. Yes, $800 was a premium amount of money to spend on an image, but the images were top notch, and everybody was happy including the buyers. A few things happened since then. Royalty free imagery (very cheap) came about. Film went away in favor of digital capture (more shots available, more photographers in the market). And the web became the primary vehicle. Cultural expectations (for cheap photography, or cheap anything) naturally followed.