Copyright and exclusivity

All submitted photographs need to be cleared for third party image rights or have an appropriate release available. You will need to confirm that you are the author and sole owner of all rights. plainpicture only accepts submissions of photographs that are exclusive material and are not distributed elsewhere.

Model Releases and Property Releases

For publication and commercial use of the photographic artwork, a written agreement is needed for all recognizable individuals in an image. Publication rights need to be granted to the photographer by the person depicted by means of a model release form.

Furthermore, ownership has to be clarified with a property release and the signature of the owner for premises that are clearly recognizable in an image, e.g. in the case of private property or public/ semi-public places such as universities or restaurants.

We are happy to provide model and property release templates if needed.

Usage rights (Photographers' contract)

If we think we can successfully market your images, we will offer you a contract in order to transfer the usage rights of your images to plainpicture. You will retain all copyrights.

Photographers' fee (Royalties)

plainpicture pays its photographers the revenue from the sale of usage rights quarterly. Photographers receive an e-mail with a detailed list of all sales, as well as recent tear-sheets (if available). Selected tear-sheets will also be shown on our blog.

Image submission

Your first submission should contain a minimum of 100 images. To give an overview of your portfolio and visual language, your submission may include photographic artwork of different styles. Please submit JPEG images as good quality lowres-files (min. 1.200 px on the long side) with no sub folders. Do not submit PDFs or HTML galleries.

The quality of your original hires-files is key for successful marketing as all photographs need to meet the demands of commercial and editorial publishing. We ask for a minimum resolution of 18 megapixels for digital reflex cameras. Current compact cameras are only suitable to a limited extent, and we do not accept images from mobile phone.

Hires-files, keywords and releases are only required once you are under contract with plainpicture.

Workflow

Please send your first submission via a download link to photography@plainpicture.com

After reviewing your images we will get in touch with you to discuss further steps. plainpicture will not be held responsible for any damage or loss of submitted material.

FAQ:

May I use the submitted images for personal needs?

Yes, you can still use your images for self promotion, e.g. on your website and social media, as well as for exhibitions and exhibition catalogues. Furthermore, photographs may be sold as art editions through galleries.

How much can I earn and how do I get paid?

Image fees depend on their kind of usage. The usage fee is calculated based on different factors, such as purpose of use, circulation, size and duration of the publication (Rights Managed / RM licensing model). We also offer a Rights Simplified (RS) licensing model which was devised by plainpicture. Further information about our fees and licenses is available here.

Revenue from sold usage rights is paid out quarterly. You will receive an e-mail with a detailed list of your sales. A sales overview will also be accessible in your personal account. If available, we provide specimen copies and tear-sheets, and selected samples will also be shown on our blog.

How does plainpicture control the use of my images?

Anyone can search for images on our plainpicture website without registration, but images can only be downloaded as watermarked lowres-files for layout purposes. Hires-images are exclusively made available for clients after registration and verification. This way, we are able to track and invoice every download. With the help of a tracking-tool we are also able to find and process unlicensed image usage.

Contact

If you have further questions feel free to get in touch with our team: photography@plainpicture.com / +49 40 80 81 288 - 20