How much is a Photo of you worth?

For me with the model release include, nothing.

On the other hand, photos of celebrities getting hitched, at Starbucks or crashing their car full of drugs while driving drunk are the hottiest commodity since sliced bread it seems. They are getting snapped up more than ice in the desert. All kidding aside, those photos can be bought for multi-million dollar payouts and the amounts are growing for shots that show our celeb idols in more everyday settings.

What is the most expensive celeb photo ever sold? Topping out the list of high priced photos were Brad and Angelina, whose photo of their baby Shiloh was sold to People magazine for $4.1mm. Doing the right thing, the couple turned around and gave the money to various African charities. Bravo Brangelina.

The trend points to a Celeb photo and footage market that is red hot and still heating up. The public's appetite for this type of content is insatiable and the competition between different publications is creating bidding wars that increase the price of this content to nose bleed levels. In addition, the trend has moved away from staged moments and more towards catching them in the act. I know. It's more fun to see Brittney Spears freak out on a bystander's car then it is to see her on stage or the red carpet. Stars have recently begun to control and profit from how their pictures are taken and used. Celebs have hired or tipped off the "paps" to be in the right place at the right time. There were also rumors that Spears was changing outfits during the day so she could have photos of her in different outfits which she could sell to the agencies. I don't know if that is crazy or really smart. Smart for Spears. Crazy for us that we care that much ;-)

I think this practice is something that will grow and open up a new category of celebrity footage and photos which can be licensed by the celebs to others. How will professional paps react to this? If they are on the outside of these deals, it could negatively effect their trade or make them more ruthless getting the shots. What is your take on how the celeb photo and footage market will evolve and where are the opportunities?

Snapvillage- Corbis's new project

StockPhotoTalk reported today that SnapVillage launched its beta site today, empowered by Corbis but catering to user-generated photography. I'm not sure how sweeping the changes are for those participants in the microstock world but they are proclaiming big things in the press release. Some of the advantages are pricing that empowers photographers, access to premium markets and streamlined image submissions. How important are these issues to you? How would you rank what are most important to you?

The NYT ran an article on SnapVillage today quoting Gary Shenk, who said that "the company is not just acknowledging the growing importance of microstock sites, but also recognizing the threat to its higher-price images. "Cannibalization is going to happen in our industry", Mr. Shenk said. "We can either let it consume us or be part of it".

They still have to work out some bugs as they are in beta so I won't comment that much on the platform just the offering.

The best thing I see about the new offering is that photographers can now set their own price. That is a step in the right direction but how will they assure or at least avoid photographers who price their content too high or too low. Understanding the market and how the market is pricing content out there is a lot for people who spend a lot of their time doing their passion. Photography. Do people really want to keep changing their prices if they are not getting sales or moving up their prices if they are getting a slew of sales. How will SnapVillage capture those extra sales or extract that extra dollar out of every download for their customers?

I think it is a good start but don't think they have gone far enough. Cutcaster will build off the power it gives back to the creators to set the terms and pricing in addition to empowering the buyers to choose a lower price they can only afford or want to pay. Providing information that is easy to understand and visually see for people is the best way for them to capture value and educate themselves on the market trends. Allowing them to set the price is only one step in a much larger picture.

For those of you outside the US, this site will not be available to you for a while.