Caught a client using my photos on their new website without paying

I was at a coffee shop last Tuesday scrolling through Instagram when I saw someone I'd never worked with running my product shots for a monthly ad. I zoomed in and recognized the exact lighting and shadow from a shoot I did for another brand back in March. I sent them a polite email with a link to my invoice and a screenshot of their site, and they paid me $350 within 24 hours without even arguing. Has anyone else had a client just quietly use your work then pay up when you call them out?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_wells5d ago

Does a single photo of my cat wearing a tiny hat count if they cropped out the hat? I had a friend who found his wedding photos on a mattress website once, they paid him $200 and a free pillow.

colegarcia5d ago

Is it just me or does this kind of thing happen way more often than people realize? @taylor_wells I swear every photo we upload to social media ends up somewhere random eventually. Your friend's wedding photos on a mattress site is wild but honestly not that surprising anymore. I've noticed a pattern where companies just grab any image that looks decent and slap it on their product pages without asking. It's like they figure if it's public online, it's free to use. The worst part is most people never even find out their photos are being used like that. Your cat hat story is actually pretty tame compared to some of the stuff I've seen.

ray6135d ago

Those mattress sites are a whole different level of weird. @colegarcia nailed it when he said companies treat public photos like free stock. A $200 payout and a pillow hardly seems worth the hassle of your wedding being used to sell bedding.