Many photographers, models, makeup artists, wardrobe artists, and so on do shoots on a TFP/TFCD basis. Some do strictly TFP/TFCD, some do a mix of TFP/TFCD and pay shoots. What should you expect from a photographer who wants to shoot TFP/TFCD? What exactly is TFP/TFCD?
TFP stands for one or more of the following:
Time For Prints | Time For Portfolio |
Trade For Prints | Trade For Portfolio |
You will also see digital shooters use the phrase TFCD or TFP/CD. These mean:
Time/Trade for CD | Time/Trade for Prints/CD |
Whatever the particular phrase the letters stand for, the basic idea is simple: In a TFP/TFCD photoshoot, no money changes hands. The model doesn't get an hourly or session fee, and the photographer doesn't get an hourly fee, a session fee, or any pay for providing the model with prints and/or digital images (the CD part usually the model gets a CD with her image selection burned onto it.) All participants are doing the photoshoot in hopes of getting good quality images for their portfolios, which they can use for self-promotion to get more, and hopefully paying work.
TFP/TFCD is usually the domain of amateur photographers and/or beginning models, although many pros will do a TFP/TFCD photoshoot with an amateur model (or an amateur photographer) who can't pay their usual rates but whose look or previous work the professional finds intriguing. That doesn't mean that outstanding work can't be produced at a TFP/TFCD photoshoot. Many amateur photographers are amateurs only in that photography is not how they pay their bills; however, they have talent and equipment equal to most professional photographers. Images obtained through TFP/TFCD sessions are in many a models portfolio and have earned many a callback from an agency or pro shooter.
What a model should expect from a TFP/TFCD shoot:
1) A friendly, professional demeanor from the photographer. Even if the photographer is an amateur, or a beginner, thats no excuse for not treating the model as the valuable contributor to their work that she is.
2) Work that is a reasonable approximation of the photographers talent and expertise. TFP/TFCD is not second-class photography and it should be of good quality.
3) A signed release specifying what the model is to receive as her compensation in the form of prints or digital images. This protects both the photographer and the model by making their rights and obligations clear to each other.
What a model should not expect from a TFP/TFCD shoot:
1) Any money. That includes revenue from later sale or license of the photographs in most cases. Many photographers have a policy of giving the model some percentage of revenue from such sales or licenses, but unless the model is a pro and the photographer is not, this is not something the model usually demands. It is more in the nature of a pleasant bonus.
2) Unlimited rights to the photographs. It is the law in most countries that photographs are the property of the photographer. The model may have the right to have some say in how they are used, but the photographer is the primary rights-holder. Most TFP/TFCD releases provide that the model may only use the photographs for self-promotion and may not sell or relicense them. However, some models, especially models who are already under contract or hope to submit photographs to a specific user, will specify that certain uses (for example, print use of nude shots) are not allowed.
3) Unlimited prints. Prints, especially portfolio-quality prints, are not cheap. The photographer should offer a reasonable quantity, perhaps based on the total number of usable images captured. If the model wants more prints than are agreed upon before the shoot begins, she should expect to pay a reasonable price for them.
Probably the most common complaint about beginning models doing TFP/TFCD is that they are unreliable and sometimes don't show up for scheduled shoots. The usual reply to a complaint of this sort is that since the models not getting paid, she doesn't have a real obligation to the photographer. This is, bluntly, wrong. The photographer has committed to the shoot. If they did not believe that they were going to have a shoot with that model at that time, they could have scheduled something else. A no-show model represents time and opportunity wasted, and both of those have a very real monetary value. Models with reputations for dependability get callbacks, referrals and models who don't, don't. The world of photography is surprisingly close-knit and it doesn't take long at all for word to get around.
Excerpt from: www.datahero.com/stmarc/tfp.html