[gnaztee]

Okay, looking for some advice on a one-time deal (not starting a new business or anything), and I appreciate any help or advice. I took some photographs of a local hotel my wife works for (she's in management, but did not request the photos, just suggested I was a capable photographer) that they were to use in internal operations (in other words, not for advertising or public consumption), so I did them for free. They liked the photos enough that they'd like to use them on their website, and are wanting to negotiate a price to use them (my wife is removed from this).

My questions:

When I sell them, what do I sell? Do I sell one time use rights? Do I sell them the photos outright? I don't know how to "license" photos...is there a contract I need to draw up?

As to price, I'm thinking about two different groupings. First, there is the set of photos of the hotel. They are not something I would use for any other purpose, so I was thinking about $150 for those, and not too much in the way of restriction. They also want to use some general area photos, which are in my "fine art" print category (which I do half-heartedly try to sell). With these, I'm thinking a la carte pricing per photo, with very set restrictions on use. Does any of this sound like I'm on the right track?

I hope I'm clear in what I'm asking. I'm no pro, but I could sure use some pro advice! Thanks

[Capslock118]

Only because i've asked things here that google could have answered for me, allow me to return the favor:

How do I copyright my photo?

You Don’t. It’s already copyrighted.
You don’t need to submit a form, and you don’t have to use that “©” symbol or a digital watermark — those are just customary ways of identifying the copyright owner.

Flickr: Help: Photos

How can I copyright my photos?

In most parts of the world, including the U.S., Canada, EU countries, and Japan, you are automatically granted copyrights to your photos.
Remember that you can only copyright images that you own. In some instances, you may not have the rights to all of the elements that you’ve photographed (for example, the work of another artist) and may not have the rights to reproduce that photo elsewhere.
The nonprofit Creative Commons offers six default licenses as an alternative to full copyright so you can choose the one that best suits your needs.
You can select a default license for your photos here.
To change the license for a specific picture, just open up "Owner settings" near the bottom of your photo page and edit the license.

Sell Stock Photos

The benefit of copyright, is that you can license your photographs. With a stock photo, you don’t sell the photo, you license it — you permit a client to use the image in exchange for money. You can negotiate the terms of the license (in what ways the client can reproduce the image and for how long) and the price.
For example, you can offer to license a photo to a magazine client for the following terms: $50 to use the photo on a web page, $100 inside the magazine, $600 on the cover, $1000 on an advert, non-exclusive for one year. Thus, if the client uses your picture on the web and in the magazine, It’s $150, and if they want to do that for two years, It’s $300.
Most importantly, you don’t give up the copyright, you retain the copyright.

As for contracts - that's easy too. You can either write one up yourself or find a template if you have no idea where to start.

As far as contracts go, you just write down what you and the other party wish to agree on, both sign, then get it notorized to make it offically legal (that is, if you think your agreement would ever find a reason to end up in court (I've never had any contracts notorized other than appartment agreements.)) . I don't know what professional photographers REALLY do, that's just contract 101.

Contracts are as simple or as complicated as both parties wish.

Contract related only, not related to photography:
When I write contracts for web programming or similar, the contract is generally a page long and highlights that I am working as-is, with no additional compensation other than the agreed amount. It also highlights the work to be delivered. Now, I have had a past client complain once about what was delivered and threatend to sue. We went back to the contract we both signed, looked at what was expected versus what was delivered, and the client backed off his threat after we both agreed I did deliver on expectations. The problem was the the clients expectations, in the end, did not meet their business requirement. So we went and drafted a new contract for new work and eventually the business requirements met the expectations. Does that mean a simple 1-page contract is enough? maybe, it depends. What you are looking for sounds really like a 1-page agreement, most of that space filled with lines for party signers.

In my experience though most businesses operated in good faith. Obviously you still have contracts so that both parties have legal recourse in the worst situation, but you really shouldnt worry about it. Just cover your back and you will be fine, the other party will do the same, business as usual.

[Reportage]

how much depends up on you. remember they could simply hire another photographer to "photocopy" what you did.

usually i sell the photos for such jobs outright since no use for them but insist that you get the credit for the photos. You will then get cash, credit for the photos, an addition to your portfolio and possibly repeat jobs from other hotels.

You can also sell by "per use" or "limited time" as well but you would need a means of enforcing the agreement.

[Ron Kruger]

Your price structure sounds reasonable to me. I generally charge less for website use than for print. Most of the time, rights are agreed upon well before the sale, and these are most often determined by the buyer. But then, I sell mostly to newspapers and magazines with set rules for purchase.
I do not, however, sell all rights to anyting.
Usually the whole thing is pretty simple, but in your case, I believe a detailed contract is warrented, because it sounds like it is not just you who dosen't know how this all works, and the hotel my think that when they buy your shots they own them completely and can use them for ads, billboards or whatever. If it is for website use only, put that in writing and have them sign it.