What to charge a framing business for my work?

Hi fellow Nikonites, was wondering if I could get some advice here.

I have a co-worker whose wife owns a framing business. (I'm not a professional photographer) My co-worker saw some of my photos and wanted to get me to take photos for his wife's business. She typically sells art prints which are mounted on her custom framing. A lot of her clients are interior designers who decorate homes for homeowners as well as home builders. She currently purchases photos which are already printed from the east coast, then shipped to her on the west coast. Now she has her own large format printer and would like to purchase some of my photos, which she would then print, mount, frame and then sell to her clients.

I've done some research online, but can't really correlate the business strategies I've found with this specific situation. How am I supposed to charge for my photos or services? She wants me to take macro shots of specific objects. Once she approves of the work, she would purchase the digital original from me since I do not have printing capabilities. Am I selling her exclusive rights to these photos? Do I keep a watermark on my photos? I'm just not sure where to start with all this because I only (so far) do photography as a hobby. Any advice is appreciated!

It sounds like she's doing one of two things...

1. Paying you to shoot photos for her based on her specifications. Essentially, she is renting your camera and skill do shoot photos she will own, so you would not charge her for the photographs, you would charge her for your time. As photographer you can ask for some type of credit, but probably shouldn't expect it - maybe a stamp on the back saying, "Photo by Porkibear, exclusively for Whatshername Framing, Inc."

2. Asking you to shoot specific works that she will in turn resell. They are your photos, but she will retain some type of use right, either exclusive or otherwise. Given what she's looking to use them for, I suspect she would want exclusive rights to sell the images, meaning you could use them in a portfolio, but could not profit by selling them, and probably couldn't even print and give them away. As the owner and photographer, you need to determine the parameters around the exclusivity, namely how long the exclusive rights exist, the maximum number of images she can sell, the price to be paid for those rights, either one-time lump sum or per image sold and whether or not you receive credit as the photographer on the print (via watermark or stamp on back). If they are non-exclusive rights, the same parameters must be determined, but I would expect her to pay less per image if you retain the right to profit off of them simultaneously.

My advice? Get all this stuff worked out in writing before you shoot anything.

Thanks for the reply. If you were in my shoes, what would you charge for rights to the digital image? I guess I am wondering what the going rate is for this type of thing. She's never purchased from a professional photographer either so I don't think she has any idea of what to pay. She says she pays about $25 dollars per print from the east coast, which is already printed (not mounted though).

If it were me I would try and get a one for one deal. She frames pictures she wants to resell or use and you get your pictures you want framed in return. I do that with a frame shop here. I also
get wholesale frames from him when I want.

Just-Clayton said:

If it were me I would try and get a one for one deal. She frames pictures she wants to resell or use and you get your pictures you want framed in return. I do that with a frame shop here. I also
get wholesale frames from him when I want.

Click to expand...

That's a good idea. I'm sure she would give me a huge discount on framing regardless, since I'm friends with her husband. I'm trying to make a few extra dollars on the side so I can fuel another one of my "hobbies" (cars). I figured this would give me a good opportunity to get my feet wet in actually selling some of my work without any huge pressure. She's only going to purchase what she likes and what she thinks she can resell to her clients.