There must be agreement as to the fee and what is purchased for the fee.
Most photographers seek to sell only limited rights.
If greater rights are purchased,they ask for a higher fee.
If the designer is sensitive to this, the best approach may be to ask for limited rights.
This should avoid paying for usage rights that are never exploited.
On the other hand, the designer must obtain all of the rights that his or her client needs.
In the first instance, the designer must consider what rights will be transferred to the client.
Rights can be limited in many ways,including the duration of use, geographic area of use, type of product or publication, title of the product or publication, and whether the use is exclusive or nonexclusive.
An important aspect of the grant of rights is whether the work may be used in electronic media (such as on a website or a CD-ROM) as wellas in traditional media.
A photographer working on assignment will expect reimbursement for expenses.
The designer should carefully review the expenses to be reimbursed to avoid the possibility of a dispute arising.
Whether a cap can be placed on expenses, such as stating that expenses shall not exceed the estimate by 10 percent, will have to be negotiated along with whether a markup is to be charged by the photographer on some or all of the expenses.
(The designer will face the same issues of cap and markups when billing the client.
) If the designer requires changes and this causes reshoots, expenses will increase dramatically.
The designer has to be careful not to be caught in a squeeze between a client with a limited budget and an image cost which exceeds that budget because of changes.
When expenses will be very substantial, an advance against expenses may become part of the contract (in which case the designer would want an advance from the client sufficient to cover what is being paid on account to the photographer).
Whether or not sales tax will have to be paid, and who will be expected to pay it, should also be resolved in the contract.