Copyright

[ExpensiveHobby]

Hi everyone.

Just today, i got my first paid job and I was thinking about copyrights. This job I got requires me to shoot pictures at a birthday party. So i have a couple of questions. If i shoot the pictures, it means that i have the copyright. correct? and what does it mean to give up your copyright? signed papers? and technically, if they're pictures of other people, i can't do anything with the pictures since i would need their consent. Does that sound right?

Last question. This is my first job and I intend to give my client the pictures in full original size. Do i still have the copyright?

[alabama1980]

I'm sure you will get more informative answers but I will tell you what I have been told.

As soon as you click, you are the copyright holder of that image, however you will be hard pressed to pursue any legal action unless you register your images.

As far as giving up the copyright, I think you basically have to transfer ownership with appropriate documents.

Third question is tricky. As best I understand it, you can use the images for anything except commercial use or anything that would be considered defamation.

Read these links, do a search on the forums. Those will be your best bets.

http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p16_photography_copyright

[amfoto1]

Yes, the copyright is automatically yours unless you sign it away or accept the job under a "work for hire" agreement or are a staff photographer and this is part of your duties.

I have been shooting for 30 years and have yet to figure out any good reason to surrender your copyright. You have no way of predicting if the images you take will have future value. It's easy to provide any client with limited, licensed usage for just about any purpose, without ever giving up your copyright. Licensing is done in writing. Buy a copy of "Business and Legal Forms for Photographers".

Get their consent. You should have signed a contract with them to do the job anyway, and consent would often be part of that agreement. The above book also includes forms for model releases you can adapt, either by adding it to your contract or if you wish to use a separate form for the purpose.

Normal method charging for a job like this would be to shoot for a fee based upon your day rate and an estimate of how much time you will be spending doing the shoot (or your minimum, such as a half day). This doesn't include any images yet.

Then provide the customer with edited proofs from the shoot. By edited, I mean cull out the bad shots. Proofs are small, watermarked to prevent copying if a digital file, and are for the client to choose the images they want.


Once they have made their choices, do final post-processing on the images and provide whatever they want... prints, digital files, etc. Post processing would normally be charged on an hourly basis, often calculated at half the day rate. Usage charges are on a per image basis and vary a lot depending upon the exact usage. Discounts might be given for multiple images. Since this is likely a private party hiring you, it might be easiest to just quote a simple, set fee per image.

Be aware that when you hand over digital files, you give up quality control over the finished product. If they choose to have them printed at Walmart and the store does a lousy job, those are the prints that they will be showing their friends and you can bet they won't blame Walmart for the poor print quality... It will be the lousy photographer that made such poor images.

If you give digital files, you should clearly mark the disk with your copyright and info about it should be embedded in the EXIF of each and every file as well. When they go to print, they may run into trouble. So, include a simple .doc or .txt file that explains copyright and that the photographer retains all rights, as well as the licensing you have extended to them. That may be, for example, that they are licensed to make prints for personal use, may make digital copies for email sharing or posting online, but may not to resell the images or provide copies in any way to any third party for any commercial usage.

The fact that you have an XTi suggests you live in the U.S. If so, then you should register your images with the U.S. copyright office within 3 months of first publication. You already own the copyright, this extra step simply enhances protection of it.