Dan Marchant wrote in post #19065913
Yes, no, maybe.
Style can't be copyrighted.... so taking a similar photo isn't infringement, except that in certain very rare situations it might be* (at least in the UK). I would ask the client to indemnify you against any loss as a result of doing what they want.
* The infamous red bus tea caddy case.
Respectfully, Dan, because I do, indeed, respect your opinion, I don't think the red bus case would be applicable to merely copying a photography style.
Justice Birss gave judgement in favour of Mr Fielder: he found that Mr Houghton copied a substantial part of Mr Fielder’s picture and thus infringed his copyright. The judge held that there were obvious similarities between the two images – such as the same buildings in black and white with a bright red bus driving from right to left and the blank white sky – and that these similarities were due to the fact that Mr Houghton saw Mr Fielder’s work before creating his own image, had copied it, and had copied too much of it.
https://www.copyrightuser.org …on/episode-1-case-file-1/
Mentioned again and again is the fact that the infringement involved the second photograph containing the same specific elements of the original, such as the buildings of Parliament (at the same viewing angle) and the bus itself. If the similarity were no more than that both images used selective color, the case would not have gone to court.
With regard to copying style...Annie Liebovitz has been copying Irving Penn for years.
