Read carefully just in case you didnt know ESTABLISHED PHOTOGRAPHER 1: I have a foot both in the consumer portrait world and the fashion/commercial world. While the commercial clients who commission a lot of photography usually have a decent understanding of copyright, this is not always the case. And consumers generally have very little understanding. But to be fair, a lot of photographers don’t have a clear understanding of copyright either! So here’s copyright law in a nutshell: whenever a photographer takes a photograph, he/she usually owns that image, and can decide what to do with it. It doesn’t matter if someone hired the photographer to take the image…the client pays for the service, not the copyright. Generally the client and photographer have agreed on how the client may use that image. But the client is only ‘borrowing’ the image, and doesn’t own it. Even if the image is actually of the client! The person who creates the image owns it, unless he/she gives up that ownership. Portrait/wedding clients will often assume that, because they hired the photographer, and the pictures are of them, that they must own the images and can do what they want with them. Not so. They have paid for the services of the photographer, and whatever rights the photographer specifically gives them as part of the transaction. The one exception to this automatic copyright is if the photographer has agreed contractually to give up copyright, or has created the images under a ‘work for hire’ of employment situation. That is a relatively rare occurrence though. There is a free on line resources online that explains both rights of photographer and consumers...check it out before utilizing photographers images as promotional for the purpose of sale without written or contractual agreement from the photographer. In short, When In Doubt, Check It Out!
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 09:06:21 +0000