What is copyright? A copyright is “the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same”. Basically it’s the right to edit, share, or print a designated work.
Who owns the photos? What can or can’t I do with the photos? Who has the copyright? These are some of the more frequent questions that get asked by our clients and if you’re a photographer too, I’m sure it is for you as well. Ultimately, the person who physically takes the picture is the copyright holder to that image, after that is where the options open up. It’s the photographers choice how he/she chooses to assign the copyright after the work has been done. The photographer can keep all the rights, assign just printing rights, or create a variation that fits the clients need.
1. Photographer Owns The Full Copyright
This one is by far the most popular as well as being the most profitable. The photographer is paid a fee (often called a sitting or session fee) which is strictly for the photographers time to come and take the images. Afterwards they will perform edits to the images and the clients would be given those proofs to look through. At this point the client would purchase individual or packed physical prints that they wanted made for their choice of images they liked most. The photographer would print and deliver the images. At any point in the future if the client would want further images, they would just need to contact the photographer and order more prints.
In this method, the photographer chooses to keep all rights to the photos. The client has the ability to choose only their favorites and receive quality prints, while the photographer keeps full artistic control of the work. This option is often viewed as a win win option by giving both people the quality work they want, but in today’s digital environment can become less enticing in a fast paced society. And if not given this information prior could lead to unhappy clients who assumed their sitting or session fee was all they would owe for your services.
2. Photographer Gives a Limited Release
The next method has the photographer giving a limited copyright release to their clients with their purchase. Often a flat price is given including the session, editing, and the limited release all together. This way the photographer can give a no surprise purchase option to the client allowing them to know a price which has everything included. The photographer would then take the pictures, perform the edits on the photos, and return all of the photos or whatever amount they were contracted for. They would then give the client a limited release, which gives a few rights to them. This release isn’t a cookie cutter document and is often different from each photographer based on how they choose to run their business. However, the most common version allows the client to make their own physical prints and the photographer keeps all of the remaining rights to the images.
This is the option we personally use and find it fits exactly what both parties want. We can give our clients a price that they know will not change while also giving them the full value of their session.
3. Photographer Sells The Copyright
The final option is one that most photographers at least offer on their packages. The photographer will perform all of the duties they are contracted fo, but as an option sells off the copyright to the photos at a price. The benefits to owning the copyright is that you could alter, edit, sell, or even advertise your images and have full legal rights to the images. The con to this would be the price, the value changes from person to person based on what they think the value of their pictures would be. By selling the copyright, the photographer relinquishes all value they have to the pictures and as such must charge accordingly.
I hope everyone could take a few things learned from a quick look at these different copyright options that most photographers offer. Of course, there is no definitive option because each photographer must choose which one fits their business and personal choices best. Never be afraid to bring it up while discussing a session with your photographer, a professional will appreciate a client who takes the time to understand just what they’re getting and ask questions about their services. If anyone has any questions on this topic or anything else, just message us and we’d be happy to help!
The Two Most Popular Photography Business Types
We wanted to discuss some common questions that we receive frequently to help provide a better understanding for everyone who is interested. The first, who owns the photos? To put it simply, as soon as the photographer clicks the button on the camera they own the copyright of the photo. After that, there are a few options that are open to the client. The photographer can keep the copyright and sell you the prints, they can sell the copyright to you so you can legally own the images yourself, or the photographer can provide a limited release where you are given permission to make as many personal physical copies of the images as you want, but the copyright remains with the photographer. Ultimately it depends on the photographer how he/she wants to go about handling their images on a day to day basis.
The second, how exactly does this work? To begin, there is generally two popular ways of selling your photography work now a days. The first and most common is the print model. You would pay a sitting fee to get your pictures taken for a certain time period then the photographer would then take the photos, edit them, and give the clients proofs to choose from. From there the client chooses which images they like and must then purchase them from the photographer in the form of prints or print packages. With this type of business practice, the photographer generally holds all rights to the photos and you must always go to them to purchase your photos. Some will still sell the copyright and a CD of your images, but at a increased price. The second option will be to shoot the images and give the client everything that was shot, unedited, on a CD for a pre-discussed price. More times than not, this method can generate too many choices for the client by having hundreds of photos that can be repetitive and similar to one another without much variety, as well as receiving images that have not been professionally edited.
JD Photographs uses a hybrid of the two business practices to give our clients the best of both worlds by giving them edited choices at a great prices. When you book with us you will for most sessions, get all the usable images which are professionally edited making sure you get exactly what you want with the high quality workmanship involved. Of course we still send all or our images to our clients digitally which is the fastest method, because who wants to wait for something you're excited for? After that, we provide a limited release to our clients so they can make as many prints of the images they love without putting a lot of restrictions on them. With that being said I always say "The best way someone can compliment your work is to hang it on the wall". Personally I always love when someone makes prints of my work and feel it really gives a finality to the project. Which is why we offer great studio prints at a great price, so that everyone can have that opportunity to hang some amazing prints that will last a lifetime. With this business model, we feel that we can give everything our clients would want. Simplified choices with high quality images, the ability to make their own prints, prices that are set with no added fees, and professional quality prints as an option if they want it.