Copyright - Keeping your tog happy!

Being a photographer, knowledge of the basic ins and outs of copyright law and general image usage come as second nature to me at this point. I understand the pricing structures around it, the do’s and don’ts, and the standard outline of most photography contracts. But to the everyday person, these things are a total unknown.

So I want to use this blog to introduce you to some basic copyright knowledge in order to keep you in the clear, and help us photographers stay happy. In situations like this, knowledge is power!

Let’s start with simple image usage and licensing.

When you book a private photoshoot with a photographer, the intention for your final images is personal use. By personal use, I mean you wont be using these images to earn any money from in the form of advertising or promotion, or reselling the images, these images are strictly for you and your own enjoyment.
You will be granted the use of these images to post on your social media (again, not for advertising or promotion), and some photographers will allow you to print the images for personal use, others will not - this is something you need to discuss with your photographer, and will also usually be outlined in your contract.

If you have booked a shoot with a photographer under the understanding that these images are for private use, and then use these images for advertising, you will most likely find yourself either in court, or with a hefty bill to settle the issue.

So why do images cost more if they’re for commercial use? When you use images to advertise a product or service, you’ll be profiting off that image, it becomes an asset that you earn from. You may have the licensing to use that in print too, meaning you’ll have a high resolution copy to print up to whatever size you need. You pay for the versatility of that image to earn you more money.

(Just to note, commercial image terms will be agreed up with your photographer, so you might only have the agreement to be able to use the images online, or that you can only use them in one country, these things need to be discussed with your photographer to make sure you’re both on the same page.)

So, what about copyright, what exactly is it? Let’s start with a definition.

Copyright (Kop-ee-rahyt)

noun

The exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 70 years after his or her death.

When you receive images from a photographer, the photographer retains the image copyright, unless you’re paying a serious amount of money (I’m talking well into the thousands for one image), then this will always be the case.

This means you cannot legally sell the rights to the image, or claim it as your own, because the photographer still retains copyright. He/she can do whatever they wish with the image, such as selling it to other parties, or using it for their own advertising, they will still be able to earn royalties from that piece of work so long as they retain copyright - however, in some contracts, exclusivity might be an outlined clause, meaning the client will be the only person who that image can be sold to, or used for advertising by - again, discuss exclusivity with your photographer!

So now we’re past the difference between commercial and personal use, and you also understand what copyright is now, so what about editing?

Did you know when you put a filter on a photo, you’re actually infringing on your contract? This is considered an alteration of the image, and a vast majority of photographers will have in their contracts that you are not allowed to alter the image in any way, this includes editing with editing software, as well as applying filters.

So you’re probably wondering what the harm in adding a filter is.

Well, a photographers image is their artwork. It’s their standards that they set, almost a form of a digital business card when it’s posted online. We photographers put a lot of time and energy into making sure an image looks just so, balancing exposures, temperature, vibrancy, shadows, highlights, as well as all the extra retouching we do outside of colour treatment. All of this adds a finishing look to the image after it’s been shot, and it’s a representation of how our work looks across the board.

When you add a filer onto a photographers image, you’re not only altering the image so it no longer looks how the photographer intended, potentially creating confusion for potential clients who may have seen that image, you’re also being exceptionally rude to a photographer. You’re saying that you know better, and that their work wasn’t good enough in your eyes.

Our work is our pride and joy, and alterations completely discard the hard work we’ve put in. So please, don’t put the filter on your images, respect us both artists, and professionals.

Now, onto a final point - using images for competitions and media.

I frequently see giveaways online which ask for a photo as part of an entry. For example, there’s a boot company I see who do a monthly competition, entrants have to send in a photo of themselves wearing a pair of this company’s boots, and the best photo wins a prize - all good fun!
However, this company frequently lands itself in hot water with photographers because the people sending in the photos don’t always own the image or have the permission from the photographer to send in those photos.
If you’re wanting to use a photo taken by a photographer for a giveaway, you need to check in with the photographer to make sure they’re happy for you to use it in such a way, because in situations like this, things can very easily escalate and we can find our images suddenly being used by other businesses for advertising - the image becomes a profitable asset (see the first section of this blog where I mentioned commercial licensing and you’ll understand why this is an issue!).

The same concept of asking a photographers permission is also important in media use - such as press releases, or social media features. Often there will be a small fee for you to use an image like this as it’s getting much greater reach, and bouncing benefit back to you, photographers need compensation for the value the image is giving you.

It’s all about making sure photographers are paid fairly and recognised for their work.

In the age of instant and camera phones, the concept of the value of an image has been forgotten about - photos are incredibly valuable assets, especially in the era of visual marketing, and photographers deserve to be paid appropriately for the weight of such a product.

I hope you’ve learnt a few things from reading through this blog, and now have a clearer idea of the basic ins and outs of copyright and image usage, the more people know about these laws, the easier life is for everyone!

Stay strong,

Emma