Photography Contract Question - Rights? (LONG)

shannonalise · August 2009

Hello! We have a wonderful photographer and we've already contracted with her. She does have copyrights on her photos - I totally get that - it's her intellectual property. We have read her contract and still have a few questions about our rights with the photos and want to ask here before we ask her: based on the parts of the contract below, can you tell if we'll be able to upload our photos onto websites like photobucket and facebook, or email them to our family? Also, will we have the rights to print our photos from elsewhere? We are getting a DVD with all of the high resolution images from our wedding day photography and our engagement session. We also have access to her online proof gallery. The photos that are in the online proof gallery and the ones on the DVD have been edited slightly for color correction, contrast, and tonal adjustments. Any prints we'll get for our wedding album, or any prints we order from her from our engagement session will have her custom editing done to them, which is really beautiful. Our final question would be whether anyone buys photos from their photographer and receives them in digital form, rather than physical form. Obviously, we would pay for her to do the editing work she would do to enhance the digital proofs, but it would be more beneficial for us to have them in digital form. 6. Copyright & Reproductions ...(photographer) shall own the copyright for all images created at the event and shall have exclusive right to make reproductions... make reproductions for the Client or for the photographer's portfolio, web site, studio samples, printed promotional materials... 7. Client Usage The Client is obtaining photographs for personal use only and shall not sell prints or authorize any reproductions by parties other than (photographer)... It is a violation...to allow photographs taken to be reproduced or altered in any manner including but not limited to electronic scanning via personal scanner, "screen capturing," or reproduction via photo lab or self-service kiosk. SO FAR, THIS SEEMS TO CLEARLY STATE THAT WE HAVE NO RIGHTS TO THE PHOTOS, AND TO PRINTING THEM ELSEWHERE, BUT SECTION 11 SAYS... 11. Release of Digital Negatives (Photographer) will release the high-resolution files (digital negatives) to the Client...These files will be delivered on multiple CD's or DVD. By releasing the digital negatives (photographer) authorizes the client to use the images contained on the CD for personal use. (Photographer) is not responsible for the quality of enlargements from these files that have been taken to a non-professional and/or consumer photo lab. The images may not be sold or published without the written consent of the photographer. Photographer will retain the copyright of the images contained on the DVD as well as the exclusive rights detailed in section "Copyright & Reproductions." Upon releasing the digital negatives to the client (photographer) is released of all liability for archiving all of the files. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any help you can provide with our initial questions!

tiana531 · August 2009

you can upload them to facebook and stuff, shes just saying she can do whatever she wants with your pictures to promote her business. After she gives you the negatives she cant really tell you not to go to CVS to print them, however they will be crappy. And she doesnt want you to sell them as "your own" even though its you in the picture. its pretty standard i think mine said about the same..

shannonalise · August 2009

Thanks Tiana! Makes sense.

subdola · August 2009

ditto pp. Sounds like your files aren't going to be optimal size for larger prints, thus forcing you to buy them from her for good quality. They'll probably be good for anything basic you want to do with them (facebook, normal size prints etc) but if you want a poster-size version for some reason then you should go through her.

chryse · August 2009

Why don't you ask your photographer? I'm sure pps are right, but the person you are signing the contract with is the one to confirm or deny your interpretation of the contract.

shannonalise · August 2009

Chryse, I know, I know. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't going to look like a moron first.

I've asked her a lot of questions already, so I wanted to give her a break and see if I could get my answers from someone who could interpret the contract. And I did get some good answers. I'll probably double check with her next time I talk to her to be sure. I'm always afraid of offending my vendors too - if it's clear in the contract and I go ask her if I can use the photos in some way that she contracted with me against, I don't want to ask if it's clear to everyone but FI and I.

woodfrogs · August 2009

No questions you ask a vendor are stupid, it's just a clarification of the contract legalese and your photographer should be happy to answer them, both for your protection and theirs. If you post on FB or somewhere else, she may have a provision somewhere that you also need to give photo credit. Does it happen to say when you're get the digital negatives? Sometimes photographers don't release those until a certain time period has gone by, or if you buy an album, or you pay a certain fee. You might want to check that out to. It also says that once you get the digital negatives and the photographer no longer needs to keep backup files of your pics. So you might want to make sure that the images are on archival quality disks.

chryse · August 2009

Imo, a vendor that makes you feel stupid for asking questions isn't a vendor to keep. How you feel about asking a lot questions, is another matter altogether, but I can sympathize. good luck!

shannonalise · August 2009

Chryse, I get what you're saying totally. But she hasn't made us feel stupid at all - it is, like you said, more about how I feel about asking a lot of questions.

I wouldn't deal with a vendor that made us feel silly or uncomfortable for asking questions though, so I agree with you 100% on that.

Photography Contract Question - Rights? (LONG)

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