I’ve been to several photo labs and camera stores in the past and I’ve overheard the same conversation between customers and staff. Invariably, someone has brought in a photograph to have scanned and printed and, they’re shocked to learn, the store will not print the pictures. Why not?
Whenever I see this happen, I wait until it’s over and then go to the store clerk and thank them for protecting the photographer’s copyright of the image. I also feel bad for the customer (assuming they didn’t know they couldn’t do that). Here in the United States, copyright is an easily understood law but, because so many of my colleagues don’t take the time to educate their clients, people don’t know about the law and they end up feeling angry when the store turns them away.
With that in mind, I thought I’d spend a few moments telling you, my gentle reades, what copyright is and what it means to you as my client and to me as a photographer.
First let’s look at the basic law: copyright of a picture belongs to me as the photographer. No, it doesn’t matter that you paid me to photograph your wedding; if I am your photographer then I own all rights to the pictures. The word ‘copyright’ really means ‘the right to copy’ and, as the photographer, I am the only one who has the right to make copies. In fact, there are only two ways that I wouldn’t have the copyright to the images – I’m shooting under something called “work for hire” (which almost never applies to a wedding) or I’ve signed a document that specifically assigns the copyright to someone else. The law says that, absent one of these two scenarios, I have the copyright to all the photographs that I take.
That’s why, when you take a picture to the camera store and ask for it to be scanned and printed, they say no; the store cannot legally make copies for you. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, the store could be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating the copyright of just a single image. That’s enough of a deterrent.
How, then, can you get prints made of your wedding photographs? Many, if not most, photographers sell prints. Yes, the prices may seem inflated but after you factor in all the costs, they’re not making that much (but that’s a different blog entry). What you CAN do is to talk with your photographer and ask for a “usage license”. This is a simple document that the photographer provides you that says you have the right to make copies of an image or have digital files printed. There are a variety of limitations that may come into play, but those are all negotiated between you and your photographer.
It all comes down to the one thing you’ll read in “I Now Pronounce” over and over and over: communication between you and your photographer is critical. You need to understand copyright and I need to ensure that you understand it. You need to know that you can ask for a license to make extra copies yourself and I need to ensure that you know licensing is an option.
One last thought – as photographers, we aren’t strict about maintaining copyright because we’re greedy and want to bleed every penny from you, but we (at least us professional photographers) are very much concerned about the quality of the image that you receive. If you scan in a picture and make a print, you are not going to have a print that is the quality you originally paid us to take for you.
I know this is a long post but it’s not something that has to be needlessly complicated: just understood.
For more information on copyright law in the United States, check out www.copyright.gov
