Photography and Copyright: Complete Guide for Photographers

Welcome to the course “Photography & Copyright - A Complete Guide for Photographers”

Nowadays photography has become extremely popular both from a creative and business point of view.

With the advent of new modern technology and the internet as a whole, photography is one of the most trendy areas for professional development.

That’s why every photographer needs to learn not only how to become more creative and skillful from a technical perspective, but also how to manage his or her work from a business and legal point of view.

This course is designed to teach photographers how copyright law can help them control and benefit from their images in order to build a sustainable business model out of this profession.

Why is copyright so important for photography?

There are two main reasons.

First of all, copyright is a legal framework that protects every artistic work, including photographs, against their unauthorized use.

Copyright gives every photographer a tool to control the way his/her photos can be used and to prevent all sorts of infringing activities.

The idea behind copyright is to provide authors with an incentive for the creation of different works such as literature, artistic works (including photographs, paintings, sculptures), musical works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, etc.

In that way, the photographers can create new works relying on copyright protection to receive a proper income from their original works.

This is crucial because without such rights it would be nearly impossible for photographers to make their living because everyone would be able to use their works for free.

The second reason is that copyright gives photographers a ground for doing business with their photos. That is to say, copyright stipulates particular rules that allow business transactions with copyrighted images.

These business transactions are happening through copyright agreements where photographers can define the scope of use of their works and in that way maximize the profit from them.

For example, a non-exclusive license can allow a photographer to give permission to many users to use one and the same image, which potentially means higher income.

A copyright license can be limited only to one country or for one type of use. For instance, a photographer can give a license only for the digital use of the image to one user and for print to another.

In contrast, an exclusive license means that the image can be used only by one licensee but in this case the photographer can negotiate for better remuneration because of the fact that the use will be unique, that is to say, nobody else will be able to use the same image.

If we have to summarize all the benefits that copyright provides photographers with we can say that:

• It gives legal protection over photographs;

• Photographers can control who, how, when, and where can use their photos;

• Photographers can claim authorship over their photos based on the law;

• Copyright provides rules for commercial exploitation of photos;

• Copyright ensures that photographers can make their living based on the created images;

• Copyright serves as an additional stimulus for photographers to continue doing their creative work in the future.

Disclaimer:

The materials available in this course are for educational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice or opinion. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. The aim of this course is to teach you about the most essential elements of copyright protection over photos. The particular protection and rules for licensing of rights over images can vary depending on the national legislation in the relevant country. The opinions expressed at or through this course are the opinions of the individual author only.