We provide information on photo rights and best practices to protect both, the photographer's and designer’s interests.
What rights are included with my booking fee?
You are granted a set of non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, perpetual licensing rights FOR YOUR BUSINESS marketing efforts through your website, ads, show displays, corporate brochures, social media, professional competitions, and digital editorial features.
Non-exclusive: others can license it from me too.
Non-transferable: if your company is sold, the license will not pass to the new owner.
Non-sublicensable: you cannot grant rights to any third party.
Perpetual: it does not have a time limit.
Can I share the images with trade partners?
No.
Your license is for your business only. It does not include any third-party usage.
You are taking on the full expense (money, effort, and time) as well as the risk (financial and legal) of engaging me to photograph your project. You are the one investing in these images for your business. Your license is for your business only.
However, you are welcome to split the cost of the shoot with trade partners. All cost-share parties must be determined ahead of the photography being created. The cost for all the parties is the same amount and all parties get a license to all the images.
Can I share the images with vendors?
No.
Your license is for your business only.
Each vendor needs their own license.
They can contact me directly for licensing information.
Can I modify the images with AI?
No.
Currently, when you upload an image to any AI software, you are automatically granting a perpetual license to the service provider to use the image for storing, analyzing, modifying, and training their models.
Essentially, when you upload an image, they are getting a free resource that they will use to make a profit. However, if we want to use their service we have to pay. I am a for profit business too and I do not support this exploitation.
What is the Instagram hashtag scam?
Companies request photo usage via Instagram comments such as “reply #YesCrate to give us permission to share!” Responding with the hashtag may grant the company extensive rights to use the photo without an actual license resulting in copyright infringement and making you responsible for legal implications. Proper handling of such inquiries is crucial: feel free to tag me to ensure the brand agreement respects the copyright and compensates for the image use.
I am yet to come across a company’s terms that include a fair use with their hashtag. Yes, I read them.
Why are they so many restrictions? Why can’t I do whatever I want with my photos if I paid for them?
In a nutshell… because they are not your photos. Let me explain.
Although the subject of my image is your design, I own the image.
My photography is protected by copyright law. Your floorplan may be protected by copyright law. But your design is not.
You pay for a license to use my images.
I remain the copyright owner of the images.
The main reason for this is to make the price of commercial photography affordable to you.
If you would like to have control over the images such as sharing them, selling them, prohibiting use, etc then you may want to consider a copyright transfer. However, keep in mind this will result in a significantly higher cost.