Can we negotiate wedding photo usage rights beyond a print-only license?
Asked 5/13/2013
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2 answers
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We’re booking a wedding photographer in Australia. Her contract says she retains copyright and gives us only a license to print the photos as delivered. If we want to crop them or convert them to black and white/sepia, we would need her written permission.
I understand her concern that edits could reflect badly on her work, but these are our wedding photos and we may want to use or adapt them over the years.
Is this kind of contract typical for wedding photography? Is it reasonable to ask for broader usage rights, such as permission to make personal edits, or even a broader non-exclusive license? Is there a contract approach that lets the photographer keep copyright while allowing us to modify the images for private use without harming her professional reputation?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
14
My personal opinion on this is that, while I understand the photographer's position, your wedding album is not her portfolio, even if you want something hideous it's your right as the one paying for the job - I wouldn't agree to her terms.
I believe, that for a full price job the service provider can't put his/her own interest above the client's.
You can work out something about how credit is given (or not given) and you can offer to pay extra or you can both agree that you'll be better served by someone else.
I'm a small business owner myself (but not a professional photographer) and I know that there's a delicate balance between what is good for the service provider and what is good for the customer - and if I do something that's good for me but bad for the customer I will lose that customer.
By the way - for my wedding (that was shot on film) I've got the negatives + high res digital copies + the right to do whatever I want with the images without giving credit. this was all negotiated with the photographer in advance and we both were happy with the deal (I didn't take advantage of him, this was all agreed upon and payed for). That photographer didn't get "credit" but he got at least one more wedding job based on my recommendation
Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2481
13y ago
0
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Yes, this is a legitimate question, and the contract you describe is fairly typical. In most places, including generally under common copyright practice, the photographer automatically owns the copyright unless a contract says otherwise. So she is usually not “taking” copyright from you; she already has it as the creator.
A print license is common. A license allowing you to make derivative works such as crops, black-and-white conversions, or other edits is much less common in professional wedding photography.
That said, you can absolutely ask. A practical compromise is for the photographer to keep copyright but grant you a broader non-exclusive personal-use license that allows private edits and sharing, while limiting public attribution of altered versions to protect her reputation. Another option is simply to find a photographer whose business model better matches what you want.
The provided answers don’t support a reliable number for how much extra this should cost, so that would have to be negotiated directly. If flexibility matters a lot to you, discuss it before booking and get the exact permitted uses written into the contract.
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