Who owns the copyright if someone else takes photos on my camera?
Asked 1/17/2011
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At a party or similar event, someone may ask to borrow your camera to take a few shots, often including photos of you. If there is no agreement beforehand, should you worry about copyright ownership of those images? Does the photographer who presses the shutter typically own the copyright rather than the camera owner, and is there any realistic risk they could later claim authorship of other images on the card as well?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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It is a regular occurance that someone insists on taking a photo of me at weddings, saying "you taking all these photos but I bet you never have any of you!" when in fact I have a photo of me at pretty much every one! Here are some of the best ones:
I find it impolite to refuse, so I simply don't use the photos (they are usually out of focus anyway). In fact I actually quite like to have the photos to remember the event by, but in any case they very rarely end up in the album unless the couple request it. In the occasions where I've given my camera to someone I trust I'll usually shoot a photo of the floor before and after, and then if I do anything with the photos I'll add an appropriate attribution.
The only tricky case I see is when a stranger uses your camera at an event and produces a good image that you want to be able to send to the client, but you have no idea who actually took it. In this case you could probably get away with using it under the orphaned works legislation, though if you really want to cover your back just don't use the image!
If someone does take a photo with your camera which turns out to be valuable that shouldn't be a difficult situation at all, you simply don't claim credit or profit from it! When I shoot with other people's cameras I will do my very best to obtain a copy of the photos on the day by whatever means possible. This prevents any disputes before they even start!
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
15y ago
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Generally, copyright belongs to the person who actually created the photo, not the owner of the camera. So if someone else borrows your camera and takes a shot, they may own the copyright to that image unless you’ve agreed otherwise.
In practice, most people see this as a low-risk issue in casual social situations. The bigger concern is usually trust, not ownership. If the borrowed shots are clearly of you, it would also be fairly obvious you didn’t take them yourself, and witnesses or context would help distinguish authorship.
A real risk can arise if the borrowed photo turns out to be valuable or newsworthy. In that case, the borrower could argue that you used their image without permission.
If you want to avoid ambiguity, the simplest approach is to agree in advance that they’re taking the photo for you and that you may use it. Some photographers also separate those frames in an obvious way (for example, taking a throwaway frame before and after) and add attribution if they publish the image.
So: yes, the concern is legally plausible, but for ordinary party snapshots it’s usually minor unless the image later becomes commercially or editorially significant.
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