Copyright and charging for images is a confusing enough subject for photographers, let alone when someone else is trying to understand it or your trying to explain it to them. I often find people do not understand that you are charging for the use of an image and yes, I can charge you £400 to use that picture in an advertising campaign. I have had many a heated conversation with friends who seem to think I'm there taking pictures so why shouldn't i just hand them out willy nilly to anyone that wants them. Anyway, my search for an explanation of copyright or a definition or do's and dont's never stops so I thought I would combine a whole load of info I had collected and post it here. I hope it offers some insight! If it confuses you more - oooops.
Copyright
- UK Copyright Law last amended in August 2004 states that the photographer owns the rights on all pictures he or she has taken with the following exceptions;
The photographer is an employee of the company the photo's are taken for
There is an agreement which assigns the copyright to another party
- Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibits a degree of labour, skill or judgement.
- When copyrighting a work it should be stated on the image or with accompanying documents. - A copyright notice should contain the following: Copyright, Copyright C symbol, Year of Publication, Author/Copyright owners name, Title of the work.
For more info on copyright visit www.copyrightservice.co.uk
Charging
- Negotiating rates is variable on your experience, what you are photographing, the length of time you will spend on the job, the copyright of the images, how they are going to be used and the license to use agreement.
- Rates vary for books, personal use, marketing, PR, corporate and commercial work
- It is suggested for a low budget corporate shoot, a full day should be charged at £800
- Charges for online use of photos for commercial and business, for a year should cost around £850 for an image of 800x600 pixels.
- Bulk processing of digital files @ £100 per hour
- Rates vary tremendously and there are so many altering factors. I would recommend going with your gut instinct but do your research. The below websites are excellent for reference.
www.londonfreelance.org
www.the-aop.org
