Clued Up with Maria B: The Behind-The-Scenes Photography Podcast
Clued Up with Maria B: The Behind-The-Scenes Photography Podcast
Your Photos, Your Rights: What Every Photographer Needs to Know
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In this episode of Clued Up, we delve into the complexities of copyright in photography, emphasizing its importance for protecting your creative work. We talk about the automatic legal protection photographers receive upon capturing an image, the significance of licensing and contracts, and the steps to take if someone infringes on your copyright. Our conversation also covers international copyright considerations, common myths surrounding copyright, and the differences in ownership between employees and freelancers. Finally, we discuss how to determine pricing for usage rights, ensuring photographers are compensated fairly for their work.
Takeaways
- Understanding copyright is essential for photographers.
- Copyright protection begins the moment you take a photo.
- Clients often misunderstand ownership of images.
- Licensing agreements are crucial for protecting your work.
- You can enforce your copyright through legal means.
- International copyright laws vary by country.
- Myths about copyright can lead to financial loss.
- Employees do not own the copyright to their work.
- Pricing for usage rights should reflect the value of the work.
- Contracts should clearly outline usage rights and limitations.
Resources
U.S. Copyright Office: Photography
DMCA (equivalent) on Instagram
Questions or Comments? Reach out at mariabphotostudio@gmail.com and I'll be in touch* directly or address your comment on the podcast.
*By submitting a question or statement, you agree that your submission can be discussed publicly on the podcast, website, or other platforms owned by or affiliated with CluedUpBTS and its parent company, HeadshotNJ, and affiliate company Maria B Photography Studio. while retaining your anonymity.
Introduction to Photography Copyright
Speaker 1Welcome to Clued Up with Maria B, the behind-the-scenes photography podcast. Clued Up is your insider's view to building successful magazine-style photo shoots. We talk design and concept, fashion and style, tech, social media and, of course, business Plus so much more, including how to avoid common photography pitfalls. You'll also meet some special guests who work behind the camera and in front of the lens. Whether you're an aspiring photographer, a portrait photographer, thinking about starting your own business, or you just have an interest in what it takes to plan and execute professional shoots, you've come to the right place. I'm your host, maria B. Now let's get you clued up. Host Maria B, now let's get you clued up.
Speaker 1Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Clued Up, the behind the scenes photography podcast. It's me, maria B, coming to you this week with that very exciting topic of copyright, specifically, of course, copyright for photographers. Now, I know talking about copyright can sound boring. It can actually sound intimidating, but I'm asking you to stick with me, because understanding copyright is how you protect your work as a photographer, whether you are a hobbyist or whether you are a seasoned pro. You're protecting your work, your creativity and your income, and you can potentially boost your income if you understand copyrights for photography. I promise you that by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what your rights are. You'll know how to register your work, should you choose to do that, and what to do if someone steals your photos online.
Speaker 1So let's start at the beginning. Exactly what is copyright? To put it as simply as possible, for photographers, copyright is the automatic legal protection that you receive the moment you press the shutter on your camera. You don't need to put a stamp on your work, you don't need to put a watermark on it, you don't need to publish it or to license them to others. And here's the really important thing about copyright, and this is something that many people I would say most people don't understand Owning a copy of a photo is not the same as owning the copyright of that photo. Just because someone buys a print or they download a digital file that you sent to them doesn't mean that they now own the rights to that image. You, the photographer, you are the copyright holder. So, as the copyright owner, you're the only person who could decide how your image is used. You get a say in who can use your image or images, where they can be used and for how long. That's a really powerful position to be in and, as photographers, we need to know how to leverage that to our benefit.
Speaker 1It's something that clients and even other creatives and again, including most photographers don't really understand. So let's talk about the client's misunderstanding for a moment. Most clients think, well, I paid for the photos, I paid the photographer, I paid for the photos, so I own them. But that's not the way it works. When someone pays you to take a photo, they're paying you for the work that's involved in that process, the actual work of taking the photo. They're also paying you for the license to use the photos that you issue to them. That's called usage rights rights. So when someone pays you to take a photograph and you take that photograph and then you give it to them, either in print or digitally, you are giving that person usage rights to your photograph.
Speaker 1Let's say someone hires you to take their headshot, for example. The fee you charge covers the work of taking the photos, processing them, and it includes their license for usage of their headshot for personal use, such as LinkedIn, their online resume. Or maybe they own a company and they want to put their face out there as the face of the company on their website. Let's say the same client wants to use that headshot for a billboard or for a national ad campaign. That client needs to come back to you and you need to produce an invoice for a commercial license, and you and the client have to have a signed agreement that states the name of the file, how it will be used and the length of time it will be used. Alternatively, you can give your okay for the client to go ahead and use the photo for the ads, and many photographers do that. But this is where photographers lose money and where smart photographers make money, and that's through licensing their photos. This is why setting expectations clearly and putting them into your contract agreement with your client is so important. You protect yourself and your client understands exactly what they're getting.
Understanding Photographer Ownership Rights
Speaker 1When I take portraits or headshots, when I photograph an event, the contract agreement clearly states that I own the photographs and that I may use the photographs for educational material, I may use them in advertising, I may use them in social media or I may use them on my website. Now, out of courtesy, I include that, should someone not wish their photos to be used, they just simply have to let me know and I respect their wishes and I won't use them. The contract also states that the client is granted usage rights for their personal use, such as in social media, for LinkedIn and, when applicable, for businesses, for their business, such as brochures or other print material. But the contract is clear that the photos cannot be used for commercial use and that commercial use is an infringement of copyright policy and it's an infringement of my copyright. Also, that commercial use requires a separate agreement. So we're going to talk about this again in a little bit, but just moving on, let's talk about this again in a little bit, but just moving on, let's talk about copyright registration.
Speaker 1In the US, you don't have to register your work to own the copyright. Like I said in the beginning, as soon as you click that shutter, you are protected. You already own your photos. But here's the thing If you register your photos, you have much greater protection. If someone steals your work and you've registered that work, you can take them to court and sue for statutory damages and for any attorney fees that you would have to pay. Even if you're not registered, you can take them to court, but if your work is registered, it's a stronger case. How exactly do you register your photos? It's as simple as going to copyrightgov and that's the US Copyright Office. You fill out an application, you upload your photos and you pay a fee, I believe right now. You register in groups of photos, so you can register up to 750 photos for $65. And you do that on one application. That fee can cover, again, either one image or a group of images, and I've said it before, but that limit right now, I believe, is 750 images. So if you're working, you know, as a commercial photographer, it's definitely worth it to do this. Or if you expect that your work will be published or shared widely, registration is absolutely worth it.
Speaker 1The more your work is known, the more likely it is to be used without your consent and without you issuing a license to the user, in other words, to be used without your permission. So let's talk about licensing and contracting. Licensing is where the business side of photography really kicks in. A license is basically a permission slip. You are spelling out the exact terms of how your client can use your images and there are different types of licenses. Of course, you have your commercial license for ads and marketing, you have editorial licenses for magazines and newspaper use and you have social media use only.
Speaker 1There are exclusive rights where if you issue a license to a person or a company, no one else can use that image, and then you have non-exclusive rights where you can license the same image to multiple clients. So, for example, let's say I'm a photographer and I take I don't know landscape photos or flowers or any particular thing, and company A wants to use one of my images, I can grant the company a usage license for a particular fee and for a certain length of time. Let's say another company, company B, sees the same image or and they decide they want to use these photos but they don't want anyone else to have access to them, then the contract agreement will include that company A has exclusive rights to use those photos and that I will not be able to provide those photos to any other company or any other individual for the length of time that company A is using my photos. So this is exclusive usage. Obviously, exclusive usage rights will cost company A more and I should charge them more because I'm reducing the possibility of being paid for those photos by any other entity, be it an individual or another company. By making those photos available to company A and only company A, I lose the potential to make money from licensing the photos to other entities.
Client Misconceptions and Licensing
Speaker 1Here's another example. Let's say Nike. Imagine that. Let's say Nike comes to me and asks me to photograph an athlete working out in their latest shoe. My contract agreement with Nike covers the shoot and it covers processing those photos. When I'm finished, I show them to Nike and Nike selects four images from what I submit for potential use in their campaign. We draw up a licensing agreement and I provide Nike with a license to use photos A, b, c and D for said campaign for the next two years. There's a fee attached to that license and Nike pays that fee to me, separate from the fee they paid me to take and process the photos. Two years go by and the campaign is such a hit that Nike wants to continue using those photos. Another license and licensing fee needs to be arranged between me and Nike so that Nike can continue to use those photos. So I hope you can see the earning potential here of licensing your photos and the different ways in which they can be licensed. So just taking this a step further, let's say the campaign remains popular over, let's say, now, four years. Campaign remains popular over, let's say now, four years and Nike wants to purchase the copyrights to those photos, so they will become the owners. Can you see what the earning potential is? Because I'm actually selling my rights to those photos. I won't be able to use them again. Nike will become the copyright owners, so obviously Nike would have to pay a significant sum to me if we proceed with that arrangement. A contract needs to make it crystal clear what the client can and can't do with the photos and the length of time they can use those photos. A contract ensures that you, the photographer, are compensated fairly when a company or an individual wants usage rights or, in some cases, exclusive usage rights.
Speaker 1All right, so now let's talk about enforcement and infringement of your copyrights. What happens if someone uses your work without your permission? It's pretty jarring. I think in an old episode I talked about the fact that I was scrolling on Instagram one day and someone had copied my photo from my feed and put it on theirs. And when this happens, there are a couple of options that you have. Start small and simply ask the person to take down the photo. Honestly, there's so many people that don't understand doing this that doing this is an infringement. They just don't know and all they need is some amount of education. If you found that someone has copied your work, your photograph, and used it without your permission, don't panic. Start small. Send them a message, a polite message, asking them to take down the photo or remove the photo, whatever the case may be. If that doesn't work, send them an invoice for usage because obviously they've infringed upon your rights and there's a fee that should be associated with using your photo and they should be paying for usage rights. Some people just don't understand copyright and it just takes a quick conversation to clear it up and for them to gain an understanding.
Speaker 1But if your photo is online, say on somebody's website, in their blog, or it's in another Instagram account, you do have another tool and that's called a DMCA. Like David, mary, catherine, ann, dmca. The DMCA is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act no need to remember that and it's a law that was passed quite a long time ago, and it gives you, the creator, a fast way to protect your work online. Most websites and most social platforms have DMCA takedown processes in place and all you have to do is find the form and essentially fill it out and say this is my photo. I did not give permission for it to be used. Please remove it and the platform will remove it, and they'll do it rather quickly because if they don't, you can hold the platform liable. This is basically your shortcut for getting stolen work removed without hiring an attorney For online infringements. The way to go is the use of the DMCA form. It's the easiest first step and you will have the platforms backing to take the photo down because they don't want to be held liable for promoting somebody else's work or someone else's images on being on someone else's website or someone else's account.
Speaker 1I should say Now, there are a couple of exceptions. Okay, there's something called fair use, and fair use is, for example, let's say, I post something on Instagram and somebody else wants to talk about it. Well, in order to talk about it, they have to show my work on their feed. So that's an exception. Also for news, if somebody is reporting on something, they don't necessarily or they don't have to gain permission to show that piece of work, or if someone is doing a parody on a piece of work. So there are exceptions to this Nine times out of 10,. However, if your photo is being copied, it's an infringement and it's not being used in a commentary, it's not being used for news and it's not being used in a parody.
Copyright Registration Process
Speaker 1Now I don't know. I know someone is saying yes, but in social media people transfer photos. You know, they forward photos, they link photos and they can link someone else's work to either their site or another site a lot more difficult and involved, and in fact, that's why the DMCA came into being. When you put something on a social media feed and Instagram is probably the easiest way to describe this or to understand this, because it's photography based or it was on a social media platform you, as the creator of that image, that video, you do not have a say in how that image is used within the context of that platform. So an image is used in Instagram or in X or on Facebook or whatever else. The functioning of that platform determines how it's used, right? So if I put up a photo on Instagram and you like that photo and you want to send it to a friend or you want to transfer it to another site, or if you're on YouTube, for example, and you see a video and you want to forward that video to your ex-account or link it to something else or someone else, that's all allowable without infringement. It's allowable within the functioning of that social media platform.
Speaker 1All right, international consideration If your work gets shared around the world. Here's some good news. There's this thing called the Berne Convention, and the Berne Convention pretty much says that copyright is automatically recognized in most countries. It's just that enforcement of copyright looks different country to country. So if you're working internationally or licensing your work abroad, these are rules that you have to make yourself aware of and you know it just takes a minute or two to access copyright and copyright rules in whatever country you're dealing with. So I have a photography friend and she has her work published in Asia and I'm assuming there are different copyright rules and she's very much aware of them. You know she became aware of them the first time a magazine in Asia wanted to use her photos. So wherever your work is published, wherever you agree to have your work published, do a little research and just be aware of your copyright rules in that country.
Speaker 1All right, just a couple of other things we're going to talk about. You should always add copyright info into your metadata so you know, when you're uploading your photos off of your cards, you have the ability to put in your name something about copyright you could put in the year. There's a lot of information that you are allowed to put in and in fact, in your camera. When you purchased your camera and you first went to set it up I believe with all cameras you can enter your name, you can enter the year of purchase, you can enter how you want your photos to be organized in terms of where the count begins or if there is something significant you want to put into the labeling of your photos, so there can be a long, long stream of information and, specifically, copyright information put into the metadata of your photos. So I strongly suggest that you take care of that Watermark or stamping your work.
Speaker 1Now, I never know about this. It's so easy to remove a watermark now. I don't think it's worth the effort. If someone is going to take your work, they're going to take your work. It doesn't matter the watermark that you have on it. There's no watermark that someone can't remove now, unless you put something really big, bold and ugly across your work, which of course, you're not going to do. It wouldn't make any sense. I would say that using the metadata is far more effective because that stays with the image, always, always, always. I can't stress this enough.
Speaker 1Always use contracts that spell out the client's usage rights. Whether you shoot portraits, headshots, newborns, to give or sell or transfer the use, as long as you do anything with a camera, please have a contract and in that contract include a sentence about usage rights. Don't be afraid to educate your clients. You are doing them a favor. Most people just simply don't understand how copyright works. They hold to this belief that once they've paid for a photo, it is theirs. You don't have to beat them over the head, but please make sure they have somewhat of a basic understanding that those are your photos and that you are issuing them a license to use those photos. And I also have to say that when you explain this to them, I think they tend to respect your work more and respect you as a business person more.
Licensing Types and Earning Potential
Speaker 1All right, so let's talk about some myths regarding copyright. Again, if you pay for a photo, you own the copyright. Truth. You purchase the usage rights for that photo or for those photos. You do not purchase ownership. If it's on the internet, it's free to use. That's also not true. Copyright applies to online work just as much as offline or print work. But when you post your photos to a platform, you're giving that platform the ability to do with your photo whatever they like Use of a person's photo for reposting, for parody, editorial use these are not infringements.
Speaker 1They're not infringements once you put your work out there or once you put it on a platform. The myth we just talked about a watermark is enough to protect your work. Watermarks can help, possibly, but they're so easy to remove. Crop out, do a generative AI. It's like it was never there. So copyright law is your real protection when it comes to ownership of your photography.
Speaker 1I know a lot of people are overwhelmed when it comes to ownership of your photography. I know a lot of people are overwhelmed when it comes to including copyright and licensing in their photography business. But all it takes is one person to screenshot your photo and use it as their own and, believe me, you'll learn the importance of copyright really, really fast. But that's not the way you want to learn it. You stand to lose income when your photo is used for commercial use and you did not grant a commercial usage license. Worst case scenario you never even bothered to have a client sign an agreement. Let's say that client is featured in a magazine. Or one step further, let's say the person's an author and they get a book deal and they use the headshot that you took for their bio and, let's say, whatever they've written, it becomes a bestseller. Or we don't even have to go that far, it just does really well. Can you see the loss? The financial loss, and since you probably didn't register your photo anyway, it's going to cost you so much to take legal action that you're probably not going to move forward with it. So this person gets to use your photo to their benefit and they're going to make a substantial income and you're going to get nothing. Learn the importance of copyright and include it in every transaction you do with a client. I can't say it enough times.
Speaker 1Okay, so here are some exceptions to photographer's usage Earlier I talked about. You know, when I work with a client, I have a contract agreement and in that agreement it says that I own the photographs and I'm able to use them in social media, education, my website, etc. Here are some exceptions to that. When I photograph boudoir or artistic nudes, I never use those photos unless I have the specific permission of the subject of the photos. Only because the photos are of an intimate nature and in some cases those photos were done just for that person's eyes. So when it comes to boudoir, for example, I never use the individual's photos without their permission to use a particular file. Permission to use a particular file. So let's say I do a boudoir shoot and the client loves 10 photos. But of those 10 photos, she says she's only comfortable with me using photos three, four and five for my use. And that's perfectly fine and I expect that with boudoir clients and I expect that with boudoir clients For artistic nudes. It's the same thing. I give the client the ability to decide which photos they are okay with me using and the others I will not use. And that's just out of courtesy. Again, due to the parents as to my usage of photos of their children, that's just courtesy.
Speaker 1When people receive an agreement or a contract, they tend to just sign it most of the time without reading it. I think, as someone who's issuing a contract, it falls upon me to say this is what this covers. I'm not going to sit there and read the entire thing to them, but to a parent I will say I will let them know that I am going to use these photos such and such online, my website, educational material. I will let them know, because chances are they don't read the fine lines of a contract like most people and they should know that there's a chance that their family's image, their children's image, may be used by me in some capacity. I'm just really specific about that. And then the other exception maternity Same thing as the boudoir, and artistic nudes. I just simply get the okay to use those photos on my website for education etc. So those are generally the categories where I just go a little bit extra in letting people know there's the potential use for their photos to be used by me in my work, to be used by me in my work Boudoir, artistic nudes, children and maternity. I always ask for explicit permission from the client due to the sensitive nature of those photos.
Speaker 1All right, I wouldn't call the next part or the next topic an exception, but I would say it's something you should be sensitive to and that's street photography. If you do street photography, please keep it street photography, meaning you are photographing things as they happen and you're not necessarily making an individual the subject of your photo. So avoid asking individuals to pose in the photo, because then you can. I don't know how much that really becomes street photography, for having people pose that makes the subject a model and then that requires a model release. So in street photography, individuals should not be identifiable as the subject of the photo. I hope you can see the legal ramifications. If you take a street photo with someone modeling air quotes, modeling and then you sell the photo as a street photo without a model release, despite the fact that you own the copyright, that is hugely problematic. I don't want to get into model releases right now but again, if you do street photography, you should not be manipulating the situation, putting it under street photography when you do not have a model release for that person. Okay, here's the big exception to copyright and it's something that similar to not understanding copyright. People don't understand this exception.
Speaker 1If you are an employee of a particular company, you are a staff photographer at a newspaper or a magazine or a company that has a photography department and you create photographs as part of your job duties, those photographs are owned by the company. They're not owned by you. That's called work made for hire right. You produce photographs because your job requires it, because you work for a company. So even though you press the shutter, the company owns the copyright, but you may get credit when that photo is used or one of your photos are used, but legally the company controls how the image or how your images are used.
Handling Copyright Infringement
Speaker 1Example let's say I work for Good Housekeeping. Those photos belong to Good Housekeeping. I work for Good Housekeeping. I work in their photography department. I work as a photographer for that company. Those photos belong to good housekeeping. I cannot do anything with them. Now compare that to being a freelancer right or an independent contractor, where you're let's use the same entity Good Housekeeping. They've seen my work and they would like me to go to I don't know Martha Stewart's home and photograph her creating a floral bouquet. Okay, so I contract with Good Housekeeping for everything. I use everything I need to produce those photographs and processing those photographs. And then I show them to Good Housekeeping and they say they want 10 of these photos for their write-up about creating floral arrangements with peonies. Good Housekeeping has to pay me editorial rights to use my photographs in their story, in their write-up for their magazine. Okay, so key takeaway If you're on the payroll of a company as a photographer for that company in this case Good Housekeeping the company owns the work.
Speaker 1If you're an independent, they hired you for a specific job. You do not receive a paycheck from them on a regular basis. They do not pay your benefits. You own the work. The only way you will not own the work is if you sign away your copyright or you sign away copyright ownership, and if you're going to do that, you need to investigate how much you should charge them for that. So understanding that difference can save you a lot of headache down the road. If you're an employee, like a staff photographer at a newspaper, a magazine or a company, any photos that you create as part of your job duties are automatically owned by your employer, and that's called work made for hire.
Speaker 1So, as we come to a close here, just a few more things I think we need to talk about To avoid any misunderstanding. Your agreement, your contract, your licensing agreement should be specific and it should include who the licensee is, meaning the client. What uses are allowed whether it's digital print display in terms of albums or wall art or posters. The duration of the license whether it's lifelong, which is perfectly acceptable if it's something personal exclusivity or whether you as the photographer granting an exclusive license usage to this entity, whether it's a person or a company, or whether it's non-exclusive, in which case you'll be letting them know that other companies can also use the same image or images, the geographical scope or territory in which the photo will be used, particularly when it's commercial work. You need to know if that company, if there's a possibility that that company, will be using your images overseas because obviously then that should incur a higher fee who will get credit for the image, that when the image is used, you are credit appropriately and that your copyright is acknowledged, right is acknowledged. You can set limitations to your photo in terms of its size and format, whether it could be printed for a magazine or for a billboard and, of course, payment terms and renewal. And it's a good idea to include in the agreement the charge of renewing the fee, should that come up at the end of the term for which they are paying you. In other words, you'll be letting them know ahead of time if the renewal fee will be the same or if there will be an increase in the price. You may want to consider an increase because, particularly if it's an exclusive usage or an exclusive usage agreement, because that's a longer period of time in which you cannot use those photos or you cannot allow those photos to be used by another entity.
Speaker 1Okay, now determining pricing. This all depends on your location and the numbers I'm going to give you. They're just ballpark, they're only for the sake of an example. So small publications, local magazines, blogs for print and digital it's usually someplace between $50 and $100, I'm sorry, $50 and $300 per image for non-exclusive use. When you're talking about larger or national magazine spreads with a higher profile editorial type feature, you're talking about between $300 and $1,200 per image, depending on the size of the spread, how many pages it will be in the magazine and the reputation. I mean, if it's a renowned, well-recognized publication, obviously the cost will be more.
Copyright Myths and Exceptions
Speaker 1When it comes to advertising and commercial campaigns, fees can run into the thousands of dollars, depending on the scale. Whether it's a national billboard ad or a TV ad, that would cost much more. Or is a digital ad For non-exclusive web use only. So, non-exclusive, but on the web, for a small business and for a limited time. It's usually between $100 to $500, depending on the size of the audience and the audience reach, as well as the duration of the license, the usage license. And then there really isn't a price for this, or I don't have a specific price for this, or even a range, but exclusive rights and full buyout, where the copyright is transferred to the person who's purchasing the copyright. I mean, that could be anything from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the work and the company that's purchasing those images.
Speaker 1Okay, so in the show notes I'm going to include a couple of websites to talk about how much you should charge per image, especially if your photos are used in editorial or commercial businesses. Those are going to come from places like Architectural Photography and the Minnesota Historical Society, and these are companies. These are two of a few companies that have put together the price list that help photographers determine what they should charge for usage of their photos. So, to summarize what photographers should charge, you should start with a base rate, which is what you need to cover for your time overhead and to make a profit for taking photos. So that's baseline. And then, when it comes to charging for licensing, you should include or you should consider the type, the media, the territory, the duration of use and the exclusivity of use, and you can then adjust your fee upward for more exposure, reach and value. If your photo is going to be seen in a nationally recognized publication, obviously the charge, your usage fee, should be more than if it's only going to be seen in something that's local.
Speaker 1It's a good idea, if you're dealing with businesses, to let them know that you charge for extras. Extras can include exclusivity rights, extra formats such as large prints or billboards. Let's say someone's purchasing a digital file from you for I don't know a poster. You can always let them know that for an additional fee, you can offer them the rights to use that for a billboard. It gets them thinking that they can advertise on a larger scale. And of course, you as a photographer can increase your income or increase your fee.
Speaker 1All right and I know I alluded to this before about speaking to your client, whether it's an individual or whether it's a company, but always be transparent with them and let them know exactly what the terms are. I think people just respect you better in business if you are upfront instead of small printing everything. Air quotes for small printing just meaning that you didn't talk to them about something or you know something's in the contract and they signed the contract but they didn't know and of course, that definitely falls to them or falls on them. But certain things that are important should be discussed Things like exclusivity, length of time, when we're talking about commercial usage, etc. But the topic of copyright needs to be discussed with anyone to whom you are selling your work. All right, so just in closing, I know copyright is not the most exciting topic in photography and you can't get any far back behind the scenes than copyright. That's way back, but it is the foundation. It should be the foundation of your business, particularly if you take photographs for commercial use, but also for personal use.
Speaker 1Clients need to understand that Copyright adds value to your work and when you create an invoice for a job any job family photos, newborns, boudoir, whatever, whatever the topic when you list what the fee is for your service, you should include some type of wordage that allows the client to realize that you are granting them rights to your images. If you do commercial photography, this is how you make your bread and butter. So the big takeaway is that copyright is your safety net. It's the law, and it's the law saying that your creativity has value and that you have the right to control how your work is used. If you haven't looked into copyright registration yet, I suggest that you do that. You can simply do that by checking out copyrightgov.
Speaker 1I'll include the link in the show notes, and if you ever find that your work has been stolen online and it wasn't used for commentary you know parody if it wasn't used for education, whatever, then look into completing a DMCA form on whatever platform you found your work, so that your work can be taken down, and I'll provide the link to, or I'll provide more information about, the DMCA in the show notes as well. I'd love to hear your stories about if you've ever found your work on somebody else's website or in someone else's feed and you weren't given credit. What did you do about it? If you did anything, and you can share that on social media with me, just go to the clued up BTS. All one word on Instagram, so that's C-L-U-E-D, u-p-b-t-s on Instagram and you want to share your story about you know how you handled your work being stolen, or if it's ever happened to you that your work's been stolen, let me know and we'll talk about it there.
Speaker 1So thank you again for tuning into this episode about copywriting here on Clued Up, the behind the scenes photography podcast. I hope you learned something. I hope this helps you. I hope this helps you understand how important your work is and how copyright helps protect you. So until next week. Take care, thank you. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Clued Up with me, your host, maria B. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to rate, subscribe and review on your preferred podcast listening platform. I really appreciate your support. When you rate, subscribe and review, you're also helping other listeners find and enjoy this podcast. Until next time.