Photography Topics
Model Releases ∼ Go
Location Shooting ∼ Go
Digital Post-Production & Retouching ∼ Go
Copyright vs. Outright Ownership ∼ Go
Photography-Rights Managed Vs. Royalty Free ∼ Go
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Model Releases
A model release stipulates the terms under which you can use pictures taken by a photographer. Even if you're paying the photographer for his or her professional services, you need to obtain a signed, formal model release from any subject involved PRIOR to using an image to promote your company or product. The subject doesn't have to be a professional "model" to be eligible for a model release. Anyone or anything that is the subject of a photograph is considered the "model" in this context.
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Location shooting
Location shooting often means a photographer travels with an assistant, stylist, or art director, and brings all necessary equipment to complete the assignment. As a rule of thumb, it is advisable to allow for a pre-production day prior to the shoot so the photographer, and his or her team, can clearly scope out location lighting, structure features, and identify any other elements native to the location site.
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Digital Post-Production & Retouching
Post-production is the process whereby a photographer manipulates images to the client's particular specifications. Often cleanup and a bit of color correction is involved. Images can be "composed" together from two or more separate shots, including photographing a subject in a studio and then "digitally" setting them against a different background. To achieve better lighting, often products are shot without a background and a background is added after the fact. All these changes can be readily handled in a digital workflow.
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Copyright vs. Outright Ownership
The rule of ownership is actually very simple. You only have the right to use material if you have paid for it or have written permission from the owner to use it. You may NOT download an image from the Internet and use it in any way, shape, or form unless that image is specifically identified as public domain, free or you have obtained permission from the owner. Even then, you do not own the copyright. While it is possible to obtain full and unrestricted use of images for a fee, it is rare that a client has the resources to purchase a copyright or that an "author" is willing to sell that copyright. What rights you do access, must be in writing.
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Photography-Rights Managed Vs. Royalty Free
Royalty-free pricing is based solely on the size (DPI) of the image you need, not the use. Once you purchase a royalty-free product, generally you may use it multiple times for multiple projects without paying additional fees. The downside of a royalty-free image is that there are no restrictions on its sale to others, so royalty-free images run the risk of being saturated in the marketplace.
Rights-managed products are images that are licensed for a fee based on how and where an image is used. Fees are calculated using several factors including, print run, size, placement, duration of use, and geographic distribution. When you license a rights-managed image, you retain the exclusive right to use that image within your industry for the duration of your license. In other words, if you are a health care provider and purchase a rights-managed image for use on your website, brochure, and advertising materials, the chances of that image showing up in a competitor's collateral is very slim.
An image is either royalty-free or rights-managed. The same image cannot be both. In all cases, the photographer retains the copyright to the image. In very rare circumstances - and for a lot of money - a photographer will sell the copyright to an individual image, but the decision to do so is the sole right of the photographer, not the company licensing the image.
Dover Publications offers books of clip art that are scanable art and are available for any and all use for the purchase price of book.
For more information on licensing images, please visit: asmp.org
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