Wedding Photography, Digital Files, and Copyright

Let me start out by saying that all of my wedding photography packages and engagement photo sessions include all of the high-resolution digital files for clients personal use and printing.

A long time ago, way back before the digital age, wedding photographers made much of their income from holding on to film negatives and selling prints to their clients. It’s a good thing that I wasn’t in business during those days because I hate sales and I don’t think I’d be very good at it. But thankfully for me (and wedding couples) digital photography is changing that business model with many photographers including the digital files in their packages. After all,  today’s wedding couples know how to use a computer and have access to high-quality printers.

Some photographers continue to hold on to the film or digital negatives and that’s just the way they like to do it. They’ll say that us photogs who offer the files are devaluing the business. Or they’ll say they’re afraid that clients are going to print the images at a sub-par printer and then think that the photographer is to blame for the crappy picture quality. In any case, the trend is toward photographers providing full-resolution digital files for couples’ personal use and printing, and I think that it won’t be long before just about every photographer is expected to provide these files. Which brings me to a question that I often get…

Clients often ask me what it means in their wedding photography contract where it states that “unless otherwise specified” all rights to the photography “shall remain the property of the Photographer.” I guess they’re worried that somehow I’m going to try to hold these files hostage and considering the old business model I understand their concern.

Legally, photographs are considered works of authorship that are the property of the artist from the moment they’re created. Having the copyright statement in my business contracts allows me to retain that authorship, prevents others from claiming authorship, and  prevents anyone from selling the images or using them for commercial purposes.

But I do include the full-resolution digital files with all of my wedding photography packages, and I don’t prevent clients from printing the photos, uploading the images to their blog, or using them to create their own photo book. That’s because I provide a limited copyright release so that clients can use the full-resolution digital images for their personal, non-commercial purposes.

I tell clients to think of their limited copyright release like iTunes. When you purchase a song through iTunes, you can play it at home or on your iPod, burn it to a disc, or use it to accompany your home movies. What you can’t do is re-sell that song, and no one but the artist can legally claim that they wrote or performed it.

So I get a lot of questions about this and now I have a blog post/link that I can send people instead of typing a long email. To all of my current and future customers, rest assured you will receive the full-resolution, processed digital files. And yes, please post them to your blog and make prints and slideshows and cards and posters and show them to everyone you can. Because someone you know who is getting married might see the photos and ask “Who was your photgrapher?” And then we’ll all be happy.