If you are serious about marketing your stock photography, you may be missing out on some fine opportunities if you aren't taking full advantage of all the benefits offered to you by, yes, your benevolent government.
COPYRIGHT. The law states that you own the rights to your picture, not the person who "buys" it. This was emphasized by the Tasini decision in the Courts in 1999. Your copyright stays with you, unless you sign something to the contrary at the time of any transaction for "renting" or "licensing" your image. Place the copyright symbol on all of your work; it costs you nothing to do this - it's a gift from your government. Only if you register your picture (with the Library of Congress) will it cost $45 (at this writing).
MODEL RELEASES. Have you shackled yourself with the belief that you have to have a 'model release' for recognizable people or buildings in public? Not so, -it's your First Amendment right not to have to get a model release if your picture is used for informing and educating the public. We live in a free society and our constitution early recognized that the free exchange of information was a right we should all enjoy. However, if you are a service photographer (industrial, architecture, fashion, advertising, etc.) and you plan to use your pictures for advertising, promotion, endorsement, etc., or other commercial and trade purposes, then yes, you will need a model release.
The only exception for editorial use, is where the picture might be used in a sensitive area such as mental health, sex, or in a compromising, unfair situation which could embarrass someone. Your book or magazine editor, publisher, or web designer will advise you if these exceptions come into play when the picture is considered for publication.
PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTOS. These photos from government agencies (NASA, Dept. Of Agriculture, FSA, etc.) are free. You or your parents paid for them with your tax dollars. They can be used for many purposes: in books, articles, when giving lectures, supplying photobuyers.
POSTAL SERVICE. Since correspondence lost or mislaid by a fallible postal worker has a way of being remembered and talked about, let's admit that errors can happen in any industry, and then ask, "What's good about the Post Office?" There are billions of pieces of mail handled yearly, flawlessly. Our postage system is cheaper than in any other comparable industrialized nation.
TAX-FREE E-MAIL. Hold your breath. E-mail purchases in most states are tax-free. Your federal government has not (yet) interfered. Let's face it, in some countries, e-mail is not only taxed, but it is also censored.
Welcome
to AvailablePix.com. Here's where you'll
find information about public domain, free public domain photos,
photography, pictures, and getting access to a photograph.
When To Sell
…and when not to sell
A visitor to the Kracker Barrel recently had a question about a non-profit agency for disadvantaged children that was requesting permission to use photos from her website. The photos would be used in the agency's library.
The question(s) went something like this (we've used the word COMPANY in place of the actual name of the organization):
Q: I have been asked by the COMPANY Photo Library in London to supply them with about 20-30 shots of a particular subject for a flat fee of around U.S. $900. For that price they want non-exclusive unlimited reproduction rights.
They want to be able to use those images in their library, which seems to me implies they will be making money off the photos.
If they are for internal COMPANY use only, maybe I will do it, but if they lease the photos to third parties, I would want standard commissions. Seem like a Work-for- Hire deal here, but I would retain copyright.
Any suggestions about the best way to handle this?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A: It usually takes some back and forth negotiating with a situation like this. Very often, the final "wedding" actually goes smoothly and you gain a lifelong photobuyer who recommends you to other similar buyers. However, sometimes the whole thing ends in a "divorce." So, with that in mind, here are a few comments:
This is very similar to the occasion when you place your images with a federal or state Travel Organization or a Bureau of Economic Development. Unless you specify other arrangements, the images often become "public domain." You lose control. You don't know where your pictures are being used.
"Unlimited reproduction rights." Depending on what the COMPANY means, this could become the equivalent of Royalty-Free, which is not altogether bad, but you would not be able to license those images as Managed-Rights in the future, unless the prospective Managed-Rights buyer would excuse the competition from COMPANY
.
"Model releases." They are not required, in 95% of the cases, if the pictures are used for editorial use. The usage becomes a "commercial" use if the pictures are used for advertising COMPANY's services. It doesn't matter that COMPANY is a non-profit; the pictures are still being used for 'advertising.'
OUT OF CONTROL
Are the pictures in the COMPANY's library "free", or for sale? You'll have to suspect the COMPANY will lease your pictures to third parties, some for editorial use, some for commercial use. In some instances they will give them away -free.This is where the waters get muddy. "Standard commissions ..." you should pursue this on the condition that you would lease the pictures to them if they would give you, say, 50 or 60 percent of sales. If they like your work and want to continue working with you, perhaps they would joint venture with you in the future in this manner.
"Work-for-hire." The Copyright Law says that they don't 'own' your pictures, (Work-for-Hire), unless you make a written agreement that you turn over the copyright of the images to them. If that's what they want, to own all rights to your pictures, ask them to make you an offer you can't refuse. Unless that written agreement is made, you definitely still own the copyright to your pictures. And the good news, you can always regain complete ownership of your pictures, later on, once your agreement with them expires. Check out the Copyright section of the Kracker Barrel to see what options you have.
All of these points revolve around a central question: "How much do they want to bend in order to gain use of your images?" And remember, your images don't have to be award-winning pictures, but they do have to be the kind of images COMPANY has been searching for, and need.
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of "PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter," has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical information from an experienced picture professional intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/.
Business
Notepad
PHOTOBUYERS are looking for you.
Not every buyer looks for a pretty sunset
or a placid lake scene. In fact they seldom do. They know exactly where they can
find one. What they DO look for are those hard-to-locate pictures that
their authors write about. It just may be in your database. But how do you know
they’re looking for one of your pictures? If you are just starting out in stock
photography, you may ... Full
Story
Program maintains it's easy to earn extra
funds by establishing a photo business out of your home and
photographing local businesses, corporations, churches, schools,
sports teams, and families in your community.
Copying a Copy
The general rule is that it's okay to copy a public domain work, but copying a modern-day copy of a public domain work may be infringement. For example, according to copyright law, anyone is free to photograph the painting The Last Supper, but if you scan a postcard showing the painting that may be copyright infringement. The important question is whether the copy - the postcard's photography of the painting - has sufficient originality to qualify for copyright protection. This issue was raised in the case Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp. Bridgeman claimed that Corel had copied images from Bridgeman's CD-ROMs of artwork photos and used the copied images in its own CD-ROM products. The court held that Bridgeman's photos - "slavish copies" of public domain works of art - were the product of skill and effort, but they were original. As the court noted, the point of exercise was to reproduce the underlying work "with absolute fidelity." Because Bridgeman's copies were not original, they were not copyrighted, and Corel was free to copy them. 36 F.Supp.2d 191 (S.D.N.Y 1999)
Well-meaning museum guards have frequently barred photographers from photographing public domain works of art in museums, by saying that the museum owns photo copyright privileges to the paintings. Not so, at least by a ruling this year by the Southern District Circuit Court of New York. According to the Court decision (Bridgeman v. Corel, PhotoStockNotes, February '99), photos or transparencies of public domain artworks no longer enjoy copyright protection. If the court interpretation sticks, this might mean that a guard can no longer say to a photographer: "You can't photograph that (public domain) painting, it's copyrighted." The museum might ask photographers to schedule an appointment to take the photos at times when there is less traffic. But of course this ruling also means any photos taken of public domain art that photographers take, are also public domain - photographers don't own the copyright to the photos. -RE
Of
Interest
Re-publication Permits Privacy Suit to Proceed
Although the language of each state statute may vary, the use of a
person’s name, portrait or picture in a photograph cannot be used for
advertising, commercial or trade purposes, without the person’s written
consent.
This is called the Right to Privacy. The time to bring a lawsuit for
invasion of the Right to Privacy is one year from the first publication
in New York and most other states, but is subject to what is called the
single publication rule. Under this rule, the statute of limitations
begins to run on the date the material at issue is first published or
used. Accordingly, subsequent distributions or uses of the images does
not constitute a separate publication or continuing wrong which would
extend to the date the initial claim accrued.
The purpose of this rule is to avoid an endless tolling of the
limitations statute. For example, a distribution of a work to a library
would be the initial date for statute of limitations purposes, and that
initial date would not be extended each time the ... Full
Story
COST OF TRAVEL OVERSEAS is always prohibitive for the stock photographer
just starting out. One way to skirt around this problem is to become a
Travel Agent.
CAMERA CATCHES NURSING HOME WRONGDOING. Deb Hamilton suspected her grandmother Armeda Thomas was being mistreated at the facility, so she set up a hidden camera that captured some disturbing evidence, such as an aide walking in with a meal then eating the food herself as Thomas laid in bed.
http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=9466418&nav=EQlp
WATERMARKS, er uh, FINGERPRINTS. - The PhotoshopDisasters blog has a collection of actual ads made from images that are overlayed with the iStockphoto watermark.
TAKEAWAY: Who knows, in the future, maybe watermarks will become designer symbols like an NIKE check mark or “AS SEEN ON CNN.”.
http://www.pdnpulse.com/2008/12/are-people-scoffing-at-your-watermark.html
Jerry Kennelly, who sold his Stockbyte imaging business to US-based Getty Images two years ago for $135m (USA) at the time), is preparing to launch a major new online venture backed by a multimillion euro investment.
TAKEAWAY. The Microstock model was good to Kennelly. Let’s see what he comes up with in 2009.
http://www.ukpreneur.co.uk/1442/a-light-shines-brightly-for-kerry-entrepreneur/
WHO IS THE WINNER ? Win a Trip For Two to Maui - By just entering this contest Popular Photography takes exclusive license of your photo. Read the contest rules, "exclusive" license means 'you' can't use your photo.
http://www.photoattorney.com/
QUICK READ. Google Is Scanning Magazines Into Their Database - From Google: "Today, we're announcing an initiative to help bring more magazine archives and current magazines online, partnering with publishers to begin digitizing millions of articles from titles as diverse as New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Ebony."
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/12/10/google-is-scanning-magazines-into-their-database/
