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Releasing copyright on photos
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I’m an architect that does a bit of photography as a hobbie. I recently took photos of one of our buildings to be used in an architectural magazine. I also put the images on my flickr page and now someone wants to buy them. The offer has come from the people who make the red panels (see photos). They have asked for 8 images and want to use them for advertising purposes and have asked that I release the copyright for them. What does this mean? Can I still use the images for promotion of my practice / magazine articles etc or will they own the photos? I’m confused.. also does £400 euro sound ok for 8 images?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adammcateer/sets/72157608204935185/
Cheers
Adam
Adam, if you release the copyright then the images belong to them. As part of that deal, they may license you to continue displaying/using the photos you took. A terrible deal for the photographer. Unless they agreed, you wouldn’t be able to use them to promote yourself.
You need to keep hold of your copyright, and give them the license to use the photographs. You will find some great info in the following thread…
https://www.photographyireland.net/viewtopic.php?t=19879
If they are demanding copyright, then offering you £400 is an insult!
What they are probably looking for is an exclusive license rather than a transfer of copyright. As Steve says, the danger of signing away your copyright is that the image becomes theirs to sublicense and resell as they wish.
The term of the license may also have a bearing on the price. i.e is it a 1 year exclusive license or a perpetual excusive license.
It may also depend on what other commercial opportunities these images have for you. Are you expecting many sales? If not, 400EURO might seem a quick and easy buck. Go too high and you might lose out altogether.
I always approach any exclusive licence negotiation with a lot of thought. I always stipulate in the contract that I am still free to sell prints through my webpage. I also tend to steer them down the lines of non-exclusive licensing as I never know what other opportunities might come up.
Hi Adam
Check out Alamy for stock image prices and note what info they ask for.I don’t know much about copyright but I recently sold a one off image for use by a bank and they paid me £250GBP for this so the offer of £400 for 8 images sounds like a joke
markst33 wrote:
I don’t know much about copyright …
This site: Copyright 4 Clients – was set-up by the Association of Photographers (AOP) to help both you and your clients understand how it works.
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