Copyright

For me copyright is a very daunting thing, I'm always worried that I could be stealing some one else's idea and it is a big worry when it comes to doing work for college. I decided that after having this session on copyright I would look further into it myself .

1. Who owns the copyright on photographs?
   Under law, it is the photographer who will own copyright on any photos he/she has taken, with the following exceptions:
   • If the photographer is an employee of the company the photos are taken for, or is an employee of a company instructed to take the photos, the photographer will be acting on behalf of his/her employer, and the company the photographer works for will own the copyright.
   • If there is an agreement that assigns copyright to another party.
   In all other cases, the photographer will retain the copyright, if the photographer has been paid for his work, the payment will be for the photographer’s time and typically an allocated number of prints. The copyright to the photos will remain with the photographer, and therefore any reproduction without permission would be an infringement of copyright.
   Examples:
• If Bill Smith asks Peter Jones the photographer to photograph his wedding. Peter Jones will normally provide a single copy of the prints as part of the fee, but any additional prints Bill or his family and friend want must be ordered via Peter as he is the copyright owner and controls who can copy his work.
• If Bill Smith engages the services of XYZ-Photos for the same job, and Peter is an employee of XYZ-Photo who instruct Peter to take the photos, XYZ-Photos will be the copyright owner and control how they are used.

I already understood that the photographer owned the copyright if he/she took the photo but I didnt know that if they worked for a business it was the business that owned the copyright!

1. Marking your work
   The two primary reasons for marking your work are to ensure that those accessing your images are clear that copyright exists and that they know who to contact to obtain permission.
   1. Contact information
      We often receive enquiries from individuals and organisations wishing to use specific photos, but who are unable to trace the owner. It seems that many images are marked as ‘copyright image do not reproduce without permission’, but that the photographer omitted to include their contact details. This is frustrating to the person wishing to use the image and also means that the photographer may miss out on reproduction fees and exposure.
   2. Copyright notices
      We do recommended that you mark your work with a copyright notice, as this makes it clear that copyright exists, and helps to deter infringement. Please see our fact sheet P-03: Using copyright notices for information on wording you notices.
      For traditional prints, it is customary to use a stamp to mark the copyright notice and the copyright owners contact details on the back of the print
      If you display your photos online, you may choose to use photo editing software to place a simple copyright notice across the image, (typically this will appear in the bottom corner). Ideally it should include the address of the web site so that it is clear where to go to find contact details.
      For electronic images, it is also possible to include the copyright/contact details in the file properties. Under Windows for example, right clicking on a image will allow you to bring up the properties dialogue where you may enter details about the file, (though this will only work with certain file types). More typically, your image software will provide a way to insert comments into the file; this is preferred as these are harder to remove.
      Watermarking may be worth considering if you have a lot of valuable images on your site.

I already watermark all of the images I put onto my business facebook page, and I do have a copyright note in the sidebar. 

Model release forms

An individual has certain rights to control the use of their image. The specific details will vary from one country to another depending on national legislation, although the general rule seems to be to protect a person against defamatory or offensive use of their image.

If you intend to sell or distribute images that include people, then it is worth getting your subjects to sign a model release form as this will protect you against any comeback.

I already make sure that all my models fill in a model release form I also have forms for my makeup artists, hair stylists and clothing designers to sign for any of my shoots. 

All information taken from