TOP 10 Questions #5. It’s OK to Give These Image to ______ to Use In Their Marketing, Right?

Absolutely not! And WHY would you do this? You have paid hard earned money for these images. Why would you let someone else get for free, something you had to pay for?

Similarly, you wouldn't want someone taking your design and selling it to someone else, and pocketing the money for themselves? You worked hard on those designs. You deserve to be compensated for them. You might want to pay the other party a commission on the sale, but you created what was being sold, you deserve the money for it.

Any copying, reproduction, distribution, public display or creation of derivative works of images without specific permission from the photographer is a violation of Federal copyright law. This includes putting them on your web site.

Simply having physical possession of photographs, slides, prints, transparencies or digital files does NOT grant the right to use them.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506

TOP 10 Questions #2. What is this Licensing or Usage thing?

us·age [yoo-sij, -zij] –noun. Any manner of doing or handling something;

MYTH: Just because you have the physical image in your hands, or the file on the computer does NOT mean you own it and can do whatever you want with it, forever.

Just as it is with your designs, images are the intellectual property of the creator.

Usage is typically broken down into four main categories:

• - Commercial-refers to images that are used to sell or promote a product, service, or idea.
• - Editorial-refers to photography used for educational or journalistic purposes.
• - Advertising-any instance where you have paid to have your ad (and the image in question) placed in a magazine, journal,
• - Retail-refers to photography commissioned or purchased for personal use.

The difference between these categories is not in the type of photography, but in the use of the images. For example, suppose you hire a photographer to document project ground breaking event. For you, the type of photography being commissioned is event coverage, and the use is commercial because the corporation will use the photographs to promote your new project. However, if a local newspaper covers the same product launch, the use would be editorial.

Retail photography is for photography clients that are only desiring the images for their own personal use, such as a family portrait or a wedding. The client isn’t using it to promote themselves for monetary gain.

Regardless of how they are used, photographs are intellectual property, the same as an architect or designer’s creative designs.

Though your General Contractor physically has copies of your building design documents, you would never, ever consider letting them go to the local blueprint copy place, make as many copies as he/she likes, and then build additional building for client of their own with those plans, or resell those plans to other GCs. Well, at least not without compensating you significantly anyway.

It is the same for the images created by your photographer.

Whether you were there or not, and whether we are your photographer on a project or not, if you have any questions or comments about commissioning architectural photography, please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We'd be happy to help!

Kimberly Blom-Roemer
Photographer
R2 Photography, LLC
r2-photography.com
866-722-9506