What would you do in this situation?

pwp

I have a bride from this summer who purchased the full set of images on DVD, which came with an explicit contract and release that they may be used for personal use only. (As is repeated over and over in the contract as well as the release.) When the bride asked me if she could use them in her Facebook albums, I agreed as they would be small and low-res. Couldn't hurt to let her do a little marketing for me. Right? I told her same rules apply, personal use.

Bride also had a friend do video of the event, which I was not informed of until the day of (despite asking her if she was going to have a videographer). Throughout the day, said videographer/friend of bride repeatedly asked me to set up shots for her, let her know when I was doing this and that, etc. Annoyed the ever living you-know-what outta me. But I smiled and soldiered on, telling her that if I had opportunity after fulfilling obligations to the B&G, I would try to help her, as she is fairly new to the business.

Fast forward to just now...the bride just posted the final cut of the 10 minute video on her facebook account. I see it, and as I am skimming, I count no less than 10 of my images in the video, without credit, and in their low-res glory (*sarcasm*), clearly copied from Facebook. So not only do I not get credit or use fees, my work looks AWFUL. I also found the video on the videographer's hosting portfolio site, and no credit there, either. I'm clearly upset by the situation, and still formulating my approach to handling it. I figured I could use a cooling down period before writing anyone an email.

RicherSea

I think i would, after the appropriate cooling down period, contact the videographer directly and ask her if she realises that the images are yours and this can't be used by her. It may be she is new enough not to understand copyright, and has assumed that the images are now the property of the bride. The fact that she has got them from the bride's facebook may be helping this belief.

If she doesn't understand then a link to a website explaining copyright for photographers might help, especially if you can approach it from the angle of "us proffessionals need to help each other out", even if that inflates her ego a little it might stop her using you images.

JohnBiggs

RicherSea wrote:

I think i would, after the appropriate cooling down period, contact the videographer directly and ask her if she realises that the images are yours and this can't be used by her. It may be she is new enough not to understand copyright, and has assumed that the images are now the property of the bride. The fact that she has got them from the bride's facebook may be helping this belief.

If she doesn't understand then a link to a website explaining copyright for photographers might help, especially if you can approach it from the angle of "us proffessionals need to help each other out", even if that inflates her ego a little it might stop her using you images.

I guess there are problems with all of it, but I have less of a problem with the videographer using a picture in a video to give back to the same bride. However its where the picture is also used in the video for their promotional work.

How does fair use come into play with this? Could this be covered by that?

Agnieszka

RIDICULOUS! What are some people just thinking???

Yeah, let it cool down for a day or ... week ... then send her an email, be firm and explain her stuff about copyright (!?!?!?! Grrrr).

I just had a similar problem with a bride. I give out my digital files, but email them a long paragraph that the photos are only meant to be for them and that the couple is not allowed to put them online, where other people can download files, or order prints (:toni) they get their smugmug gallery from me, and that should be good enough - She actually even "agreed" and promised not to share any digital files. So the other day, I of course stumble over a gallery of over 300 photos of mine that she put online. I got mad, real mad. :soapbox I let it cool down, and decided actually not want to deal with the whole thing, and it would probably just be smarter to just slip it away ... for once ..., as she's a very intense bride, and I have ZERO desire to deal with her more than I already have to anyway (don't even want to think about doing the album for her!). Anyway. So she emailed me today about something else, asking me to make changes on my blog (!!!!!!) and on the slide show, that I included for free (!!!). So I had enough and typed up a short, very firm email. I'll need to re-read it tomorrow (I guess), but I really wonder what some people are thinking.

Anyway. Sorry, ..... had to vent

I guess it's not your bride's fault that the videographer used your pics. So def. contact the videographer about that. (And it might help putting some sort of copy right info on your website ... retrospective, in case you don't have anything similar on your homepage yet!) As for facebook, it is actually a good marketing strategy, but tell them to only upload a certain number of photos and make sure they either give the gallery "your name" / they're not mixed with other people's photos or make sure you have your watermark on it, otherwise it won't help you.

Moogle Pepper

Bridezilla intense, Angieszka?

Cool down, then email the videographer first, and then kindly let the bride know too.

pwp

Great advice, Angie! Thanks!

I looked again this morning, and I'd been credited at least. (The vid took the video down briefly it appears and added the credit.) I did email the bride to let her know I'm not angry with her, and to explain to her the consequences the videographer might have to deal with if it had been a less understanding photog. I also explained that the low-res versions looked pretty poor, and that I would have preferred if the vid would have contacted me. I would have happily given her a dozen or so re-sized files that didn't look like they'd been drug across sandpaper and left in the rain.

Hopefully that takes care of this situation. I'll be adding information to my website, and luckily I am in the process of updating my contract for 2010 this week, so there will be a separate page that I will ask them to sign off on listing acceptable and non-acceptable uses of a personal license.

Agnieszka

pwp wrote:

I am in the process of updating my contract for 2010 this week, so there will be a separate page that I will ask them to sign off on listing acceptable and non-acceptable uses of a personal license.

A MUST have!

Moogle Pepper wrote:

Bridezilla intense, Agnieszka?

You don't want to get me there ...