I respect licensing and all, but I think if I was hiring a photographer to shoot me or a wedding or anything, then the photos would be mine to use (within the limits of the license) but I would also have an expectation that I am paying the photographer to take my photo and supply them to me and nothing else. So I would object to finding out that he was using them for advertising or contests, and certainly I would object if I found out that he sold them to someone else. Any use of the photos by the photographer beyond what I paid for would have to be expressly ok'd by me.
I understand that some might not agree, but as the customer, I will just take my money elsewhere and the photographer can wait for the next wallet to walk through the door.
Again, you're treating wedding photographers like stock / commercial photographers.
A wedding or portrait photographer doesn't go selling their client's mugs to a stock agency.
That, and consider the following- If I were to relinquish my own usage rights to EVERY wedding I photographed, how would I get any business? I would have no portfolio to show. Would you hire me if I refused to show you a SINGLE image from my client's weddings, due to privacy reasons?
Sure, I might be able to build a portfolio with models and other types of events, but I personally can't imagine hiring someone to shoot my wedding without seeing TONS of wedding photos they've shot for REAL clients in the REAL world.
That, you see, is the issue. We need to retain our usage rights for GOOD, not for evil. :-P
That is, for those of you who give your customers full-res digital image files, do you give them complete ownership or just an unlimited use license?
The difference being, if you retain ownership, you can then sell any images if they become valuable, like if the subject becomes newsworthy for whatever reason.
I was mainly responding to this post, though I did read all of the following posts.
A portfolio is what I would consider a reasonable use. As pointed out, I'm probably going to look reasonably good if the photog wants to use the image in a sample book. I know this sounds a bit odd, but I am happily married but have this strong dislike of weddings, perhaps as it was this bizzare chinese wedding that I had no clue of what was going on most of the time. I don't enjoy sending my images around to people, so I don't want to see photos of my wedding on some blog or whatever. I realize that this is perhaps a bit odd, and again, at odds to what a pro wedding photog would desire.
But anyway, as you can see, from the first post, I don't like the idea of some guy I paid a bunch of money to suddenly selling my photos to some publication (not that its likely) or doing something else that I'm not comfortable with in the future. You gotta admit, the first posting in this thread doesn't exactly paint wedding photogs in the best light.
Hence, I think if I was to ever have say a professionally done shoot or whatever, either wedding (say some sort of "anniversery shoot) or otherwise, I'd request that my images be licensed to me and not be used in the future, aside from a printed or physical portfolio and not to be sold to god knows who.
Comments
A wedding or portrait photographer doesn't go selling their client's mugs to a stock agency.
That, and consider the following- If I were to relinquish my own usage rights to EVERY wedding I photographed, how would I get any business? I would have no portfolio to show. Would you hire me if I refused to show you a SINGLE image from my client's weddings, due to privacy reasons?
Sure, I might be able to build a portfolio with models and other types of events, but I personally can't imagine hiring someone to shoot my wedding without seeing TONS of wedding photos they've shot for REAL clients in the REAL world.
That, you see, is the issue. We need to retain our usage rights for GOOD, not for evil. :-P
=Matt=
My SmugMug Portfolio • My Astro-Landscape Photo Blog • Dgrin Weddings Forum
I was mainly responding to this post, though I did read all of the following posts.
A portfolio is what I would consider a reasonable use. As pointed out, I'm probably going to look reasonably good if the photog wants to use the image in a sample book. I know this sounds a bit odd, but I am happily married but have this strong dislike of weddings, perhaps as it was this bizzare chinese wedding that I had no clue of what was going on most of the time. I don't enjoy sending my images around to people, so I don't want to see photos of my wedding on some blog or whatever. I realize that this is perhaps a bit odd, and again, at odds to what a pro wedding photog would desire.
But anyway, as you can see, from the first post, I don't like the idea of some guy I paid a bunch of money to suddenly selling my photos to some publication (not that its likely) or doing something else that I'm not comfortable with in the future. You gotta admit, the first posting in this thread doesn't exactly paint wedding photogs in the best light.
Hence, I think if I was to ever have say a professionally done shoot or whatever, either wedding (say some sort of "anniversery shoot) or otherwise, I'd request that my images be licensed to me and not be used in the future, aside from a printed or physical portfolio and not to be sold to god knows who.