Photographer Contract

ShepsMom

How many of you employ a written contract for your customers? Something they have to sign, agreeing to this and that before a photoshoot. If you do, can you share your format, or what do you put on the contract, or is there a place to see some samples on the web.

Thanks!

rosselliot

NEVER EVER EVER do a wedding without a contract! photoshoot are a little different, because they're as high profile....or...as stressful and time consuming and expensive as weddings. but wedding require a contract - not only for you, but for your clients. your clients need to have everything laid out for them so they can't come back after the wedding and say they misunderstood something, and if they do - you can say 'oh really? see this ink? you said THEN that you understood everything!? I'm sorry there's some confusion now....but it's not my problem!!!!!!' you can see sample wedding contracts here: http://www.wedfog.com/contracts.html

I usually don't do contract with my seniors or couples or whatever, usually there's not too much to understand - I take pictures, you buy them that kind of simple

- Ross

ShepsMom

Thanks Ross!! I don't do weddings, i'm not good enough or i don't feel experienced. But i do families, events, etc. So you're saying i don't have to have anything in writing? I was thinking may be putting together some kind of agreement, which will state "terms" of using photos for digital downloads, i have it stated on my site, but it would be different if they would actually sign it.

Thanks again!! I'll check out your link, just for the fun of it

rosselliot

if you read the...I'm pretty sure it's....the first sample contract, it will give you some GREAT information and ideas on what you might want to put in your contract. If you require a retainer for sessions like the ones in question, then I'd have a contract saying it's non refundable and once that date has passed, then a second retainer will be required. If you give out digital negatives, I would DEFINITELY have a contract, because you have to make sure they understand that they CANNOT and SHOULD NOT reproduce the images for any other reason than personal use, they may not submit them to competitions or make money in any way by taking credit for any of your images. You need to let them know that just because they have the images on a CD that they ARE NOT THEIR images!!! You need to retain ALL the copyright, if it's in the contract, then if for some reason they do make money off the image, you're entitled to their royalties from it. does that make sense?

I don't provide digital negatives unless they pay for a Top 5 of Top 10 CD in which I will provide 5 or 10 digital files suitable for prints and internet use on social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook. In this case, I do require a contract for my files. In the contract it clearly states that they can be printed only for personal use and cannot be submitted to competitions, etc, etc, etc, and that photo credits must be given in the 'photo description' or 'title' if used on any of the social networking sites. stuff like that.

I don't let my clients design their own photo albums, so there's no need for a contract there, They won't be able to do it as good as I can anyway, right?! haha! So I just tell them I'll get that to them within 6 weeks.

If you feel that you will be working with people who may try to cheat you at something, like say 'well, I didn't hear you say that?! So, I don't think you did!!!' stuff like that - then go ahead and draft a contract to cover all bases. I'd draft the contract AFTER your decide on a date and place and time, and then either meet with them in your studio or go to their house - get the retainer and have them sign the contract at the same time! I'd rather you be safe and sound, then have the possibility of a mad client, ya know? Here in North Louisiana, in my price range, in such a small town, I won't be photographing many people who will be questioning or trying to cheat me out of anything, you know? So I don't find contracts necessary for my portrait shoots, from seniors to families to children.

One reason I don't - is because a photo shoot can be redone, quite easily, you know? But a wedding, it only a one time deal, if you fail (or your equipment fails) you're screwed. So for a wedding, you need to say ' I hold no responsibility for anything that is out of my hands such as natural disasters or failure of electronic equipment or data loss through the failure of computer, etc, etc, etc. However, for a photo shoot - you can just say, look, I know how much this sucks, trust me, it does for both of us, but we're going to have to retake your shoot, because my CF cards were eaten by a friend's gerbil and my computer failed because I ran over it with my SUV...you get the idea. I offer to retake the shoot, because I'm more worried about providing my clients with the best pictures possible, so if my CF card fails and I lose some of their images, I actually WANT to do another photo shoot! does that make sense? I feel like I'm rambling....hahha!

Well, if you have any more questions about how I do stuff (hahaha) then shoot em my way!

- Ross

rosselliot

Hey - I thought of something else when I pondered this...you might want to think about adding something into a contract about if injuries occur during a shoot, that you hold no responsibility...you never know! haha! Photography is SUCH a dangerous business!!!!

- Ross

rosselliot

Okay....hey - found something you may want to look at:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:NRbGLlpeqKkJ:www.enchanted-planet.com/forms/contract-2005final.doc+portrait+photographers+contract&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

ShepsMom

, thank you Ross, you sure did cover a lot of ground here. Good info and thank you for all the links and information. I have to review it all carefully.

Llywellyn

I just had to do this earlier this week--plus figure out an entire pricing plan. The book Shay (and others) recommended--Pricing Photography (Third Edition)--has several templates in the back, each with "Terms and Conditions" on the back. I used one of those and adapted it a bit (also fixing some spelling). I needed this because what I had been approached to do was assignment photography for advertising/marketing a new business. I really wanted to protect my rights to my photos.

This book was a very handy resource, I've found!

ShepsMom

Thank you Kerry for the info and book suggestion. So much to learn and know

evoryware

The book I'm using to get my contracts from is Business and Legal Forms for Photographers. Also I read Pricing Photography. Has a CD that allows you to edit their forms in word for your own purposes.

kristen

ShepsMom wrote:

How many of you employ a written contract for your customers? Something they have to sign, agreeing to this and that before a photoshoot. If you do, can you share your format, or what do you put on the contract, or is there a place to see some samples on the web.

Thanks!

HEY! You can take a look at my contract.

http://kristenlburton.googlepages.com/Contract.pdf

ShepsMom

Thanks Kristen, yours is specific to the wedding, that's cool, i might "steal" some stuff from you if you don't mind

kristen

ShepsMom wrote:

Thanks Kristen, yours is specific to the wedding, that's cool, i might "steal" some stuff from you if you don't mind

I don't mind at all. Take what you need. It was hard enough for me to put mine together... That's why I pass it along!

Scott_Quier

Marina,

Under no circumstances will I do a professional shoot, for pay or otherwise; for friends or otherwise, without a contract. As indicated by Ross, such contract should spell out what you are going to do, what you are going to deliver, and when you are going to do/deliver it. It should also cover what is expected of the client, and include a model release (you need that in case you get a real killer shot and want to use it for ANY advertising). My contract for a wedding is much more involved than a contract for a portrait session - mostly to cover me in case "life happens" during the wedding shoot (weddings being a once in a lifetime event - you need the protection).

There is nothing worse than loosing a friend over a simple mis-understanding that could have been avoided had there been something in writing.

ShepsMom

Good tip Scott, thank you so much for replying! You guys are great

One more thing, any of you photograph pets? I know there might be some liability issues with that, dog bite, horse kick, whatnot. Is insurance really an issue here? Just curious.

Scott_Quier

ShepsMom wrote:

Good tip Scott, thank you so much for replying! You guys are great

One more thing, any of you photograph pets? I know there might be some liability issues with that, dog bite, horse kick, whatnot. Is insurance really an issue here? Just curious.

Cavet - I'm no lawyer, but ... I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express a couple of times...

If you are photographing in a professional capacity, for compensation or otherwise, you need to be covered. The animal can/might react to something you do, or to a flash, or just because he/she is nasty and injures you, someone working for you, the owner. Doesn't matter - it's probably on you.

The only exception I can think of is if the owner is also handling the animal or has retained someone to handle the animal and you have warned/discussed the possibility of adverse action/reactions on the part of the animal and it's the owner/handler that gets injured - then it probably on the owner/handler.

If you are photographing a young child with their family dog and the dog turns and bites the child - all bets are off. Anytime a young child is in the mix, all bets are off - parents just have no sense of reality when it comes to protecting their children. Especially in the U.S. society - litigation is the rule of the day.

Any way you cut it, doing a professional shoot requires a contract. When working with animals, I think a signed waiver of liability would be in order, having all individuals in the shoot sign individual and separate waivers. Have anyone working with/for you also sign a waiver releasing you from liability for such incidents. Get parents/guardians to also sign for minor children.

Keep in mind the only way any of the above will keep you out of court should "life happen" is if those injured individuals who have signed the waivers also believe they will keep you out of court. If they take it to a lawyer, then you're probably going to court. You will also likely come out of court being found at least partly at fault (remember, in civil court, there is such a thing as being 5% at fault).

All of that having been said, I'm completely open to photographing pets. I don't and won't do it in a studio setting. That can be just too upsetting to the pet and could/would just aggravate the behavior. I also am not likely to photograph a pet if I first can not establish some sort of minimal trust relationship with that animal - if the dog don't wag his tail at me, then we probably have an issue that needs to be addressed before I will shoot. Just gotta be careful.

ShepsMom

Agree with you Scott. I've been training dogs for quiet sometime, so i can pin point some odd behaviors. With that said, i will not do a photo shoot (people/animals) without meeting the other party, that's for sure. Liability waiver is a great idea. I would prefer to do pet shots outside, and somewhere where that pet is familiar with it's surrounding. As for studio, that can be very tricky, as you mentioned. And yes, owners can be very ignorant of their pets, i found more then handfull of those, and amazed of lack of common sense.

Thanks again!!

parhead

Kristen,
I came across this post in search of contract ideas. The below link is no longer valid. Would you mind sharing your contract?
Please let me know.

Thank you,
Jody

kristen wrote:

HEY! You can take a look at my contract.

http://kristenlburton.googlepages.com/Contract.pdf

JDrake

I took a Business Law class in college (Was a Business major - not a law major) and I am pretty sure that if you are performing a service that you are getting $500 or more for, then you need to have a written contract for it to be valid - the agreement that is. Also - if it takes longer than a year to complete - then you need a contract for that too.

So, yea, get a contract. That's my 2-cents at least.

duds

Show us your Photography Contract!
I was surprised that I couldn't find a forum where people shared their contracts... So I decided to create one. That way, we'll have one place to compare and discuss contracts.

So... post yours here... and let's discuss!

catspaw

Well, I was hoping to find some examples here, but alas!

Anyone? bueller?

catspaw

Llywellyn wrote:

I just had to do this earlier this week--plus figure out an entire pricing plan. The book Shay (and others) recommended--Pricing Photography (Third Edition)--has several templates in the back, each with "Terms and Conditions" on the back. I used one of those and adapted it a bit (also fixing some spelling). I needed this because what I had been approached to do was assignment photography for advertising/marketing a new business. I really wanted to protect my rights to my photos.

This book was a very handy resource, I've found!

Ah, excellent to hear! I had not heard this book mentioned in my previous dozen searches of this forum, so thankyouthankyouthankyou

:ivar

Angelo

catspaw wrote:

Ah, excellent to hear! I had not heard this book mentioned in my previous dozen searches of this forum, so thankyouthankyouthankyou

:ivar

Leah

At the top of this forum is a sticky post titled: Photog Resources. There's lots of meaningful information there.

catspaw

Angelo wrote:

Leah

At the top of this forum is a sticky post titled: Photog Resources. There's lots of meaningful information there.

I suspect when I last cruised that post I had no idea I'd be lined up for an entire season of horse show photography. One of those things that fell into my lap and now I'm trying to make sure I'm covering everything legally.