What images can a hobbyist photographer sell?

mtsonic

Good day y'all! I am a hobbyist photographer who is attempting to sell some prints of some of my best captured digital images. I have been searching for days trying to find out what is legal for me to sell. Most of what I have found is either laws pertaining to your rights to take the pictures and what to do if confronted or model/trademark releases needed for publishing purposes. What I understand publishing to mean is that your photo will end up in a magazine, advertizement, etc. But what if I am an individual selling a print to another individual. Do the same laws apply? One of my images in question is a panoramic photo of the city of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Would I need to get permission from the City to resell it? Should I take it to an attorney to check trademark or landmark infriengments? I have ordered two books (Legal Handbook for Photographers by Bert Krages and Photographer's Legal Guide by Carolyn E. Wright) to hopefully get answers to these questions but they will not arrive for days. I'm also affraid that I may get more of the same answers as I have mentioned above. Much thanks for you help! Happy Shooting!

JBurt

First, I want to welcome you to Dgrin and encourge you to continue on your path in photography. It will challenge your emotions, talents, and every fiber of your being.

mtsonic wrote:

Good day y'all! I am a hobbyist photographer who is attempting to sell some prints of some of my best captured digital images. I have been searching for days trying to find out what is legal for me to sell. Most of what I have found is either laws pertaining to your rights to take the pictures and what to do if confronted or model/trademark releases needed for publishing purposes.

Copyright, Trademark, and signed releases are a mine field and becoming more so everyday. Be careful, everyone has their take on what is correct or not.

What I understand publishing to mean is that your photo will end up in a magazine, advertizement, etc. But what if I am an individual selling a print to another individual.

From my research, "publishing" in this context is making an image available in any form, including electronic or print, for sale or not.

Do the same laws apply?

Yes.

One of my images in question is a panoramic photo of the city of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

It is probably OK. BUT, I am not a lawyer.

Would I need to get permission from the City to resell it? Should I take it to an attorney to check trademark or landmark infriengments?

That is your call. More below.

I have ordered two books (Legal Handbook for Photographers by Bert Krages and Photographer's Legal Guide by Carolyn E. Wright) to hopefully get answers to these questions but they will not arrive for days. I'm also affraid that I may get more of the same answers as I have mentioned above. Much thanks for you help! Happy Shooting!

Those are very good books with great information. This is the tedious, but very important part of the photography business. (or any art or graphics business.)

Until yesterday afternoon, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what I could and couldn't do.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=76843
I am caught in a trademark enforcement Cease and Desist by Ford that could put me out of business. I have spent the last week doing nothing but research and yesterday was quite the eye opener for me.

This CafePress forum thread pretty much explains what is going on.
http://forums.cafepress.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/504104/m/292108581

You will get the "that's not fair" and the "we need to do something" posts but the bottom line is, it is perfectly legal. Nobody is or has stepped up to fight what is going on in court and it is a reality. I certainly don't have the resources to fight them.

Angelo

you'll find much useful information here: http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=66709


in a nutshell (and this is not legal advice); you may sell any image you take to anyone you want if the image is construed to be "art" and not intended for commercial use.

examples:

good: take a photograph of anyone or anything; print it; frame it; sell it to anyone for the purpose of hanging it in their home or office... no problem. submit it to a newspaper or magazine for editorial purposes... no problem. (assuming you captured the image in a legal manner, i.e. in a public place)

bad: take a photograph of anyone or anything; sell it in print or digital form to the owner of a business for his express intentional use as part of an advertising campaign to sell products or services... big problemo! very bad! (unless you've secured model and/or property releases)

mtsonic

Thanks JBurt. I did read about the issue you are having with For$ (don't want to get in trouble) in my quest for the all mighty truth. I also was thinking about what I could do for stock photography and isolated images as they seem to sell well. If I captured an image of my guitar and isolated it, could I sell it on a stock photo site? Same boat your in excpt that I own the guitar. That's a retorical question. I will probably not get into that unless I have some leftovers that I can use there.

Thanks Angelo. That makes things easier for me to understand. So is there a name for these two types of photography businesses? Thanks for the link. I was working my way down it.

Angelo

mtsonic wrote:

...Thanks Angelo. That makes things easier for me to understand. So is there a name for these two types of photography businesses?...

a rose by any other name

djspinner2k

Angelo wrote:

a rose by any other name

Hobby photographer
Stock photographer

Angelo

djspinner2k wrote:

Hobby photographer
Stock photographer

it's all photography in my book.

is your photography a hobby? do you do it simply for personal pleasure with no financial gain intended?

stock photographer: simply put, this is when a photographer offers general shots from his portfolio for sale via a "library" of images where a buyer can search and shop by category / subject matter at prices that can vary from $1 to $~

contract photography: the photographer is hired to do a specific shoot for a specific client, for a specific reason.
think Shay Stevens shooting a wedding or Annie Leibovitz shooting a spread for Vogue.

(Shay will enjoy my associating him with the great Annie L )