Copyright

Every photo that I create - as in, every photo that has been taken as a result of my finger clicking the shutter button on a camera - instantly belongs to me. The same can be said for any photo you take on your own phone or camera, even if it’s just for personal use. This is an automatic right granted to anyone who creates a photo, as governed by Irish law. You can read a little more about that here if you wish.

This legal right still stands, even if a photographer has been specifically commissioned to create a collection of photos for another person or business’s use. The copyright does not transfer over to the person who commissioned the work to be created.

The copyright for a collection of photos can be bought. It strips the photographer of any claim to the photos created, and allows the new owner of the work to do whatever they wish with it. However, it isn’t very common for copyright to be sold, and is quite a costly process.

You might be wondering that if I own the photos you commisioned me to create, then how do you go about legally using them? That’s where usage fees come in.

Usage Fees

In order to use work that I create, usage fees can be granted to allow this within set parameters. It’s like a license - giving you, the client, an exact time frame of how long you can use my work and where you can use it, without infringing on the copyright.

You might want to use the photos I create for digital and social media, for print or for ad campaigns and promotional purposes. All of these will impact the end cost of usage fees, as well as the length of time the work is needed for. There is no set price I can give a client for the cost of usage fees until I know exactly what they need.

I hope this information has helped you understand copyright and usage fees a little better.

So - ready to work together?