Does a pro photographer have the right to copyright the pics he takes of a wedding?

Question

Our son was recently married and paid £800 for a wedding photographer who used digital cameras, and only supplied discs with one copy of each picture.When he tried to make copies to send to us, he found that there was a copyright "rootkit" on the disc stopping him from copying. The only way to get copies is to pay more cash to the photographer, which, surely, cannot be right. If they were taken using film, he would have recieved the pics plus all the negatives, and could copy all he wanted. Is there anyway to bypass this security program on the disc to enable him to make copies for his family.

Answer 1

Yes he does.  Anything shot by any photographer is owned by the photographer unless they sign an agreement or sell all rights to the photos.  It is legal and protects the photographer from unscrupulous people wanting free images. Which is one reason why I have very few photos online.  You want a copy of one of my photos...then pay for it.

Answer 2

Welcome to the world of professional photography.

Copyright is the right of the creator of the photos to control who can and cannot copy, distribute, sell their work etc etc.

MOST wedding photographers will give you a book full of printed pictures. If you have only been supplied with a CD rom then that makes me think the photographer is not very experienced in that particular field.

You can print out those pictures on the CD rom (once)

But without the permission of the photographer it is HIGHLY illegal for you to print multiple copies, or electronically or physically distribute, or sell the photos to other people... even family members.

Its at the descretion of the photographer whether he wants to a) give you permission b) refuse permission or c) charge extra money for the priveledge.

My advice would be to try negotiating with the photographer, and in future either use a more experienced one and/or negotiate what exactly you would expect to recieve on completion of the job.

If you make copies, distribute or sell the images you've been given without permission... and he finds out about it, he can sue you.... and he'd be almost 100% certain to win.

Answer 3

Hi Peter

Sue the person. If you paid for his service, then the pics belong to you and no one else. Simple.

Answer 4

Using programs that take an image of the disc then completely copy it often get around copyright, alcohol 120% and CloneCD are two that can do this. You need to be able to understand a bit about computers to do so though.

Depending on the format as well, he may be able to just browse to a directory with the photos on, copy them to the hard drive by drag and drop then burn those to CD. It depends if it stops him from copying anything from the CD, or just the CD itself as a whole. Again depending on the format, you may be able to seperately open each of the photos in a program, then use save as to make another copy.

I don't think he should be able to do that, unless it's in the agreement/contract made, but I don't know for certain. It does seem quite bad though.

Answer 5

Yes, the photographer owns the copyright of all the images they shoot unless they sign a contract to the contrary.

While a wedding photographer can charge up to $5,000 to shoot the wedding, they sell individual photographs separately from the cost of the shoot.  

If you consider that the photographer is making a living (making house payments, studio payments and all the other costs of raising a family) AND has to replace the camera bodies about every 18-24 months (at between $5,000 and $8,000 per body) you may begin to understand now much gross income they must generate to have money left over to support their families, put money away for retirement and pay for all the insurances so necessary in today's world (auto insurance, health insurance, home insurance, home owners insurance and liability insurance)

It is not unusual for the cost of doing business is over 70% of the income produced by the business of photography.

My equipment is insured for $50,000 replacement value.  I have two DSLR's and in 18 months, I have to have the money set aside to replace them with the new technology that will evolve by 2010.

Attempting to bypass the security on the disk is a direct violation of copyright law ... your really don't want to go there.

Answer 6

Of course he has a right to enforce the copyright of those images. As a matter of fact, copyright laws give the creator of any original piece of work, (music, paintings, photos, writings,etc) automatic ownership of their works upon creation.

If you get caught illegally copying these photos, and I certainly hope you do, the photographer will take you to court and you will end up paying many, many times more than you would if you stop being cheap and properly pay for reprints.

BTW, copyright is NOT a loophole, it's the law.

I know I'm a bit of a jerk here, but the suggestions of how to break the security protocols and copy the photos irked me a great deal.

Answer 7

Depending on the contract you signed he may well have a right to do this. The photographer does own the copyright unless he transfers it in the contract. He leagally owns the copyright to his work and that has been the law for years. That does not mean he can use it for commercial uses. If you did not release him to do so you have rights over your likeness in this situation. But, it does mean that he is only obligated to provide you with the number of copies or prints liscened in the contract.

I'm sorry that may not be what you wanted to hear. You need to look at the contract agreement that your son entered into when he hired the photographer. Remember that photographers make a living by selling photos be that digital or paper. Most photographers who release electronic media without restrictions make up for the loss of print sales in the fee for shooting. Others charge a lower shooting fee and make the rest selling pictures, parents books, portraits etc.

Bypassing the security on the disc is copyright infringement and the photographer probably has legal recourse if you do this

Answer 8

As a 1 time wedding photographer I under stand this plight, however - yes, we DO have the right, even in the film days. I kept ALL my film and could make more $ by re-makes of wanted or lost images. I know this may not sound right but in any Photo Studio, you do NOT get the negs or original files..

Sometimes in the contract their may be a statement to this, if people read all there is in a contract, many don't.. You also have the right - before - anything is done to discuss this with the photographer and work out other arrangements. At times I would indeed sell my wedding negs, usually for $200 extra, over and above the cost of the actual wedding.

On your CD, there ARE ways to get the images off, it just takes time. Doing screen grabs from other image editing programs works excellent, however, you will not get the full resolution your picture actually contains and if you do this, set your monitor to the largest Desktop size it can go to insure you DO get a large as plausible image, however, you will be lucky if you could print a good 5x7 this way..

The images may be something like 3000x2000 pixels +/- and no computer screen anywhere is THAT big. 1280x1024 is the most common, but a few HD screens are out there now, but there still under 2000x1500. A 1280 screen capture, assuming your image still fills the whole screen will make a printable image about 4x6.

You need at least 200 pixels per inch of print you wanna make.

Try - http://www.slysoft.com/en/ - they may have something that will help. I know there isn't a DVD movie I haven't been able to copy using it. I know were talking pictures here, but if you have a disk with them on it, it can be cracked.... one way or another.

Advocating p****y is not a good thing, however we all know it goes on, but the photographer is only trying to protect his business, his income and most likely, his lively hood. He has all the right in the world to do what he and thousand others do.. Protect their income and investment.

Bob - Tucson

Answer 9

Yes, they're his pics, unless you got a contract beforehand saying otherwise. even if taken on film the pics are still his. you can get the pictures scanned and copied that way , which is of course illegal.

Answer 10

Yes, he owns the copyright to the photographs that he created.  They are not your photos, but they are photos of you.  He put that copyright protection on the disc to prevent anyone from doing exactly what your son is trying to do.  And that is called stealing. The same as downloading copyrighted songs off the internet is illegal.  That is money out of the artist pocket.   That's how we (photographers) make money is buy selling prints.  And yes, it is right. There may be a way to bypass but even  if I was savvy enough to know how I would not tell how.  No, with film, the photog keeps all the negs, and only copies would be availiable for purchase.  If you wanted the negatives, the fee would increase substantially.  As it would if you wanted the copyrights to the photos.  A very substantial increase.  If you want prints go back and tell the photographer you would like to buy some prints.  

Answer 11

The photographer probably does own the copyright unless there is something in the contract about it.

If he had used film he would have kept the negatives and not automatically included them with the prints.

We have just had some professional graduation photos done. Extra prints mean a lot of extra money for the photographer.

Sorry we don't know how to bypass the security block.

Answer 12

I can't tell you how to get around the problem . But the photographer has found a loophole and does hold the copyright . As I found out when I tried to get my 84 year old mothers photograph replaced  

Answer 13

he has the copyright automatically because he is the photographer...that's his work...

even without this rootkit block......if one of my clients wanted more than one copy of a disk...i'd probably have to charge 100-200 extra dollars....you have to realize that giving copies of these disks means that he is giving up his copyright..meaning you can print them anywhere else...making him lose the printing part of his business

Answer 14

welcome to the real world, kid.

life may not always seem fair

and then we all die.

i have found that if i cannot afford a professional photographer to shoot my [weddinigs, art, murals, faux finishes, etc] then i better be willing to do it myself, and that means devoting some time to learning the skillset of a professional photographer and being willing to buy the necessary equipment.

i won't shoot a wedding, but i'm getting pretty fair at the architectural and fine art stuff, and like the others i won't come off images for naught.