Wedding Photographers - Picture Ownership/ Copyrights

During my ongoing quest for a photographer, I have come across a few practices I do not agree with. The one that stirs me the most is the ownership / copyright of your wedding photos.

I have been reading through this forum and have noticed a bunch of incorrect information regarding who has to do what when it comes to your wedding pictures.

The argument: I paid a lot of money for a photographer to take my pictures. That’s capital M-Y. So, as such, I own them and can do whatever I want with them.

I did a bunch of research this past week regarding this. Here is what I came up with. Generally, a photographer will own their own work. There are court cases that protect the photographer and their rights. National Geographic photographers own their own pictures and give National Geographic the right to reproduce them.

Yes, you are paying a lot of money for your photos but a photographer makes money two ways. First, they get paid to take photos. They also make money from reprints. You will notice that almost all photographers charge a similar fee for reprints, about $15 for a 4x6 for a photo they pay no more than $1 for.

But you say, I don't care. I want my negatives/digital photo files. I agree. Here is some advice:

• Tell the photographer you want ownership of your photos. Some will try to charge you extra for this. That is up to you. Others don't care to deal with reprints as it is time consuming and will gladly give you rights. Make sure you do two things. 1. Have it stated in the contract in writing about who owns your photos. 2. Get a copyright release. Many photo centers (including the likes of Wal-mart and Costco) will not reprint photos that look professional without a copyright release. This is because they have been successfully sued by professional photographers for copyright infringment. Think Kinko's copying a book.

• Make sure your proofs are unmarked. Some photographers will emblazon their name over the pictures so you can’t copy them.

• If getting digital files, make sure to state in the contract that they will not be copy protected and compressed. Files can be protected so that discs can’t be copied or photos can’t be printed. Also, to print a decent photograph, it must be uncompressed. That means, the picture must not be shrunk. You can print anything smaller from a large photo but you can’t enlarge a photo without losing quality.

Here is a good guide to resolution/photo size for optimal printing:


Good Results = 200 ppi
Excellent Results = 300 ppi

4 x 6 inches
Good: 800 x 1200 pixels (about 1 MP)
Great: 1200 x 1800 pixels (about 2 MP)

5 x 7 inches
Good: 1000 x 1400 pixels (about 1.5 MPs)
Great: 1500 x 2100 pixels (about 3 MPs)

8 x 10 inches
Good: 1600 x 2000 pixels (about 3 MPs)
Great: 2400 x 3000 pixels (about 7 MPs)

11 x 14 inches
Good: 2200 x 2800 pixels (about 6 MPs)
Great: 3300 x 4200 pixels (about 14 MPs)

16 x 20 inches
Good: 3200 x 4000 pixels (about 13 MPs)
Great: 4800 x 6000 pixels (about 29 MPs)

(MP = megapixel)
*From PCworld.com

I hope this helps you all in your search for a photographer. Good luck.

Re: Wedding Photographers - Picture Ownership/ Copyrights

Great post! I have been researching the same on my side. I want to do digital photography and print/make my own album. I have informed the photographers I met about it because I want to make sure it works.

Re: Wedding Photographers - Picture Ownership/ Copyrights

also with digital cds instead of negatives make sure the cd is High Res so you do not lose quality!

good post!!

Re: Wedding Photographers - Picture Ownership/ Copyrights

Thank you for the info... very helpful!

Re: Wedding Photographers - Picture Ownership/ Copyrights

Just called my photographer and I went over what you wrote in your post with them and they have agreed to everything...
Thank you for all of your advice.