Customer Reviews

Licensing Photography

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Photography pursuits blend well with business in Licensing Photography, a resource that helps photographers price and control their work. With all the photography books on the market, surprisingly few address the issues of licensing as a way of making or managing works. Here a veteran photographer and an intellectual property attorney team up to examine the issues, explain how licensing photography works, and survey related issues from copyright protection and identifying infringements to release forms, agreements and negotiating tactics for both print and online media.

While there is absolutely NO substitute for a good lawyer, this book offers sound legal advice, detailed sample contracts, and so much more. I am so glad I purchased this book!

As the internet changes how images are viewed and sold world-wide this book provides in depth coverage of all aspects of licensing photography.

From writing the license to distributing images, nothing is left uncovered.

I would recommend this book to any professional photographer.

Remember, without registering your images with the Copyright Office you will at best struggle.

Fashion photographer David Paul Larson
www.davidpaullarson.com

For those considering photography as a business as well as beginning to sell their photographs or prints.
This book offers a lot of real life considerations with examples that will help new or budding photographers realize what they may be "giving away."
While it won't answer all questions about licensing you definitely will be aware that a consult with a visual arts attorney would be beneficial.

I could write a lot of detail into this review but instead I can sum it up quite simply: this book is an abbreviated version of all of the important legal issues discussed in the ASMP guide, but is an easier read and less expensive (if a little short on content). Namely: copyright, licensing / usage, release forms, etc.

If you are not likely to find or make the time to go through the entire ASMP guide (which is rather dry in spots), this is a good alternative. This book that can help you to make smart licensing decisions, by helping you to better understand your rights as a photographer, rights you grant to others, model releases and pricing. However as with any book or web site, all pricing advice should be taken with a grain of salt: there are no magic formulas. Certainly none worth paying for the privilege of seeing (see also: D65)!

Ultimately it has been my experience that -especially in down markets- many of the sites and books that offer up "standard pricing estimates" for stock and editorial markets, are way off the mark in their expectations. The only way to find a good pricing scheme is to get a feel for what other businesses and individuals in YOUR market will pay for, and constantly adapt it to market conditions. Someone in a boom economy might be thrilled to pay you $450 per shot for a series of assignment-based stock-style images, and in a down market wouldn't pay you $250 per. So take the generalized tips and apply them to your own situation. But for the rest of the book (copyright, licensing language, etc) - it's very good.

It's a straight forward book that gets to the point...licensing your photos for $$$$. After all, if you want to make photography a (profitable) business, this is a very helpful business survival tool.

Would highly recommend this to those photographers interested in:

- Making some money from your photos (hopefully a big profit)
- Maintaining your rights to your photos
- Avoiding most any legal licensing rights issues

Enjoy the book!!