Hi carolyn....
sorry i keep bothering ya.....but i'm confused yet again. i offer photo retouching and restoration...and i was thinking the other day about copyright issues......am i allowed to alter, restore, and retouch someone's photo??? for example i have a customer that wants me to take her mom's baby pic and her dad's baby pic and make it where they are in the same photo. she wants me to alter them. In this case the client didnt take the photo.....one photo was taken by her friend and the other photo by a pro photographer took but they are hers....Am i making sense?.....I dont know if i'm getting confusing! lol. and also there was a marine corp ball where i live and a lot of the people didn't like the photos because the are too dark so would i be able to alter them (fix them)? what about when people have photos that they want me to restore? you know cracks, rips, pen marks.......do i need some kind of form that my clients need to sign? please help!!! thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!! your response is HIGHLY appreciated!

dalile:confused:

hi everyone!
well i havent gotten any responses back on this issue and i'm so so lost on this. does anyone know any websites where i could get all this info from. i dunno im so confused and i really would love to know all the laws on this. who would i talk to in my town? where to photographers go to get all of this info??? i hope someone can help me out.

Hi,

Sorry for the delay as I have been traveling on a client matter.

When you own a copyright, you have the sole right to:

• reproduce the copyrighted work;
• display the copyrighted work publicly;
• prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work; and
• distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale, rental or lending, and/or to display the image.

A derivative work is one that is based on one or more earlier works. Derivative works include editorial revisions, annotations or other types of modifications, including editing and compositing photos.

If you aren't the copyright owner, then you must get permission from the copyright owner to make copies or derivative works or you may be subject to copyright infringement claims.

You can, however, get the person who asks you to fix the photos to indemnify you (pay for) for the copyright infringement claims/damages so that they incur the risk instead of you.

Best,
Carolyn

CarolynWright:
Hi,

Sorry for the delay as I have been traveling on a client matter.

When you own a copyright, you have the sole right to:

• reproduce the copyrighted work;
• display the copyrighted work publicly;
• prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work; and
• distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale, rental or lending, and/or to display the image.

A derivative work is one that is based on one or more earlier works. Derivative works include editorial revisions, annotations or other types of modifications, including editing and compositing photos.

If you aren't the copyright owner, then you must get permission from the copyright owner to make copies or derivative works or you may be subject to copyright infringement claims.

You can, however, get the person who asks you to fix the photos to indemnify you (pay for) for the copyright infringement claims/damages so that they incur the risk instead of you.

Best,
Carolyn


Oh Carolyn thank you so so much!!!!!

you gave me such useful informatin. It is much appreciated.

you made my day! thank you!

Hi Carolyn,

I don't understand your answer to Dalmir23's question. I believe he said he was combining 2 photos to make one.

QUOTE:
one photo was taken by her friend and the other photo by a pro photographer took but they are hers

So in this case the customer does not own the copyright to either photo especially the one taken by the professional photographer's photo unless the customer purchased the copyright. I don't believe because someone owns a photo it means they own the copyright.

Would you mind clarifying your answer, please.

Regards,
George

George -

You are correct. Owning a print does not give you the copyright to the photo. This is the important part of my answer above:

If you aren't the copyright owner, then you must get permission from the copyright owner to make copies or derivative works or you may be subject to copyright infringement claims.

Best,
Carolyn