Event Photography: Who Gets The Rights?

[Rajah Sulayman]

I've always made sure to retain all rights to my photographs, but I was recently approached to do event coverage and one of the stipulations was that the event planners (who were the ones to approach me) get to keep all rights to the photos.

For the most part I don't really mind, because the only thing I'd be using event photos for are portfolio use; it's not like I'm gonna go out and sell a print of random people getting drunk at a random party. But by the same token, surrendering the rights means that if I find any good stock-able photos, I can't use them.

I've never had a client request for the photo rights before, but it's possible that it's simply because they didn't think to. Is this common?

[OsmosisStudios]

You can grant them full USE rights. This means the organization can use the images in any way they see fit.

If they insist on having complete copyright, stipulate that you reserve the right to use for personal advertising or promotion.

[Dennismc]

and charge double? Possible loss of revenue?

[Rajah Sulayman]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

If they insist on having complete copyright, stipulate that you reserve the right to use for personal advertising or promotion.

This I made sure to do, as well as getting credit on any publication of my photos.

Originally Posted by Dennismc

and charge double? Possible loss of revenue?

The only foreseeable loss-of-revenue would be from photos I could potentially sell as stock and to be honest I doubt I'll miss whatever I could've gotten from this one gig. They want mostly shots of people at the event, and I'm not about to go trying to get releases signed while on the job.

That said, charging double is a good idea if even just in principle. It's too late to do it now (the price has already been agreed on), but I'll definitely keep it in mind for future jobs.

[Rajah Sulayman]

Just a quick bump to see if anyone else might have some thoughts on the subject. It's starting to sound like if this event goes well, it could be both the start of a longer relationship with this planner and an opportunity to meet and mingle with other potential clients. I plan on seeking the advice of a photography lawyer in the near future (for a bunch of other things, but I'll bring this up as well) but I'm curious to see what the general DPS consensus is on the matter.

[Jim Bryant]

Remember if you sell them the rights one time, they and their associates and friends will expect it each time. Raise your fee 3x or more for rights grabbers.