Professional Photos

[36TEAK36]

Although my username is in green, I am not a newbie. For some reason my AB Account has dissappeared.I am still waiting AB to reply to my several emails to explain what has happened.

Anyway, here is my question.

My sons recently had their photos taken at School by a professional Photographer. This was not the normal annual photo, but a photo session organised by the School where myself and my wife could be included in the photos. We had several photos taken, and after seeing the prints we purchased several of them at a total cost of �100.

I would now like to get a large canvass print made up of one of the photos, so I asked the Photogapher if I he put the images I purchased onto a disk. I was expecting a small charge, but he wants another �100, which I find extotrianate.

Does the Photographer automatically own the copyright to the photos I paid for? We never had to sign anything, and the prints we purchased have no copyright inforation on them.

I was thinking of taking my photos to work and putting them through our scanner, but I suspect that because the canvass I want is about 30"x20", the picture will get pixilated when it is blown up to this size.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

[Ethel]

Yes he does. This is the case with all professional photographers unless you sign a contract that copyright is transferred to you.

"The copyright in a photograph belongs to the person who took it - Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 - the only exception being employed photographers, where it is his or her employer who owns the copyright unless they have a contractual agreement to the contrary.

In practice, this means that clients may only use photographs taken by a professional photographer in ways that have been agreed at the time they were commissioned. If further uses are required at a later date, permission must be sought from the copyright holder and an additional fee agreed."

http://www.bipp.com/copyright.html

[Twenty20]

Yes, he does own the copyright. But, he's hardly going to know if you scan the photo and reprint it (whether the quality would be good enough is questionable). Just dont invite the photographer round to your house though and remember, he is probably trying to make a living out of this.

[cassa333]

Have you asked him if he is able to put the picture onto a canvas or recomend someone who can? He may charge you less if you do!