If you’re an actor and you hire and pay a photographer to take headshots of you it stands to reason for most that you would own the resulting images.

You would be wrong.

When you hire a photographer, or any artist, to create something, the rights (copyright) in and to the work remain with the photographer until such a time, if ever, as that person assigns ownership of those rights to someone else. Unless that assignment is made in writing, the rights remain with the creator for the life of the copyright and any extensions or renewals thereof.

What are you paying for when you hire a photographer for headshots?

You are paying for the photographer’s time and services and, when commissioning for a specific use such as headshots, the right to use the resulting images as headshots are customarily used in your respective industry. If you were to use those images for something else, say an album cover, an image in a magazine for an article about you, on a t-shirt, etc., you would need the photographer’s prior consent. Technically speaking, though most photographers taking headshots of you may not mind, you also don’t have the rights to alter or edit the images in any way without the photographer’s prior consent.

What if you want to own the copyright to your headshots?

To own the copyright to the images from a shoot you would have to commission the images from the photographer as a ‘work made for hire’. A work made for hire is one in which the author (or creator) assigns all rights of ownership to the copyright to the commissioning party. It’s an agreement that needs to be expressed in writing and signed by both parties to be legally recognized. The problem is that any photographer worth any bit of your consideration would never agree to this. Even the most expensive brands don’t own the images they hire photographers to take because it would be too costly. Instead, they pay photographers for their time and services plus additional fees for the rights to use the images for a specific but limited period of time, territory, and use.

What’s to protect you from a photographer selling or licensing your images to someone else or otherwise using the images in a manner you would object to? Simply, your name and likeness. While the photographer may own the copyright to the images taken of you, he doesn’t own any rights to your name or any visual representation of you. To license, publish, distribute, or otherwise use the images the photographer would need your prior consent to use your name and likeness.

So, with the protection of controlling the rights to your own name and likeness, do you actually need to own the copyrights to your headshots? In practical terms, no. The photographer can’t do anything with the images without your consent which may very well mean paying you a reasonable sum if it would be for a commercial use. If you would like to use your pictures for more than just headshots, say so at the time of booking the photographer and you may very well avoid any issues.

‘Works made for hire’ and ‘name and likeness’ are dense topics and are only generally covered here.  Feel free to ask questions and I’ll be glad to do my best to answer them.

Thank you for stopping by. Please do ‘like’, ‘share’, and comment.

Break legs,

Chris Violette

Share and Enjoy