I was contacted by a long-time client about making a copy of a painting… a portrait which depicts a former owner of the house in which they currently live. Her objective is to get a portrait of each former owner (back to its origin which is in the 1800’s) and put same in the foyer of their home.
The question that was brought up was permission to copy. How often do you want to make a copy of a picture and think, “is this legal?” Probably not very often. My venture was safe because the original artist had made these works over 100 years ago.
But without getting too preachy, you might want to understand a little more about what the word “copyright” means, and how it applies to you and pictures. When you get pictures taken by a professional photographer, you are asking them to make images for you. The images that they make are copyrighted by the photographer. This means they own the images. They don’t own you, just the pictures that you are in.
When you view the pictures from the photographer, and ask them to make a print of them, you are asking them for a copy of the image. A copy of the image which is printed on any media is yours to display and share with family and friends. However, it cannot be legally copied. The reason is that all artists and authors who produce images and written works are protected under the Federal Copyright Act. Their works, called “intellectual property” are something that they designed and so therefore have all of the “copy rights” (rights to copy without permission) to that work.
So when you get a copy of an image from your photographer, it is not okay to make a copy of it, even at home, for any reason. Most major stores where you can copy photos have big signs posted and closely watch what is being copied to prevent you from doing so. The reason is that they are also liable if they permit you to copy a photo that is copyrighted material.
It’s more difficult to understand sometimes because you know that a) the photographer gave you a copy of the photo, b) you are in the photo, and c) nobody’s there to stop you. But if you are caught, the penalties can range as high as $10,000 per image, per COPY! I don’t even want to think about the bill you’d get for copying all the pictures from a wedding. Eek!
The best thing to remember is that if you paid to have the pictures taken, then ask your photographer for copies of the photos. Most or many will be happy to help you.