Photography contract writing
This post deals with the law and making a wedding photography contract, it has come to my attention and was recently posted by a photographer about the changes that they had to make to their contracts for wedding clients.
While I am not an official legal eagle, I do have experience in dealing with legal matters and courts where what you may think is fair and give you cover in your contracts you may find that you are a little wrong and that the court won’t listen or hold your contract as valid.
Lets start with the basics of the contract.
You contract should hold your details, this means your name and trading name and address.
It should have the clients name and address, it should also have the details of what has been agreed and the amount of money exchanged.
It then should be signed and dated.
Many photographers may find this to be fine to have these details wrote out and leave this as all the details within the contract. You will soon find yourself becoming stuck. Here are some clauses that you may wish to include into your contracts.
Non participating guests and items:
We do not take responsibility for guests, animals not committed to the photography.
I don’t think I need to say what this is about, clearly this is about children that don’t want to be in photos, or animals that do not want to be in photos or simply cannot be. It also covers when guests shall we say “show off” for better words with hand gestures as they think its funny.. While you may talk about what photos you will take and how, it is important to know that you cannot tell the future and therefore cannot promise any photographs specifically, for example if they want a nice picture of the grandson, and hes falls over in a puddle and is having a paddy, clearly a nice photo cannot be taken and therefore with out the clause you are in breach of your contract.
Guest photographers:
In cooperation the bride and groom it is agreed to give the photographer precedence over your guests in order to take the photographs required for the wedding services described. We cannot be held liable for a lack of wedding photos if the photographers work has been continually interrupted by guests which includes flash photography effecting the photography and guests standing in front of the photographer.
We are all aware of guest pushing in, standing in front of you or the video guy that gets in the way, it is also important that we consider the issues with guests flashes that can effect the lighting of a picture you see and want. I have had this issue with a cutting of the cake photo where around 60 guests were around me and flashing was constant and wreaked 99% of the images taken.
Photographic art interpretation:
Photography is an art form and therefore differs with each wedding and client, you acknowledge that you understand that your wedding is bespoke and unique to you and that images taken may differ in a number of ways.
Bespoke service:
Wedding photography and wedding albums are a bespoke service, the images taken of your wedding are unique to you and your wedding as is the album design.
This is in effect your “caveat emptor” or buyer beware, under the contract law a bespoke service has no refunds and little expectations. However there is a point which needs to be clarified which is the photography itself. While photography is an art form and it will differ, there is a standard that should be met for legal reasoning and to the common man.
to analogies this so that it is better understood:
Wedding photography should be of a wedding at a wedding. That a person taking photographs does take images. The art interpretation is that of where you may take an image that is not clear or has no meaning relating to the wedding itself. Your work that you display in your website or albums must be a true account of the photography that you offer, while we have written about artistic licence to cover you for photographs you may take that others may not like.
Album design:
The album design is bespoke and is previewed to you before printing, it is your responsibility to ensure that the quality and layout of the images are correct and acceptable at the point of preview. Once conformation has been received and the album or prints have been ordered no mistakes can be rectified. This term excludes the manufacture faults of the goods and damage caused in transit.
Client who approve the album and then change their minds, then they complain, its not uncommon and can happen. I had an issue with a client that selected their images and designed their own album and it was previewed to them and approved by them. 6 weeks later they didn’t like the album or images within the album and cited the fit for purpose law in court.
There was a spelling mistake and grain in some of the images taken at night and some of the images where soft focus this was his reasoning for his claim. As the item was not damaged had been previewed and approved by the the claimant and affirmed that this was what he wanted, we are covered.
Complaints:
If there is a problem or issue with your wedding photography service or album and prints, we reserve the right of arbitration from our peers. The service of arbitration shall be resolved by National Photographer and its panel of photographers in the interest of fairness.
This clause is an arbitration clause, simply it means that you don’t have to go to court should there be a claim or problem. Taking the issues of both parties and looking at the issues a panel of photographers and business owners look at the issue without bias. This offers in effect the same as what would be a court hearing and jury on the matter. We look at the fairness of the complaint from both sides including the contract and rights of both parties, this is a service offered to National Photographer members only.
Include and not included:
Listing in the particulars of the service is the offer of the contract within the strict limitations of the agreement, other items, services or additions are not included within the quote or price of the service as stated in writing and agreed.
While your client may want a wedding photographer to take some pictures and give them an album, this is the simple and in basic the way things are to the client. It is a problem when they think something is included when it is not, for example travel and accommodation, image editing that is substantial; One photographer reported that a client objected to being charged extra when they wanted 101 changes made to the album design. It is prudent to list or name what is or is not included with the services or goods that are purchased.
As we stated that only the services and goods listed within the contract are provided, there is a need for some clarification, for example “a disc of images” this doesn’t say of their wedding photographs, full size digital negatives, if they are RAW or Jpg’s; in short clarification is required rather than a generalisation.
It is a good idea to write up the meanings of what you are talking/selling on your website, so that a client who is wondering what you mean by a term used is clarified so there its true interpretation in finite.
Copyright licence:
The Photographer retains the copyright and ownership to the images. The Client is granted a license to use the images for personal use. The Client is granted a license to use the images in the Client’s personal web site and the personal web sites of the Client’s friends and family, but the following restrictions must be adhered to: No image may be larger than 360 pixels across its length or width without the Photographer’s written permission. When images are used in personal web sites, the images must be accompanied by a credit which must link to the Photographer’s web site. The Client must notify the Photographer of any such use on the internet.Use of images:
The images may not be in any way significantly modified without the Photographer’s consent. No derivative works may be made from the images without the Photographer’s consent. The Client may not assign or transfer this license. The client may not sell in whole or in part the images of the photographer.
Being credited to your work and if it is displayed on-line, as most people do these days it is important that you are given a link to your website, this means that people who like your work can find you and in effect is word of mouth. By limiting the size of the images displayed stops theft of the images and printing for what may be a loss to your orders. With the Limitation for personal use, this limitation applies to the bride and groom, it does not extend to family and friends so that the images are all purchased from the disc that you have supplied and even from on-line previews.
I have found a number of times clients using images with no crediting, I have also seen clients who have stolen images from galleries and previews. It may be naming a fault fee on these terms and conditions that reflect the true cost.
With the use of images we can say that if a person was to alter an image it may have an effect on your reputation, or maybe sold or included as part of artwork.
Agreement:
By undertaking the services and good stated within this website, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions stated within this contract upon payment of your deposit (booking fee) and in contacting us for the services and goods which we provide.
Many photography contracts I have seen on-line are missing fundamental parts of the contract, for example, the agree to the terms of the contract. You will also note that deposit and booking fees are completely different and are regarded as such in law. A booking fee is what is says, a deposit is a pro-forma payment, if the wedding is cancelled you must repay the deposit, if you cancel or miss the wedding then you must repay the amount regardless if it is a deposit or booking fee.
Other things that I have not gone into with regards to this contract is the statutory rights clause which MUST be in a contract, the consideration liability and jurisdiction as well as a few other topics.
If you would like National photographer to review your contract, a small fee is charged to members for this service. If you are not a member a fee of £250.00 is charged to review your wedding photography contract.
Useful links on wedding contracts:
http://www.jjfp.co.uk/blog/weddingcontract
http://digital-photography-school.com/wedding-photography-agreement-contract-tips
http://www.brianparkes.com/Support_Scripts_etc/Contract_2006b.PDF
http://www.nationalphotographer.co.uk/join-national-photographer/
You can of course find the contracts on all the National Photographer websites, normally a link or contained within the contact page of the website, if the site has its own search engine, type “contract” or terms and conditions.
Related posts:
- Wedding Photography Payment Plans
- Wedding Photography
- Wedding photography site
- Picking your style of wedding photography
- The bear of Rodborough
NOTE: For model and property release contracts visit the stock.nationalphotographer.co.uk website.