Mary’s mom picks up her daughter’s senior portrait package from the photographer and brings the photographs home to show Mary.  The pictures are every bit as good as they looked in the proofs, even better, the photographer took the time to clean up the image and worked hard to make it something Mary will be proud to show her family and friends.
Mary loves the photos.  The first thing she does is scan the images into her computer and post the images on her Facebook and MySpace pages.  She emails the image to her boyfriend and to her uncle who is in the service.  Everybody thinks her portrait is beautiful.

Mary’s mom counts up the wallet size prints and realizes she ordered less than she needs to hand out to family.  “No problem,” Mary tells her mom, “I’ll print some out from my computer.”

Since Mary’s mom paid for the photographs, and now belong to her and Mary, she can do anything she wants with the images.  They are photographs of her daughter and the photographer was hired to take her pictures, so they completely belong to her and her family.  Is she right?

Listed below is what the Professional Photographer’s Association says about the ownership of professionally created images.

Things to remember about copyright:

• Copyright is a property right.
• Just because you buy a print does not mean you have purchased the copyright.
• Professional photographers are the smallest of small copyright holders.
• Under the Federal Copyright Act of 1976, photographs are protected by copyright from the moment of creation.
• Photographers have the exclusive right to reproduce their photographs (right to control the making of copies).
• Unless you have permission from the photographer, you can’t copy, distribute (no scanning and sending them to others), publicly display (no putting them online), or create derivative works from photographs.
• Professional photographers are dependent on their ability to control the reproduction of the photographs they create.
• It affects their income and the livelihood of their families.
• Even small levels of infringement—copying a photo without permission—can have a devastating impact on a photographer’s ability to make a living.
• Copyright infringements—reproducing photos without permission—can result in civil and criminal penalties.

Every professional photographer realizes scanning and copying happens all the time.  For the most part photographers turn a blind eye to the growing concern since confronting a good client is at best uncomfortable.  Clients feel they have done nothing wrong, in fact, are angry when a photographer brings up the copyright issue.  The law is 100% on the side of the photographer, but popular opinion is 100% on the side of those who copy the images.  The same thing is happening in the music industry and with all intellectual property.

Put copyright in perspective:

• 65% of PPA photographers are self-employed photographers relying exclusively on photography as their primary source of income.
• 47% of member studios rely on reprints as a profitable source of income.

Photographers have one concern musicians don’t have when their work is copied.  When a digital file is copied there is little or no quality loss.  When a photograph is scanned there is always a loss of image quality.  The color is not as vibrant and the image tends to gain contrast. The image quality the photographer worked so hard to create is altered in the scan.   The thought that makes every photographer cringe is that ‘Mary’ will show her copied and home printed picture to her friends and tell them proudly “ABC Photography did these for me.”  Photographers assume he or she has lost potential business because a prospective customer was shown a poor copy of their work.

Within the last few years photographers have changed the way they price their work.  More changes are on the way.  Many photographers are charging more for the finished photographs, limiting individual print orders to sell more ‘package’ print options, and including the digital files in their higher end packages.

Professional organizations, such as Professional Photographers of America, are stepping up efforts to protect member’s rights.  These organizations search social websites for professional photographer’s images and initiate legal action when sufficient evidence of copyright infringement is found.  So be careful.  Your photograph may not be completely your own.

We are living in a visual society. Almost all of our buying decisions are based upon what we see and how we react to that image. Professional people who provide a service are their own product and it is a marketing mistake not to visually represent that product, you, at it’s best. If you don’t have your business portrait on your business card or on your website you should; you really should.

Your business portrait helps make you real and approachable, and it gives your clients and potential clients a much easier way to remember you then trying to remember just your name. Let’s face it; few people have good name recall.

Don’t avoid the process because you don’t feel you photograph well. Good photographers know how to make you look your best and can provide a bit of retouching to reduce any image concerns. Remember every celebrity and model allows a bit of retouching to provide a cleaner presentation.

Don’t even think of trying to represent yourself with an amateur portrait. Don’t have your best friend, Susan, snap a picture with a point and shoot camera, or have good old shutterbug, Uncle Al, dust off his old 35mm camera. Almost all amateur photographers do not understand lighting and do not have the necessary high-end digital camera equipment and lighting equipment to create a professional, polished portrait. It takes specialized knowledge to create a portrait that looks professional and natural and will reproduce well in a magazine, newspaper or on the web. You wouldn’t ask your Uncle Al to do your hair or put on your make up.

A few tips for better portraits

Choose your clothing carefully

Remember an outfit in style today may look embarrassingly obsolete in a few short months. Bring a few clothing changes to the session. Along with any contemporary garment, make sure you bring a classic outfit that will not go out of style. Men – bring a dark suit coat, dress shirt and tie. Women – bring a classic tailored business suit, blouse or dress. We recommend you bring garments with solid colors. Avoid any garment that will pull the viewer’s eye away from your face. For a slimming effect choose darker colors and avoid sleeveless outfits. If you have trouble selecting the appropriate outfit bring more than enough choices to the session and the photographer will help you finalize your selection. If you wear a uniform or other identifiable garment that represents your profession, definitely have a few photos taken in your clean work outfit.

Take care of your complexion and remember to smile

Although retouching is either included with your sitting, or offered as an option, it is best to start with the cleanest possible complexion. Even though imperfections may be removed in the final image you will feel more confident with a clean, well-groomed look. It is usually better to allow the studio to digitally remove any blemishes than to apply too much makeup to cover up the problem area. Bring your makeup and hair products, but remember, the goal for your makeup is to create a clean and natural look. While a suntan, natural or artificial, may appear pleasant to the eye it may create some photographic concerns. Tan lines will appear more pronounced and the skin tone may photograph uneven. Most photographers recommend minimum sun exposure during the few weeks before your session.

Posture matters. Sit tall and comfortable with your shoulders back and relax. Look at the camera lens and smile. Remember; people respond to pleasant people. Try not to over smile. Think about smiling with your eyes. Ask to see a test photo. Most professional photographers will be happy to show you a test shot so you can double check hair and make up and see how you are presenting yourself.

Arrive a bit early

Arrive a few minutes before your appointment time. This will give you time to relax before your session and will give you time to touch up your makeup, change your clothing and fix your hair.

Bring props if appropriate

Props may not work for everybody, but with the right profession a simple prop helps reinforce and position in your client’s mind what you do. If you are a doctor it may not be a bad idea to casually hold a stethoscope. Be careful with props. The wrong use of a prop can look forced and artificial.

Allow enough time

Don’t schedule other activities too close to your sitting time. Even though your sitting may only take a half an hour please allow at least an hour and a half for your session. You will never look your best if you force the photographer to hurry or if you are anxious because you have to rush off to another appointment.

Typical image requirements

Most publications request digital images prepped approximately to the size they will appear in the publication at 300 pixels per inch and saved as a TIFF or maximum quality JPEG file. Images prepped for Web reproduction do not print well. Make sure you supply an image file at the right size and resolution.