Even if you feel uncomfortable submitting a photography contract at the beginning of your commercial photography journey, having a strong contract is essential to creating a professional relationship with your client.
Using a photography contract will help you set expectations (from both sides), protect yourself from misunderstandings or miscommunication, and will ultimately lead to a fair and polished working relationship. more trap. Not only this, but your customers will expect a contract and will feel reassured when they receive one from you.
What are some key terms to cover in your photography contract?
Scope of work
Although you have discussed the scope of work by phone and/or email, it is important to reiterate this in your contract.
Don’t be afraid to go into the details here so nothing is left out and so that neither party forgets what they have committed to. You can write down the exact number of images agreed and list the required shots here. This will protect you from clients wanting to change the shooting list or add additional scenes for the day, making your schedule unmanageable or rushed.
Copyright and Licensing
This clause is really important in commercial photography contracts because it stipulates who owns the images, who can use them, and in what ways.
Unless you’ve given the copyright to the client, you own your image. A great example to think about is listening to a band on Spotify. You pay to license their music, but you don’t own their songs. Customers pay for a license to use your images, but they don’t own them.
In your contract, state how customers are allowed to use the images, on what platforms they can use them, for how long, and in what territories. In general, the larger the customer, the more specific these details are.
In the next few months, if you discover that your images have been used in an unlicensed way, you can use your signed contract to help you get fair compensation.
Payment details
You will provide a quote to the client before submitting the contract, so there are no surprises here, but covering the full cost of the shoot is important to ensure that everyone are all on the same page.
This section should include your creative fees as well as any additional costs the client may incur, such as support for props or food stylists, shooting assistants, location fees, equipment rental fees equipment and even travel expenses.
Remember to include your payment schedule so customers understand what percentage they will need to pay upfront and when the remaining balance will be due. Outline late fees that customers will incur if they fail to pay on time.
Cancellation and rescheduling policy
Including a cancellation policy is important to protect you as a self-employed business owner should a customer cancel at the last minute. The exact details of what this policy looks like in your business is up to you, but make sure you clearly share details about when you’ll charge a cancellation fee.
Along these lines, consider including a rescheduling policy. Sometimes, life happens, and while both parties may want the photo session to happen, strange weather events occur, illness occurs, etc. In your contract, state clearly that you need the information. how much to reschedule the shoot.
Service Performance
As long as you do the work to the standards seen in your portfolio and you follow the client brief correctly, the service performance clause will protect you from demanding clients. refund or start over.
Most photographers are happy to accommodate minor changes or minor corrections if the client asks politely with good cause. Including this clause will protect you from total change if the customer has changed course since signing the contract or has acted on the opinion of another interested party not involved in the create the initial summary.
Inference
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of must-have photography deals by all means, it does include some provisions that have really protected me over the past few years. I would like to know what other terms you find invaluable to include in your commercial photography deals.
If you’re looking for more powerful help with your photography contract, I highly recommend Contract store for specific photographic samples written by an attorney without pre-booked contract costs.
