In photography, copyright is important because it avoids plagiarism. This means a photographer's work can't be copied and used without permission, and if it is an original idea, no one else can take an identical photograph and claim it as their idea.
This means that under copyright laws, I can't take and use another photographer's work without permission for my own portfolio, as this is plagiarism. This means I have to either take my own photographs, or be granted permission from a photographer whose work I would want to use.
It also means I would need to gain permission from any company names which might show up in my photographs.
If I failed to gain permission from people whose copyrighted material I use in my final products, it would be Copyright Infringement.
Who owns the copyright on photographs?
Under law, it is the photographer who will own copyright on any photos he/she has taken, with the following exceptions:
- If the photographer is an employee of the company the photos are taken for, or is an employee of a company instructed to take the photos, the photographer will be acting on behalf of his/her employer, and the company the photographer works for will own the copyright.
- If there is an agreement that assigns copyright to another party.
In all other cases, the photographer will retain the copyright, if the photographer has been paid for his work, the payment will be for the photographer’s time and typically an allocated number of prints. The copyright to the photos will remain with the photographer, and therefore any reproduction without permission would be an infringement of copyright.
Permission and release forms
If I need to take a picture of a place where there are usually lots of people, I will need to work out how to get around that. Two ways I can do this is by focussing on only my subject as closely as possible, and going at a time of day when there will be less people to accidentally be in the shot.
I will also need to get permission from people who own locations which might be featured in my photographs. For example, if I use private land in any of my photographs, I will need to get permission from the owner of the land. I need to find out whether the location is public or private to find out whether I need to gain the owner's permission before taking photographs.
I should avoid using a telephoto lens in public because I could use a telephoto lens to zoom in very close to people's faces. This could make passers-by very uncomfortable.
I also need to be careful when taking pictures in public places because of children. I would need to avoid areas with many children and parents because if I accidentally photograph someone's child their parents could be very unhappy.
Legal and ethical
Representations
We have to think about representation because:
- I don't want to misrepresent a social group by committing to stereotypes. E.g. race, religion, sexuality, gender, class, ability
- I shouldn't take a picture of Sheffield on a rainy or dull day because it could represent the city in the wrong way. I should use a bright sunny day to represent Sheffield the way I want it to appear in my photographs.
- Make sure the models are comfortable with the intention of the pictures and the material that would be featured in them.
- I don't want to reenforce stereotypes about social groups which might be featured in my photographs. This means I don't want to represent a model or location in a defamatory way, i.e. in a way that isn't true.
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