Copyright is a term that you will often see pop up. But what does UK Copyright and Photography mean for you? Why is it so important? I hope that this short blog post will help explain some of those complicated terms.
What is UK Copyright?
Copyright protects work created by an individual living in the UK. It prevents individuals or companies from stealing creative work. In the UK Copyright is automatically granted to the first individual who created the art.
Why is it important to know what Copyright means?
Copyright is taken very seriously within the UK. It is important to know exactly who owns copyright and what you can do with your photos. This is to protect both myself as the photographer but my clients too.
What does it mean when it says ‘Emily Munday Photography is the Copyright owner’?
In short this means that I own the Copyright to all photographs taken by myself. This applies to when I am shooting weddings across Cornwall and Devon and when I am based in my small home studio in Plymouth.
I am the individual who purchased the camera, the lenses, the studio equipment and lighting. I am also the individual who set up the photograph, posed the baby or models, set out the colour scheme and adjusted the lighting. After clicking the shutter and finishing a session I am then the individual who fully edited the photographs before showing them to you, the client, to view. All of these helped to contribute to the final photographs that you see.
Being the Copyright owner in the UK means that it is against the law to copy my work, make copies of my work without permission, edit my work without permission or publicise it without permission for profit or non profit purposes.
If I am in the photo does that make me the Copyright holder?
No. When you ask me to work with your and your family to capture wedding or newborn photos you are employing an artist. If you were to employ an artist to sketch a portrait of yourself they would retain the Copyright. In the same way the photographer retains the Copyright under UK photography laws.
What is a ‘Print Release’?
A print release gives my clients permission to make copies of the digital files that I deliver. This means that you can email them to all friends and family, print them BIG or small on wall art, mugs, wallpaper etc!
I hope this blog on ‘What does UK Copyright and Photography mean for you?’ has been helpful. If you think I have missed something please feel free to drop me a message! I love hearing from my blog readers!
Disclaimer: I aim to keep my blog articles as up to date as possible however UK laws do change. I always try to stay compliant with the law within the UK. If you feel that what I have written is inaccurate please get in touch.
