Looking for great books on the business of photography? Browse this collection of my favorites.
From presentation to copyright and pricing, you’ll find a treasure trove of professional practices and insider tips.
Enjoy!
Margaret Gould Stewart, YouTube’s head of user experience, talks about how the ubiquitous video site works with copyright holders and creators to foster (at the best of times) a creative ecosystem where everybody wins.
I don’t know anyone who knows more about artist’s copyright than Reznicki and Greenberg. That makes this a must read must have resource for all visual artists.
“Written by the president of the Professional Photographers of America, and a leading New York copyright attorney, this book provides photographers and visual artists with the most authoritative legal advice available. Everything is covered, from contracts, subcontracts, releases, and permissions to the copyright laws and all the steps artists should take to register and protect their work. Find out how to use copyright to protect your work from infringement, insure you are properly paid for your work, and how to proceed if your rights are infringed upon.”
Catch their seminars at Photoshop World and Kelby Training videos online.
Learn more on their blog The Copyright Zone.
Find more of the best photography business books here.
Ed Greenberg intellectual property lawyer speaks on Copyright online. Ed has had top notch high profile experience in this area – a lifetime of it! Ed’s been making appearances at Photoshop World with Jack Reznicki and helping clear up easily clouded issues for many creatives both amateur and professional. I learn something new every time I talk with him.
Protect your rights and get greater recognition for your work at the same time. Insert your copyright and contact information in every one of your files and their derivatives. It’s easy to do. Make it a habit.
You can program your camera to insert your name and contact information automatically.
Check out my PDF on how to do this with Canon cameras here.
You can also batch insert metadata to any file with Adobe products like Lightroom and Bridge.
One of the things I do at the beginning of each year is register my copyright for my images.
Registering your copyright is easy.
You can even do it online now.
Find out all you need to know here.
You don’t have to pay a registration fee for each image. You can register them in groups. I register my work in groups annually – i.e. new work 2008. If you’ve never registered before, you can register all your images for one fee – work to date.
If your work is published (or made public) consider registering more frequently. How frequently depends on you and the kind of work you do. Some photographers register their copyright when they deliver a job – every job.
You don’t have to register copyright to have ownership of your rights, they’re yours automatically. Registering your copyright is useful if your rights are infringed – in negotiations before going to court offenders are much more likely to settle out of court and if you go to court you’ll be able to recover your legal expenses as part of a suit.
Seth Resnik offers fantastic resources online to help you cut to the chase with this process and get it done exceptionally well in minimal time. Get them here.