Now that digital age is in full swing and the prices have fallen, everyone owns a camera, and photography as a hobby has never been so accessible and popular.

What rights do you have as a photographer?

By taking a photo, you are automatically a copyright owner of that photo. It means no one else can use that photo in any way without your explicit permission. It doesn’t even have to be a masterpiece, a snap of the back of your knee is just the same. Cool, no?

When you want someone else to display your photos, you need to give them your permission (license) and with that, transfer some of those rights to them, specifying how and where it can be used, either for ever, or for a specific period of time.

Let’s say your uncle wants to use your photo and you sign a license with him. What are the options:

• exclusive — As the name suggests, exclusive license means that only your uncle can use that photo and no one else (including you).
• non-exclusive — You can sign a license deal also with your brother, your friend, your co-worker, or anyone else. But only non-exclusive ones!
• royalty-free — He is going to pay you once and use it however and wherever he pleases (unless otherwise determined by other restrictions).
• rights managed — Where, for how long, and what for is agreed in advance.
• time limit —You can agree to give him the right to use that image for ever, or for a specific period of time (e.g. a year).
• moral right waiver — In simple terms it would mean you are giving up your moral rights. He would not have to credit you as the author of the photo. And he would not need to respect the integrity of your work.

This is of course not a full list of all your rights and everything you should pay attention to, but just a quick start to get you going. Laws also differ from country to country, therefore it is not a bad idea at all to consult a copyright lawyer. Some more information can be also found here:

• What is Royalty-free license by Wikipedia
• What is Rights Managed license by Wikipedia
• About Copyright by Wikipedia
• About Moral rights by Wikipedia
• Introduction to Rights & Licensing by Pro-Imaging
• Organiser’s Guide to the Bill of Rights by Pro-Imaging

My Photo Usage Rights Ratings System

This is my scale for rating photo competitions based on photo usage rights:

EXCEPTIONAL
These are the best photo competitions. Their purpose is to show the best photographs out there, while also searching for new talent. No copyright is taken, you only allow that the winning photo is shown on their website as the winner of the competition.

EXCELLENT
If your photo is one of the winning photos, you allow it to be displayed on their website (as the winner), as well as used for promotion of the competition (not only in media, but also in books and other publications).

VERY GOOD
By entering into this photo competition (your photo doesn’t need to be one of the winning photos!), your submitted photos can be used for promotion of the competition (not only in media, but also in books and other publications) and displayed on their website.

GOOD
If your photo is one of the winning photos, it can be used for promotional purposes of the organizers (not necessarily only of the competition), and/or changed however they want, and/or used however they want (including sold). Note that only one of the listed situations has to be true for a competition to fall into this rating.

UP TO YOU
This is the far worst photo usage policy. By entering into this photo competition (your photo doesn’t need to be one of the winning photos!), your submitted photos can be used for promotional purposes of the organizers (not necessarily only of the competition), and/or changed however they want, and/or used however they want (including sold). Note that only one of the listed situations has to be true for a competition to fall into this rating.

The only one of the above ratings that I really don’t recommend is ‘up to you’. It’s a steal. But again, it’s really up to you.

Too many organizers organize a photo competition to just get a huge number of good quality images to use whenever they want, free of charge – not only winning images, but (many times) all submitted images as well! This is the reason, why it is important to double check what it says in the competition rules about photo usage rights. And this is why I have developed the ratings system.

Also note that it is not necessary that “winning images” receive a prize. Many competitions also have “Honourable mentions” that often don’t receive any prizes, but considering the photo usage rights policy, are regarded as “winning images”.

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