Copyright conumdrum

jon ryan

jon ryan

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I teach an 'Introduction To dSLR Photography & Photoshop' course at the local college. Last night, I had the chief reporter from the local paper as a guest speaker. He talked about what he looks for in a press photo, and told his funny photography story involving goats. At the end of the session, we did a group shot. This fills a bit of the paper and gives the college some free publicity.

So far, so straightforward.

I randomly asked one of the students if we could use her camera to do a shutter-delay shot, so we could all be in it. With suggestions coming from the class, we arrived at a set-up that would do the job. I pushed the button and scooted into the middle of the group.

Ten seconds later, photography happened.

I saved the image onto a stick, and have sent it off to the relevant desk. It comes out next week.

Q: Who owns the copyright?

A:

(Please write on one side of the paper only. Ask for more paper if one sheet is insufficient. This question is worth 2% of you total mark.)
 
Its still you, you composed the shot and pressed the button. You are the designer/creator of the image.

It makes no difference if the device took 0.2 of a second to react to your command or 30 minutes.
 
I pushed the button, but the composition and exposure suggestions came from up to ten different people. Is the act of pushing the button definitive? How about if we'd used a a passing stranger to press the button after we'd all contributed to the actual set-up?
 
Whoever slaps a circled c on it and posts it on Farcebook or ****er first!
 
Its tricky though with join ownership, there will be some precedents somewhere about I'm sure.

A joint work of art - I make a wax flower and you place it in your vase you have made and the piece in exhibited - its a join piece for sure.

Instead, my installation is two people acting independently in a room, each wearing their own costume... its a joint piece.

Now, how about a troop of dancers who i have choreograped? (sp?) Their creation as individual artistes or mine as designer of the piece.

Coming back to the photograph, other than deciding where to place themselves in the scene and how/where to stand, how much more creative input did the class have?

Consider a wedding photo - "you all stand over there and I will take your photo" - I think its quite clear that the photographer holds the copyright here but what if the group of people had some knowledge of composition and decided that a differrent arrangement of themselves would make a nicer photo....

I would *guess* that joint copyright is only coming into play if all the parties at the time believe that is what they are working towards, possibly even documented.

What is certainly true is that if you are making a potentially valuable piece of art, you make damned sure that all of these issues are documented and legally approved and signed!
 
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