Question for today...

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soliberus

Suspended / Banned
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Edit My Images
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Scenario: You walk somewhere and someone stops you and asks you to take a photo of them, with their own camera of course.

Question: Who owns the photo (and copyright to the photo)?
 
Unless it's someone whose photo is going to be worth anything, who cares?

Copyright is an issue relating to the (un)authorised use of property (usually) with some commercial value.
 
I'd argue that they own it as they've set it all up and therefore provided the creative input and all you've done is press the shutter when they ask (and at the end of the day the exif data says it was taken on their camera:lol:)

Oh heck, what have I just said? :exit:
 
neil_g said:
copyright is retained by the creator, i.e the person pressing the shutter. technically.
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OK. Hypothetical question. Suppose I set my camera up next to the high jump at a athletics meet. Put the camera on a tripod triggered when the jumper breaks a light beam parallel to the bar. I provided the equipment but the jumper triggers the shutter.#

Who owns the copyright?

By your reasoning the athlete does :)

Andrew
 
Fair arguments on both sides.

Let's throw another spanner in the works....

Say the person who presses the shutter is the owner of the pic, does that mean the "subject" needs your permission should they wish to publish/upload the photo somewhere?
 
The physical act of pressing the shutter means it's the photographer.

I have seen some big "names" in the industry "work" (I use that term very loosely) with a stylist, hairdresser, creative director, model and assistants. The shoot has been totally set up and metered and all they have done is walk up and press the shutter. it has been their name on the credits and everyone else who did the work :)
 
soliberus said:
Fair arguments on both sides.

Let's throw another spanner in the works....

Say the person who presses the shutter is the owner of the pic, does that mean the "subject" needs your permission should they wish to publish/upload the photo somewhere?
Click to expand...

Depends on the agreement and licence between the two. Easy this copyright stuff! :bonk:
 
AliB said:
The physical act of pressing the shutter means it's the photographer.

I have seen some big "names" in the industry "work" (I use that term very loosely) with a stylist, hairdresser, creative director, model and assistants. The shoot has been totally set up and metered and all they have done is walk up and press the shutter. it has been their name on the credits and everyone else who did the work :)
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And I once saw a famous photographer on telly who's assistants were taking the shots of a product (a car as it happens), the interviewer asked him (paraphrasing now of course)

"How come?"

He answered...

"I set the lighting, the camera angle, chose the lens & camera format, decided upon the background, metered and the camera is on a tripod - Hell any idiot can press the shutter"

So are some of you saying Copyright belonged to the idiot that pressed the shutter then??? :shrug:

DD
 
Presumably in the instance of the "big names" they employ their assistants, whether to set-up or press the shutter, so the "big names" would still own copyright?
 
DiddyDave said:
So are some of you saying Copyright belonged to the idiot that pressed the shutter then??? :shrug:

DD
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No because I'm guessing in the terms of emplyment of the monkey pressing the button it said that the big name shooter owned the copyright to anything he did much like my contract says anything I develop in work is the porperty of the company I work for.

Copyright boils down to the terms in the contract, the OP's example is tricky as no contract verbal or otherwise has been agreed in relation to copyright. I suspect it could be argued either way using implied verbal contracts as a result of the informal negotiation no idea who would win I guess that depends on who hired the most expensive lawyer.
 
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AliB said:
I have seen some big "names" in the industry "work" (I use that term very loosely) with a stylist, hairdresser, creative director, model and assistants. The shoot has been totally set up and metered and all they have done is walk up and press the shutter. it has been their name on the credits and everyone else who did the work :)
Click to expand...

That sounds like my kind of job :)
 
DiddyDave said:
So are some of you saying Copyright belonged to the idiot that pressed the shutter then??? :shrug:
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Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

CDPA 1988 said:
9. Authorship of work. — (1) In this Part “author”, in relation to a work, means the person who creates it.
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CDPA 1988 said:
(2) Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work [F4, or a film,] is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work subject to any agreement to the contrary.
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In the (common enough) scenario in the OP, the person being photographed owns the camera. Random stranger in the street. No mention of a contract of employment, nor even direction about how the photograph is to be taken. Authorship rests firmly with the person taking the photograph IMO.

Of course, you'd be a fool to pursue them for copyright infringement when they post it up on Flickr... :)
 
Was going to stay I saw a photography program on the plane and the guy did nothing himself, just directed the shoot but they were still his photos ...and he then sold them as fine art for 60 grand apiece. Other than being jealous as hell, I guess the contract is fairly explicit
 
I would think this all revolves around he creative aspect. The creator of the work owns the copyright. So the debate would be around how much creative input each person had in the production of the work.

In the case of a professional shoot this would all be pretty clear from the start. In the case of the person in the street then if it came to a court case it might come down to who set up the camera if it wasn't auto - you as the photographer made the composition so thats about as creative is it's going to get.

But like others said here it's rather unlikely to be an issue in anycase.
 
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