Photography contract template

Photography contract

Starting text for counsel. Replace every bracket. Do not ask anyone to sign until a lawyer has adapted this text to the parties and to the law that will govern it.

This photography contract is made on [Effective date] between [Photographer legal name], of [Photographer address] ("Photographer"), and [Client legal name], of [Client address] ("Client"). The Photographer will make pictures. The Client will pay the fee and receive the use this text describes. Copyright stays where counsel places it. A release from a person in a picture, if one is needed, is a separate document.

1. The shoot

The Photographer will photograph [Subject] on [Shoot date] at [Shoot place] for up to [Hours] hours. The Client confirms the place and the people who must be present. Extra hours are a change at [Extra hour fee] and start only if both parties agree that day or in a signed note. The Photographer brings the equipment listed at [Equipment]. The Client obtains permission to photograph at the place if the place requires it, and tells the Photographer of any rule of the place at [Place rules]. Weather, a closed venue, or a missing subject is handled under the cancellation section, not by assuming the shoot silently moves.

2. The fee

The Client pays [Fee] in [Currency]. The price [Tax treatment]. The Client pays [Deposit] before the shoot and the rest by [Balance date]. Travel, prints, and extra files are included only if they are listed at [Included costs]. Anything else is an expense the Client approves in writing before the Photographer spends it. If the deposit is late, the Photographer may treat the date as released after notice of [Deposit notice] days. The Photographer does not start editing for a shoot whose deposit is unpaid, unless [Edit before payment] says otherwise. A late balance lets the Photographer hold the edited files until that balance is paid.

3. Delivery

The Photographer delivers [Image count] edited pictures by [Delivery date], in the format and by the method at [Delivery method]. The count is of pictures the Photographer selects, unless [Selection] says the Client may choose from a larger set. The Client reviews the delivery within [Review days] days and asks for corrections that match the written subject, not for a new shoot. One set of corrections is included. A further set is a change at [Correction fee]. Raw files are not part of the delivery unless [Raw files] says the Client is buying them. The Photographer keeps a copy of the delivered pictures for [Archive period] and may then delete the working files.

4. Who may use the pictures

Counsel chooses one path and deletes the other before anyone signs. Under a license, the Photographer keeps the copyright and the Client may use the delivered pictures only for [License use], in [Territory], for [License term]. The Client does not sell the pictures as stock and does not claim to be the author. Under an assignment, on full payment the Photographer assigns the copyright in the delivered pictures that the Photographer can assign, and keeps the right to use them as [Portfolio use] allows. Pictures the Client does not accept are not assigned. Third-party material in a picture, such as a recognizable artwork on a wall, stays under its own rights. The Client is responsible for the use it makes.

5. People in the pictures

If a person shown in a picture must consent before the Client's use, that consent is the release at [Release], signed by that person, not by this page. The Client obtains the releases listed at [Who obtains releases], and gives copies to the Photographer before the pictures are published. The Photographer does not invent a consent that was not signed. A minor's consent is handled only as counsel writes at [Minor consent]. The Photographer may refuse a picture that would require a release the parties do not have. That refusal is not a breach. The fee is then adjusted only for the time not used, as [Unused time] states.

6. If the shoot does not happen

If the Client cancels more than [Cancel window] before the shoot, the Photographer returns the deposit except [Kept deposit]. If the Client cancels inside that window, or does not attend, the Photographer keeps the deposit and the Client pays any expense already approved. If the Photographer cannot attend for a reason other than the Client's delay, the Photographer returns the deposit and the parties may pick a new date. A moved date is a change both parties confirm in writing. Neither party pays the other's lost profit for a cancelled shoot. The Photographer does not promise a particular weather, a particular guest, or a particular expression.

7. Credit and the photographer's own use

The Client credits the Photographer as [Credit line] where [Credit places] says credit is practical. The Client does not remove a credit that this section requires. The Photographer may show the delivered pictures in a portfolio after the Client publishes them, or after [Portfolio delay] days from delivery, unless [Portfolio limit] forbids a picture. An unpublished picture of a private event stays private. The Photographer does not sell a picture of the Client's event to a third party unless [Resale] allows that sale and the needed releases exist. The Client does not alter a picture in a way that [Alteration] forbids, and does not present an altered picture as the Photographer's unaltered work.

8. Law

The laws of [Governing law] govern this text. The parties name the courts of [Courts]. The Photographer's total liability is capped at [Liability cap], except for a liability the law does not allow the parties to cap. The cap is not a promise that a picture will be liked. The signed PDF is the whole agreement about this shoot and replaces earlier messages about the same date. A change is effective only when both parties sign it. If one sentence cannot be enforced, the rest stays. This web page does not transfer a copyright and it does not release any person shown in a picture.

Signatures

Photographer

Name: [Photographer signatory name]

Title: [Photographer signatory title]

Signature: ______________________________

Date: [Photographer signature date]

Client

Name: [Client signatory name]

Title: [Client signatory title]

Signature: ______________________________

Date: [Client signature date]