When you enter the photography business, you enter the world of photography licensing. Licensing means that you are selling the usage of a photograph to be used in a certain way for a certain period of time. It can be confusing, but if you can understand some basic common terms, you should be able to handle licensing your photographs.
'Commercial rights' is a term used to indicate the licensing of a photograph for some type of income or commercial endeavor. If one of your photos will be used in a sales brochure, for example, it needs to be licensed for 'commercial rights.' Conversely, 'non-commercial rights' photographs are ones that are used in a public endeavor, but not in order ...
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When you enter the photography business, you enter the world of photography licensing. Licensing means that you are selling the usage of a photograph to be used in a certain way for a certain period of time. It can be confusing, but if you can understand some basic common terms, you should be able to handle licensing your photographs.
'Commercial rights' is a term used to indicate the licensing of a photograph for some type of income or commercial endeavor. If one of your photos will be used in a sales brochure, for example, it needs to be licensed for 'commercial rights.' Conversely, 'non-commercial rights' photographs are ones that are used in a public endeavor, but not in order to create an income. An example of this type of photograph would be one that would go in a school newsletter.
Some photographs may be licensed for 'one-time rights;' this simply means that whoever bought the license has permission to use the photo one time only. 'Serial rights' apply to magazines that purchase an image. This type of rights allows the magazine–and only that particular magazine–to use that image.
Be careful about 'non-exclusive rights,' as they can allow someone else to have free usage of your image, depending upon how the license is written. To learn more about photography licensing, visit the links on the left. Chosen by Business.com, these links will provide you valuable information about licensing your photographs.