Copyright information for photography clients

Since 1998, wedding and family photographs were allowed to be copyrighted by the Photographer. The "Free Trade Agreement" between USA and Australia again changed copyright laws to align them more closely with those used in the USA. Today, copyright of any photograph can belong to the photographer. Wedding photos are still automatically assigned copyright to the couple getting married unless a contract exists to alter that.

In the past, some photographers kept your negatives which they are legally allowed to do as negatives and digital negatives are known as "work in progress" and belong to the photographer. This created confusion as to who owned your pictures. The current system, if nothing else, makes it very clear about copyright.

All photographs taken by us at your wedding are therefore, © Copyright to Ryadia Pty Ltd.

Image Ownership:
The Photographic packages I sell are for photographs. These may be in an album or they may be loose, enlarged prints and canvas prints. They are all photographs, not image files.

Original camera files are, by legal definition, "work in progress" and belong always to the Photographer. Image files produced after developing these files are still considered work in progress and still belong to the photographer. Most of my packages include "images on a CD" which I can assign or "give" you a license to print whenever you feel like it. These are high resolution images but they are not 'full resolution' or digital negatives.

If you wish to have processed digital image files included in your package, you should negotiate for this before signing the agreement for photography and have that as a clause of the agreement. Ordinarily, you will receive snapshot size files with a copyright license to print them for family and friends.

Original camera files (digital negatives) are never offered nor are they made available to clients. Files processed from these camera files may be obtained as part of your package.

If you have any queries about this matter, please feel free to ask.