Licensing
A photographer holds copyright and grants a licence for agreed use. That structure exists so the same frame can serve an editorial feature, a brand campaign and a gallery print without any of them getting in each other’s way. It also means the terms have to be specific: an unlimited licence and a one-year regional one are genuinely different products.
Scope builder
Work through the five axes below. The summary on the right builds itself, and you can copy it into your first message. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent until you send it.
Straight answers
None of these are traps. They come up in almost every first conversation, and clearing them early makes the rest of the negotiation short and friendly.
Paying for a shoot buys the production and a licence to use the results. Copyright stays with the photographer unless a contract explicitly transfers it. This is the default under United States copyright law and it is the norm across the industry.
A brand posting on its own channels is commercial use. It is usually inexpensive commercial use, and it is a perfectly reasonable licence to buy, but calling it editorial does not make it editorial.
Credit is good practice and it is welcome. It does not replace a fee, and offering it as compensation reads exactly the way you would expect it to read.
A buyout is the permanent transfer of an asset, which is the most expensive thing a client can ask for. In most cases a three-year worldwide licence covers everything the campaign will actually do, for a fraction of the cost.
Being visible online is not a licence. Neither is a Creative Commons search result that turns out to be mislabelled. Ask; archive licensing is usually fast and reasonable.
Two routes
Both are legitimate. The right one depends on whether you need a specific idea or a specific image.
Licence an existing landscape, night-sky, aerial or travel frame. Faster, cheaper, and no weather risk. Best when you need a particular place or mood and the exact composition is negotiable.
New work built around your objective, with the licence agreed before anyone travels. Best when the idea, the product, the location or the message has to be specific.
Further reading
The structure described here follows standard industry practice. If you want to check any of it independently, these are the primary references.
Not legal adviceThis page explains how licensing normally works so a first conversation can be productive. It is not legal advice, and a contract governs whatever you actually agree.
Know your scope?