
Photographic Image Licensing Explained in 2 Minutes Flat!
So you are hiring a photographer to do some work for you and he/she mentions licensing. What is licensing, why do I have to deal with it and wouldn't it be easier if we just forgot the whole thing and you just give me the pictures?
Well, the short answer is that there are countless way to use and abuse a photograph that you might never imagine in a 100 years, but U.S. Copyright law is there to protect the artwork's creator when things get complicated.
Okay, so how do things get complicated?
Let's imagine you made a lovely painting of your dog. You show your painting at the state fair and it sells for the princely sum of $20. You hear a couple of years later that the painting is hanging over the mantel at the new owner's house, they love it and enjoy it everyday.
Now, what if yo...