Photo licence agreement, The Carraway Hotel
Photo licence agreement covering media, territory and duration
A photo licence says which images, for which uses, for how long. Everything else is detail. This one licenses twelve hotel images to the hotel that commissioned them for three years worldwide at $2,400, with a table that marks paid advertising as an extra and resale as not available at any price.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Letterhead and parties
- The studio letterhead, the parties, and a stats strip with images, fee, term and territory.
- 1. The images
- What is licensed, and a schedule of the twelve references by subject and shoot date.
- 2. What the licence allows
- A media table with the term and fee for each use, including what is not available.
- 3. Term, copyright and credit
- The three year term and renewal, who owns the copyright, and where a credit appears.
- 4. Fee, payment and editing
- The $200 an image fee, payment terms, and the editing that is and is not allowed.
- 5. Releases, warranties and general
- Model and property releases, the warranty of ownership, and ending early.
- Signatures
- A block for the photographer and one for the hotel.
Clauses in this document
How to adapt this agreement
For an exclusive licence, say what the exclusivity actually covers: a category, a territory and a period, not simply the word exclusive, and expect the fee to reflect the frames the photographer can no longer sell. For a licence to an agency acting for a brand, name the end client in the licence, because an agency that changes clients cannot carry the licence with it. For images of people in a commercial campaign, keep clause 5.1 and attach the releases, since a licence to use an image is not a permission to use the person in it.
What the licence does not cover
A licence is permission to use, not ownership, so the photographer keeps the copyright and can license the same frames to somebody else unless the agreement says otherwise. Three things sit outside it and are the usual cause of a later problem. The photographer's moral rights survive the licence, so the credit obligation still stands. Anyone recognisable in the frame needs their own release, and private property sometimes needs the owner's permission, neither of which the photographer can grant. And the right to sublicense is separate, so an agency that passes the images to its own client needs that written in. Outside the stated media, territory and term, there is no permission at all.
What makes this document work
The images are identified, not described
Four rows cover IM-01 to IM-12 by subject and shoot date, so the licence attaches to specific files rather than to the shoot in general. Frames the client saw on the contact sheet but did not license are outside it, and the agreement says so before anyone asks.
The media table prices the upgrade instead of banning it
Website, social, print collateral to 20,000 copies and booking platform listings are included for three years. Paid advertising is $95 an image for twelve months, and resale or sublicence is marked not available. A client who wants more knows the number without a negotiation.
Copyright stays put, and the limit on that is stated
The photographer keeps the copyright and may license the same frames to a magazine or an award entry, but not to another hotel in the same city during the term. That single carve out is what makes a non exclusive licence acceptable to a client that paid for the shoot.
Questions people ask
What should a photo licence agreement include?
The images by reference, the uses allowed with their territory and duration, whether the licence is exclusive, the fee and when it is paid, whether a credit is required, what editing is permitted, who holds the model and property releases, and what happens when the term ends.
Who owns the copyright in commissioned photographs?
Usually the photographer, unless the contract assigns it. This agreement keeps ownership with her and licenses the use, which is why the term, the media and the territory all matter. A client who needs ownership should be buying an assignment, and paying differently for it.
What happens at the end of a photo licence?
The client renews or takes the images down. Here the licence runs to 19 November 2030, renewal costs 60 per cent of the original fee, and if it is not renewed the images come off the website and social accounts within 30 days. Printed material already produced may be used until it runs out.
Is a photo credit required?
Where it is technically possible, yes. On a website that means a footer or caption credit, and in print near the image or in the colophon. This agreement does not require one in a paid social post or on a booking platform listing that allows none, which keeps the obligation realistic.
Can the client edit licensed images?
Cropping, resizing and small colour and exposure adjustments are allowed so the images fit a layout. Compositing with other pictures, adding or removing objects or people, heavy filters, and anything that misrepresents the property, such as showing a room type no longer offered, are not.
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