A Friendly PSA about Digital File Use

In the late 1990s - 2000s digital photography was very new and people didn’t know what to do with all those files! Many photographers were selling “all the digitals” by burning them on a disc and prints weren’t as popular for a while. As a result, a generation of people thought they were supposed to ask for “just the digitals” and then just store them on a device to languish in obscurity. I hate to admit that I lost a few years’ worth of such digitals from around 2008-2011 when an external hard drive crashed. No, I didn’t have most of them printed. 

Thankfully, times have changed!

Yes, you can still buy all the digitals, but remember that a digital file contains everything but the paper and framing. It’s where the value lives. Think of a lovely gift that you receive in a beautifully wrapped box. The value is the gift; not the box.

Also, a fact that most people don’t know (and why would they unless they do their own creative work) is that when you buy or receive a digital file from a photographer, you don’t actually own it. 

But I paid for it!

I can hear “What do you mean? I paid for it?” There is a Canadian copyright act (C-42 from November 2012) that states ownership of all photo and video images remain with the photographer or videographer. What is purchased is the right to use the image for personal reasons, so you can make prints and holiday cards and share the files online, but you can’t do things like sell them, change the content, enter them in contests or use them to promote a business or service. Because most people aren’t aware this, many of us who are set up as a business have a clause in our photo agreements that states the files may not be altered with filters or AI effects. (We really don’t want people to think we took the images that someone has messed with!)

Can you buy the rights to an image? Usually, but that is up to the photographer or videographer. Large companies enter into commercial agreements with photographers and do buy the rights,or buy the rights for a certain period of time, as they cannot legally use the images otherwise. Is that expensive? Very. 

Why am I telling you all this?

I’m a bit obsessive about my work; having someone throw a filter on one of my image files makes me cringe and hope no one thinks that’s how I made it look! Imagine someone local with a great voice making a recording which someone then purchases and shares after using an app making the person’s voice sound awful. It’s very much like that.

By the way, all creative people are protected under the Canadian Copyright Act! When I use graphic images or music, I have to be very careful so as to not violate a copyright myself! That’s why you don’t hear popular music in any of my reels or slideshows that are used to promote my business.

Why did I write all this? Just for general education. You may have seen the clause I have in my photo agreement (which also gets checked off in the questionnaire), and I wanted to clarify the reasons. Having to ask someone to remove an image that was shared online due to it being changed would be a bit uncomfortable for us both. I'd rather be proactive and avoid such issues!