What is the proper way to credit a professional photograph?
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What is the proper way to credit a professional photograph?
The question is regarding my legal responsibility when crediting a professional photograph. I am a makeup artist that did makeup for an unpaid shoot. There was no contract with the photographer however we agreed we would each get to use the pictures for our individual promotion (the model signed a release). I published the pics on my website and gave him credit – but not underneath the pictures as he is now demanding. The shoot was over a year ago but now he is threatening to “cause problems” for me if I don’t do what he says. What are my rights and/or obligations? I was under the impression that as long as he received credit somewhere on my site (coupled with the fact that he didn’t have a stipulated contract) ), I was within my rights.
Asked on November 17, 2010 under Business Law, New York
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
There is not "hard and fast" rule here. Generally speaking, you should attribute the work in the manner specified by the author but not in a way that can appear to give an endorsement of your work where that may not really be the case. You should try to give credit as close to the photograph as possible but it does not have to be under the photo (at the bottom of a page, with a notification indicating that credits are in a special area on the site I could see as fine as well). In other words, you can not make it difficult to find who took it by burying it in your site. Since he never specified how to being with I would try and appease his nonsense here by making the photo credit easily "findable" but you do not have to give in to his rantings. Good luck.
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