# bride wants other photogs photos in album



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

I shoot lots of weddings (professionally), and usually there's a final designed album included in the photo packages. This is an album that I lay out and create, not just a proof book of 4x6's. I just had a bride ask if I could put photos in the album that some of her guests took. I don't know how many she wants yet. Now, philosophically I'm against this because the albums I create have my studio name on them, and when a bride shows this album around for years to come I consider it a showcase of my work as much as it is a showcase of her wedding day. But the practical (non-philosophical) side of me says "how can I tell her no? The album is a product which she has paid for. How can I mandate what goes in it?" So I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience and how you handle it. Perhaps there should be an extra charge for me working with amateur photos because they will likely all need color & contrast corrected? Is it kosher to put a small line of text under these images saying something like "photo by wedding guest" in a very small typeface? I'm trying to think of some way of these images can be singled out as not mine when the album is being shown to people in the years to come - that is if I decide to accept the guest photos at all. Help!


----------



## Robin Usagani (Jul 14, 2010)

I wouldnt sweat it. But I would tell her to do it her self.


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

Before anyone else misunderstands my post - I create and design the album. It's part of the wedding package that is purchased from me. I cannot tell the bride to do it herself.


----------



## Robin Usagani (Jul 14, 2010)

You cant pull the photos out and replace them?


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

Everyone seems to not understand my post. Let me try to clarify. When I book a wedding package, it includes an album that I design - usually containing all of my photos. This bride wants to send me photos that some of her friends took at the wedding and have me put them in the album layout. I am just now starting the layout process. I HAVE to design the album, that's a given. So my question is how I respond to the request to put other photog's photos in the album?


----------



## Petraio Prime (Jul 14, 2010)

njw1224 said:


> Everyone seems to not understand my post. Let me try to clarify. When I book a wedding package, it includes an album that I design - usually containing all of my photos. This bride wants to send me photos that some of her friends took at the wedding and have me put them in the album layout. I am just now starting the layout process. I HAVE to design the album, that's a given. So my question is how I respond to the request to put other photog's photos in the album?



How awful you must feel.


----------



## NateS (Jul 14, 2010)

njw1224 said:


> Everyone seems to not understand my post. Let me try to clarify. When I book a wedding package, it includes an album that I design - usually containing all of my photos. This bride wants to send me photos that some of her friends took at the wedding and have me put them in the album layout. I am just now starting the layout process. I HAVE to design the album, that's a given. So my question is how I respond to the request to put other photog's photos in the album?



Clearly nobody knows (that has posted so far) what an actual wedding album you talk about is and the fact that photos are printed on the page rather than in sleeves like an album from walmart.

What I would do is limit the number she can put in....and the last few pages maybe title it something catchy like "The Guests' View" or something so that people looking through it can see that it was images by a guest rather than you.  I would not let them be a part of your album if they are horribly out of focus, underexposed, etc....


So, I would tell her that the photobook is a representation of your work as much as a memory keep for them and that you will dedicate 1-2 pages to the back (say 6-8 photos), but that you will have to review the photos to make sure they are properly exposed, and focused.  Composition wouldn't matter but they need to be at least decent "snapshots" I think.


That's how I would handle it.

Perhaps get permission to edit them if needed as well?  Will you need a copyright release from whoever took the photos?  Technically I would think yes...you will if you want to stay 100% legal and not take any chances of another photog not knowing you are using their photos.


----------



## Derrel (Jul 14, 2010)

How about just simply overlaying a "Guest Photo by ____ _______", as a way of giving a photo credit to the contributor and as a way of differentiating your shots from those of random guests? This would allow the guest photos to be interspersed with your work instead of segregated and all placed at the end of the album; I have a feeling this bride is going to want the guest photos placed all throughout the album, and not segregated into a Guests View section (just a gut feeling). Using my idea, the contributors will get a photo credit on each photo they have taken, so they'll be happy, and all of those "guest photos" will have a clear source attributed to them on each shot, so there will be no confusion about why you can't expose a flash shot, or why you have the shakes, and why you tend to backfocus a lot, etc,etc.


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Nate, you get it! And yes, the album is laid out as a book with the pages printed as complete pages, not individual slip-in photos. I like the idea of making a page or two of "guest photos". My only concern is that wedding albums tend to run chronologically through the wedding day from start to finish, and putting all of the guest photos at the end would look out of place - especially if they are photos of something that happened early in the day - like the bride getting ready or the ceremony. But I will play with that idea. Thanks.


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Derrel, good point. What does everyone think of me charging an extra fee-per-image that's not mine? My thought is that I will have to invest photoshop time into color correcting, cropping, etc. of these guest images.


----------



## tirediron (Jul 14, 2010)

If you're going to work on the images, you're entitled to payment for that time.


----------



## pbelarge (Jul 14, 2010)

To bride & groom:


The wedding album I design for you is a well planned, photographed part of the our agreement.  Adding guest images is not part of the plan. If, for a fee, you are interested in my planning and producing a "guest book", I would be pleased to do so.


----------



## Aayria (Jul 14, 2010)

pbelarge said:


> To bride & groom:
> 
> 
> The wedding album I design for you is a well planned, photographed part of the our agreement.  Adding guest images is not part of the plan. If, for a fee, you are interested in my planning and producing a "guest book", I would be pleased to do so.



+1


----------



## ~Stella~ (Jul 14, 2010)

Can you give her a small, but coordinating, album for her guest's shots?  And charge accordingly?

You might just say that the extra shots won't fit in the professional album.

Otherwise, figure out how to do it - if the extra shots mean a lot to her, it's worth it to keep her happy - even if the photos suck.  If it's clear that you didn't take them, it will only make your shots look that much more fabulous, right?  Happy bride = good references = $.


----------



## inov8ter (Jul 14, 2010)

What about if you create your book, and after your last page you have some design and nicely layed out and on that page you can put some like " Wedding Guests Photos" Kind of like a cover page but have all there photos after that page and after all your photos/pages.


----------



## Christie Photo (Jul 14, 2010)

njw1224 said:


> I'm trying to think of some way of these images can be singled out as not mine when the album is being shown to people in the years to come...



Consider putting a stereotypical snapshot-style white boarder on these images, keeping the size and format consistent throughout the book.  Of course, put a byline too.

And yes, I would charge a "file prep fee" for each image.  This might even help in keeping submitted photos to a minimum.

-Pete


----------



## shutterbugsdesign (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks for the helpful advise guys! got some ideas here too if in case this happens to me. I myself shoot weddings and design an album too.


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I've decided to make a "Guest Photos" section at the back of the album if there are a lot of images to include. If there are only a few, I'll slip them in with my photos, but they will have a tagline in small type saying "photo submitted by ..." I'm also going to require that I need permission from the photographers to reproduce the photos, which can be emailed to me from the photographers as long as they include their name, address, and phone. I will also charge a small file-prep fee per image for any submitted photos. I think that will cover all of my bases nicely. Great! Thanks again.


----------



## mwcfarms (Jul 14, 2010)

Yup I like that too. Plus this prepares you better for next time it happens. I had a photo book made for my wedding album and I wouldnt even consider asking my photographer this. But every bride is entitled to her quirks I guess.


----------



## Flash Harry (Jul 15, 2010)

Do absolutely nothing to them but credit to the shooter, if the bride wants them in tell her your not responsible for them and its down to her judgement if they are included. Do you really need the extra work of someone elses snaps in your bespoke album. H


----------



## KmH (Jul 15, 2010)

You really should get written permission from the copyright owners (the guests) to use their photos in the album.
You can prepare the document and have them sign it. The permission document is known as a use license which, hopefully, you already have because you provide a use license to all your clients for the use of _your_ photos.

There is no valid legal document known as a copyright release, though a court could possibly construe that phrase as meaning a copyright transfer, which is a valid legal document, if executed properly.

Copyright, once transfered, no longer belongs to the original copyright owner, and now belongs to the new copyright owner.


----------



## bitteraspects (Jul 15, 2010)

pbelarge said:


> To bride & groom:
> 
> 
> The wedding album I design for you is a well planned, photographed part of the our agreement.  Adding guest images is not part of the plan. If, for a fee, you are interested in my planning and producing a "guest book", I would be pleased to do so.



+2

Also, I would arrange all the guest photos in more of a collage manner rather than reportage style. And do so at the end of the album in a section clearly tabled "guest photos"


----------



## Alpha (Jul 15, 2010)

njw1224 said:


> Thanks Derrel, good point. What does everyone think of me charging an extra fee-per-image that's not mine? My thought is that I will have to invest photoshop time into color correcting, cropping, etc. of these guest images.



Tell them you'd be happy to put a guest section at the end. Remind them that time and money goes into designing and editing the book and photos, even where guest photos are concerned. It'll be an additional charge of $x.


----------



## photosbybritni (Jul 16, 2010)

I would not.  To much time and energy already exist by creating the album, why make it harder on yourself by adding other people's work to your creation.

Suggestive answer: I would tell the bride from a legal standpoint that by adding other people's work (amateur or not) could result in copyright infringement.


----------



## Alpha (Jul 16, 2010)

Did you mean "suggested" ?


----------



## photosbybritni (Jul 16, 2010)

Does it matter?  Didn't know I was in a grammatically focused forum...my apologies.

*sug·ges·tive/s&#601;(g)&#712;jestiv/Adjective*

1. Tending to  suggest an idea.
2. Indicative or evocative


----------



## Alpha (Jul 17, 2010)

Indeed you are. Suggestive doesn't work unless you state of imply what it is suggestive of.


----------



## caged (Jul 17, 2010)

what about instead of printing the guest shots, why not just have a typical sticky-sleeve in the back of the book so the b+g can put the guest photos in themselves. that way it has absolutely nothing to do with you, and the photos can still "belong" to the original photographer.

just a thought...


----------



## Browncoat (Jul 18, 2010)

Just a different perspective...if you were a plumber who was contracted to replace someone's kitchen sink, this would be like the client saying:

_"Hey, do you mind if my husband and a couple of his buddies help you install that sink?"_

I agree completely with the "Snapshots by Guests" section at the back of the album.  Personally, I would leave a few pages completely blank and let the bride glue down some 4x6's herself scrapbook style if she wants to.  I have a feeling that trying to secure releases and editing these photos would be more trouble than they're worth.


----------



## njw1224 (Jul 18, 2010)

Browncoat said:


> I have a feeling that trying to secure releases and editing these photos would be more trouble than they're worth.



I agree, and I actually like that it will be difficult to get the photo releases. This will be the bride's job, not mine. So it will probably make her forget about wanting the photos in the album, while still being a perfectly legitimate and legal request for me to make. So in the end, they can't hold it against me, and I'll probably not have to put guest photos in - a win-win!


----------

