image licensing 101.
As a food photographer and stylist, I've seen my fair share of licensing queries. Whether it's for packaging, marketing materials, or those gorgeous recipe books you're planning, having a base understanding of image licensing is crucial.
So, in this week’s blog post I’ve decided to break some of the basics down for you!
What is Image Licensing?
Image licensing is a legal agreement that grants permission to use a photograph or visual content for specific purposes, under certain conditions, and for a defined period. It's essentially a contract between the image creator (me - also known as the copyright holder) and the user (you), outlining what, how, where, and for how long the images can be used in this form.
Imagine you've just whipped up the perfect soufflé. Image licensing is like sharing your recipe, but with some ground rules. When you license one of my mouth-watering food shots, you're not taking the whole kitchen - you're just borrowing or ‘renting’ the recipe to use in specific ways. I still own the recipe and the kitchen. I license or rent the recipe out to you for you to market your food brand.
So Why Do You Need to Shell Out for Licensing?
I know, I know. Another expense, right? But trust me, image licensing is essential for ethical, legal and respectful use of your content. Here's why:
Fair slice of the pie: Licensing ensures that us creatives can keep the lights on (and the camera gear updated) by making sure we are fairly compensated for our work. Every photograph we take is not just a picture; it's a piece of art. Licensing protects our artistic creations. It ensures that the time, effort, and creativity invested in each image are respected and safeguarded.
Legal protection: No one wants to be breaking copyright laws. Licensing appropriately is like food safety for your brand - keeps you out of hot water. You get peace of mind knowing that you're legally covered to use the images as agreed. This clarity helps in planning your marketing and branding activities without any legal whoopsies.
Quality you can (almost) taste: Your brand's uniqueness is paramount. When you hire a professional photographer, you're not just paying for a service; you're investing in exclusive, high-quality images that will set your brand apart. Copyright ensures that these images remain distinctive and exclusive to your brand.
The Menu of Image Licenses
There are many different flavours of image licensing, with rates and packages differing between photographers.
Food Design Studio manages three main types of licenses on a daily basis. They are:
A Non-Exclusive License: It's the crowd-pleaser and already included as the basic license in our proposals. A non-exclusive license means that multiple brands can use the same image. In general terms, this type of license allows the image to be used by more than one business simultaneously.
An Exclusive License: Think of this one as a limited-edition menu item - all yours for a set period of time. No one else can use these images during the time that they’re licensed to you.
Additional Licensing: We can adapt our above licenses to include further platforms or marketing mediums to suit your specific needs.
What's Do Licensing Costs Actually Cover?
Several factors are considered when determining the cost of an image license:
Usage: How the images will be used, such as for product packaging, POS, website or social media, or distributed internationally
License term: The set duration term you can use the images for
Image complexity: More complex images may require per shot pricing
Advertising rates: If the image will be used in a magazine advertorial, the license fee will most likely be based on a percentage of the magazine's advertising rate
It’s not a one size fits all: We all share the title of “photographer” but our skills, level of experience and business structures are all very unique, therefore it makes sense that the method we use to price our licensing differs from photographer to photographer
Reading the Fine Print…
When you're looking into licensing images for your delicious projects, make sure you understand:
What you want to do with the image
Where you initially want to use the image and for how long for (initially and into the foreseeable future)
Check your chosen photographers list of prohibited uses and be sure to question any that you don’t fully understand
This helps avoid any issues later and ensures that you're using images in a way that's legal and ethical.
Proper image licensing is about more than just about avoiding legal issues. It indicated a respect for the expertise behind high-quality visuals. As you continue to create compelling marketing for your brand, always prioritise proper licensing and support the creative professionals that bring the brand and vision to life.
Have any questions about licensing for your next significant project? Feel free to reach out - I'm always happy to discuss over a virtual coffee!
