Copyrights and unavailable photos from portrait studio

[masha12]

I am not really sure what my question is, but I wanted to know people's experience with copying photos from the big chain portrait studios (Penny's, Target, Sears, etc.).

My understanding is that the pictures I have had taken are not available after 90 days. If I want additional copies but they are under copyright, what is a mom to do? I couldn't make legal copies until after the copyright expires (which will be after my kids are eligible for social security).

I could scan the photos and send them off to an online photo place, but would I get busted for copyright infringement? Does any one at these places even care? Do the studios even care after 90 days if they don't let me get pictures through them after that?

I thought it would be fun to do a photobook with all the portraits that you can order from an online photo place, but I don't want to do all the work only to have photo place tell me I need a copyright release. And if I needed one, could I even get one?

I suppose another option would be to just take them to an in-store photo kiosk that prints the pictures right there and so no employee ever sees the photos. But that won't get me a photobook.

Anyone have any experience, hypothetical experience, or thoughts they want to share on this topic?

[cstack]

OK, I'll try this.

Some places have them available after 90 days and you could try getting copies by calling them and seeing if they're available.

The online photo place is likely going to figure out that they're studio pics and refuse to print them, and yes, there is a possibility of getting busted for copyright infringement.

You would need a copyright release. You might call the company that took the pictures and inquire as to whether they would give you one. You'd likely have to pay for it and it probably would not be cheap. I'm not sure what you mean by a photobook? Is this something that is online only? Some companies will allow you to post photos online as long as you credit the photographer.

If you took it to the in-store photo kiosk, and got caught, you could get into trouble. A lot of those kiosks will not let you print them without them seeing what you're printing and it talks about copyright infringement right on the kiosk equipment.

You could scan and print them at home, or you could try scanning them at home and putting them on a disk and then taking them to the kiosk to print them out. If they ask, you could, hypothetically, lie and say you took them yourself.

HTH

[jenmcadams]

Hypothetically....

I *might* have done this (scanned photos and put them in photobooks, made limited reprints) using a variety of online services (Dotphoto, MyPublisher specifically) and haven't had any problems. However, if I did do this, it was only one time b/c only one of my kids has ever had studio photos (we do candids mostly) and I didn't feel too guilty b/c I spent a lot of money and bought a ton of reprints too...

...this is all hypothetical of course

[mandye]

I took one of DDs pics to a kiosk and the lady behind the counter wouldn't let me copy it (I didn't ask for her help, she just came over to help). We did call the company (kiddie kandids) and they said I could pay for a one time use release. It was $15--the same as a copy from them. So, it may not be that expensive to get them to release the copyright for a one time deal.

Amanda

[Radosti]

Ummm.... if I were to do it... ummm... I'd scan it at home and upload it to photoworks or something similar. Then, I'd just make a photobook. I doubt they care too much... Ummm... that is IF I were to do it :)

[ShanaMama]

IME the in store kiosks like Kodak PhotoMaker or whatever it's called always require an employee password before printing. Officially, the employee is supposed to look at the pic to see if it was professional. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
Not sure what protections are built in to prevent scanning it in, but I'd imagine there are some.
Goody goody me would probably call up the proffesional company & ask them what they suggest I do. Either give me more copies or give me a release, but you can't have your cake .....

[youngmommy]

In terms of getting copies after 90 days, I would call around and see if the stores will be able to give you copies anyway. The policy may just be in place for their protection, but the photos might still be available.

Also, if you wanted to make a photo book using pics from a variety of different studios, you would need to make it yourself. That would require having a digital copy of you picture. There's just no way the studio would give you a full fidelity (read: high quality) digital image. Maybe some places would sell you the right to an image for a crazy amount of money, but most places probably won't even do that. Scanning the photo, even with the best scanner available will probably not give you the quality of image that you want, unless you were to make a very small photo book or you have a poster sized copy of your image to scan.

In terms of dealing with photo places:

I am an avid ameture photographer, and take quite good pictures with my digital camera. I have had an employee ask me for a copyright release, but when I told her that I took the pictures myself she gave them to me without a problem. (This was at Best Buy.)

I have to say that getting a good digital camera and a photoshopping program is a really great way to get good pics of your family without dealing with the ethical issues of copyright infringment. In fact, that's one of the big reasons I got into photography.... other than the fact that I absolutely love it. Picasa is a fabulous free program for simple photo editing, and it's available for download online. I have a more advanced program myself, but there are a few things I still use Picasa for.

I would encourage you to consider this option for the future, as I presonally take copyright infringement very seriously.