A finished house usually has more than one company that wants to show it off. The builder, the architect, the interior designer, the cabinet maker, the listing agent. Each of them wants the photos, and most assume they can ask for a copy.
That is a reasonable assumption, and it is also where a lot of confusion starts. Here is how licensing works on our shoots, in plain terms.
What a license covers
The photographer keeps the copyright. The client who books the shoot gets a license to use the images for a purpose. On our standard license, that means the hiring client can use the images to market that one property, in any format: MLS, website, print, social media.
The format does not matter. A brochure and a website are the same license. What matters is who is using the images, and for what.
When someone else wants the photos
Say a broker books the shoot to list a home. The interior designer who did the house sees the photos and wants them for their portfolio. That is a different company using the images to market its own business, so it needs its own license. The same goes for the builder, the architect and any supplier.
Third parties always need their own license. When several companies license the same shoot, each one gets a discount, and the total is far less than each of them hiring a photographer.
Why it pays to plan it up front
When everyone talks before the shoot, two good things happen. First, the parties can share the cost, so each one pays a share instead of the whole thing. We encourage it. Second, the shot list covers what each of them actually needs.
A builder wants the stonework and the joinery. A designer wants the styled vignettes and the light in the living room. An architect wants the full elevation at the right time of day. One well-planned shoot can deliver all of it. A shoot planned for one party usually leaves the others short.
Bigger uses
Some uses go beyond a single property: company-wide advertising across many projects, publication in a book, or reselling the images. Those are quoted separately, case by case.
When you ask for a quote, tell us who else might want the images. One sentence up front saves an awkward conversation later, and usually saves money too.
Red Mountain Photography shoots architecture, interiors and real estate from a home base in Telluride, Colorado, and travels nationwide. Have a property in mind?
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