Someone basing their paintings on a photographer's photos - your thoughts?

AfroKen

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I'm a relatively new photographer in many respects, so there's so many things that I haven't thought through yet.

Eleven Shadows Travels: Death Valley 2009-2010

A friend of a friend sent the above link, my photos of Death Valley, around. One of her friends is a painter, and was interested in painting several paintings of them.

Now, I don't know whether she is a commercial painter or what she is going to do with them or whether she is simply going to paint them for her own enjoyment.

Assuming that she is a commercial painter or is using this in a commercial manner, what are some points to consider? Are there articles or anything on this sort of thing? What should I consider? This is a totally new area that I've never once encountered. Your thoughtful responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
BTW, just to be clear, I'm not looking at anything other than something that is fairly typical and FAIR for everyone, and am not looking to soak someone for money.
 
Posting the same thread in 2 sub-forums = :thumbdown:
 
This is currently a confused area of copyright law. In some cases where the end product bears little resemblance to the photo, there is no copyright issue, but other factors also are important, e.g., commercial considerations, how much of a photo is used, etc.

Here's a cite to one recent article from a law review which may or may not help:

59 Brooklyn L. Rev. 373
 
Boy what a can of worms. If you use the above link copyright.gov, spend half of the rest of your life reading studying and getting legal opinions, you'll find copyright law is as clear as mud. Two things are clear 1) you have more rights and better chance of enforcing your copyright if you register it. 2) it is up to you to enforce your own copyright. If you and her(?) can come to an agreement on your own about the use of your pictures you will be much better off for it, your pictures are very nice but they are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Derivative works is what you would want to brush up on.

As an afterthought I visited the site (copyright.gov) just now and found it to be much better than it used to be. So change the above estimate from half to a third.
 
I think that it would cost far more for you to collect than you would ever get if the artist thought that your wanting to be payed was insulting.

Unless the artist is doing commercial work, I think that you should just be flattered and let it go with a promise of an invite to any gallery showings. :)
 
Now, I don't know whether she is a commercial painter or what she is going to do with them or whether she is simply going to paint them for her own enjoyment.

I would find out. A friend of a friend's friend isn't exactly a close acquaintance, so you may never know what s/he does with it.


I used to paint some, and I often used photos (my own) as inspiration, so I can definitely see their interest in painting one of your photos.

MY personal opinion is that if it's just for personal use - I wouldn't mind. If it was for some kind of commercial use I would probably have a problem with it though...
 
How would you stop it?


"Your honor, he clearly used my photo as a reference to paint Mt Baker, the image I captured is the only known angle of that mountain, the same tree line I have in my photograph, clearly appears in his painting..."

:meh:
 
How would you stop it?


"Your honor, he clearly used my photo as a reference to paint Mt Baker, the image I captured is the only known angle of that mountain, the same tree line I have in my photograph, clearly appears in his painting..."

:meh:

:D

Well, you can't, but since this the painter's friend is asking me what I feel would be fair and reasonable, it would seem that they are willing to consider my opinion. Because I don't know anything about this topic, I thought I'd create a discussion.

Although I did cross-post this, something I don't ordinarily do, I should point out that we are getting two different discussions here, which is absolutely valuable to me, which is why I did it. Not to worry, I will do my best to not do it again. Whether there's a rule or guideline for this or not, I don't know, but I generally try not to cross-post.
 
MY personal opinion is that if it's just for personal use - I wouldn't mind. If it was for some kind of commercial use I would probably have a problem with it though...

Totally, that's where I'm at. Just trying to do something that's fair for everyone.

A friend sent me this, which appears to make sense, although I don't know where she got it from. But perhaps this will help in the discussion somewhat:

"In general, if done as part of an art class for instruction and critique, students can usually paint a copy of a photo or other image, provided it is done for the class, and kept as a single copy for personal use only, and not re-sold, or have any other copies made. That's a provision of Fair Use.

I get asked this question quite frequently. If someone wants to do a painting of my photo, and it is not for a class, I tell them that they require a derivative use license. (Just putting the image into a different medium has no effect on making something "not a derivative".) Derivative means derived from... photo to painting, photo to sculpture, photo to jello & whipped cream collage, it doesn't matter. If someone can tell that image A was derived in any recognizable form from image B, then that is a derivative use.

I'll ask a person what their plans are, is it for personal use, or do they plan on making multiple copies or selling the painting. Also, Ill ask if the image will ever be displayed at a place where the public is required to pay admission to view the artwork. Those are variables that are taken into account when determining the commercial value of a derivative use license. If it's for personal use only, I may charge a basic research / personal use license fee of $50.00 and offer to send them a full screen watermarked scan to help them paint. If they plan on selling the work, I may charge a few hundred dollars, plus charge a royalty percentage on each print sold, determined by the number to be produced, and how much they'll be sold for."
 

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