Photo rights

In my experience, you have to purchase the rights to the photos if you want to use them for that purpose. Not giving you the option to purchase the rights would be a red flag to me

We had the same situation as @Sarah.

My photographer retained rights to use the photos for a professional portfolio, but otherwise we have full rights to use the pictures as we please.

I think that's normal, if they take some amazing photos at your wedding they'll want to use it for advertising purposes. My DIL had to tag her photographer in her pics when she posted on social media. ETA: spelling

I think this is pretty normal. My photographer retains the rights to use them for her business but all I have to do it tag her in the photos which is fine with me.

ETA: I'm totally fine with her using the photos for advertising or her page, I just don't want to have to tag her every single time I post one

Can she just add a watermark to the photos instead of you having to tag every time you post?

@op just talk to the photographer and clarify the terms. You should have to tag her every time you post, but it polite to give them the credit with a tag for you say "wedding album" on social media. Most cases they only mean that you don't sell them as your own or crop out their logos.

My photographer has the rights I believe but we are allowed to post them without tagging her. I think she may have said something like feel free to tag me in your photos but didn't require it. I did tag her in a couple at the beginning. We're allowed to post or print anywhere, just aren't allowed to edit/filter the images.

I looked at a photographer who had a really specific clause about that and I just passed on him. He had a list of different phrases you were supposed to use to give credit whenever you post....I thought it was super weird.

Maybe talk to her and ask for clarification and if there's any middle ground?

Our photog includes digital rights in all her packages. She'll give us the digital files and we can use them any way we want. She thinks it's crazy that anyone would NOT sell the rights, given that every single person wants to be able to use digital photos of themselves now.

She can of course use them for her own galleries and portfolio too, but I don't have to tag her (although I probably will, because she is my friend and she's really good). I can also print as many copies as I want, from anywhere I want, without going through her, for all of my pictures.

I think ours requires tagging too, but you can print as many as you want from wherever and post wherever you want. I preferred that to a watermark (that you legally can't crop) or only being able to use the photographer's website.

I hope our photographers will comment.

Photographers own their photos. They may grant you rights to print them, use them online, send them to your friends, but they retain the rights.

Personally, I think that any photos (that you like of course) should be posted with credit or a discreet watermark, which would be more efficient for you when you share them.

You should be crediting the photos anytime you post them anyways.

My photographer's contract requires that we use photos with her watermark on social media. She will give us un-watermarked high resolution versions with printing rights for our own personal use. These terms feel very fair to me, I want her to get credit for her work

My photographer did this. She told me I have the right to share and print, she just wants the credit.. which I kind of understand.

Maybe you could ask for photos with a watermark and if that would count instead of tagging if your preferred? I don't know though. I didn't see the big deal in tagging.

I would hope that you would give your photographer credit for their work when/if you shared them anyways. Photographers, as with many vendors, get business through word of mouth!

My contract has a clause like that as well. I don't mind and I understand why it's there. I'd want people to know who my photographer was and it's not hard to give them credit discreetly on a post.

Ok, if I couldn't use my photos how ever I wanted I wouldn't be signing my photographer! That seems like a red flag to me, and I wouldn't want to go through them in the future for more! Just give me the digital rights, so I can edit them and hang them around my house and put them on my desk. Who'd be selling their wedding photos? I mean I get you can't get money for them, but why would people want photos of someone else's wedding anyway?

My photographer has that in my contract but that only counts until before he fully releases them to me. So in the time he's editing them and I'm choosing, I can't claim them mine until he's done and has given me all the rights.