Electronically Signing Product Photography Contract Made Easy

Esign simple photography agreement

hello there this is Kristen corpus from nifty knowledge rocks calm and this video is about photography contracts and what you need to know for your photography business I'm gonna discuss the reasons why you should have a contract and what kind of stuff should be addressed in that contract so as an attorney that's also a photographer I'm very sensitive to this topic I think it's important that all people have rock-solid contracts in place to protect their business now of course the best plan of action is to have an attorney draft your contract but not everyone can afford that right away I mean you know as a new business there are ton of things you need to invest in and since money doesn't grow on trees which I wish it did you know you have to prioritize sometimes and that's hard but getting that contract and getting advisement from an attorney it should be at the top of your list but I know that many of you guys are not going to do that as I said so because you know maybe you'd rather purchase a new 5d or a new lens to your collection it's not going to be at the top of your list so what can you do you can consider purchasing a template contract now investing in a template contract that's created by a reputable source such as me and nifty knowledge rocks with both some standard boilerplate language and legal clauses as well as provisions that are written exclusively for protecting photographers it means that if you're doing that you're taking steps necessary to protect your business so even if you have a template contract you're protecting your business now being the attorney I am I'm going to tell you again even if you get one of these template contracts you should consider seeking the advisement of an attorney now that's one of the important things I want to point out before I proceed about this video about contracts why I am an attorney this video is for educational and self-help purposes only and it's not meant to be legal advice this video is not a substitute for an attorney or a law firm all right disclaimer out of the way why should you have a contract let's go through some of the reasons number one a contract sets ground rules in the agreement you set forth what you the photographer are going to be doing and what you're gonna be doing for the client now you're gonna find that many clients have never hired a photographer before and they just aren't sure what to expect so in this agreement you're gonna tell them what to expect you're going to let your client know what you're going to be doing for them and how and when you're going to be doing it so number two the agreement also covers accountability and responsibility what will your client be accountable or responsible for and what will you the photographer be accountable or responsible for so what happens if the client is late to the session what happens if the client cancels what happens if the photographer can't do the shoot or the session when will the photographer have the photos ready for the client and where were those photos be how and when can a client purchased their images or purchase a photo product number three contracts help educate clients on copyright many photographers get upset when they see their clients using their images and ways they shouldn't be now but part of that issue is that often the client doesn't understand what they can or cannot do with their images so the contract is one of the vehicles that can be used to not only protect the photographers copyright but also educate the client on what that means and that the client is not allowed to alter or duplicate the images in any way or pose them on social media sites without your permission or whatever you choose to place there in the contract you know it depends on your business practices and what you want it to say and number four all contracts should contain provisions addressing both liability and remedies in case that a dispute arises it's important that photographers let clients know that they will not be held responsible if they miss a requested photo on a wedding day for example this is part of the agreement that the client is signing you know especially when it comes to a wedding photography contract this is important by signing a contract with a contract with a provision like this the client says they understand that you are only human and that you will do your best but if you fail to capture a specific image you're not going to be liable five having a contract is just plain professional now personally I wouldn't do business with a photographer without a contract so do you think that your clients would want to do business with you if you don't have one no it's a scary thing so you know in today's world not only does everyone want to be protected but we also want to understand what we're getting from a transaction especially when it comes to professional services you know in a professional services transaction is a little bit different than you know if you're going into a store and you're purchasing a pair of new shoes that you see and you buy you know but it's not that easy to see when we're getting you know what we're getting when we hire a professional photographer example to provide us with a service number six you want to make sure you get paid one of the big things outlined in a contract is both the retainer fee being paid to book the photographer or deposit as well as the amount being paid for for the agreed upon photography services or the package and/or then the particular products that are being included in the package and so on and so forth you want to make sure you protect that and that you're gonna get paid for those things you need to let your clients know also what they're paying you for so have a contract in place make sure you've got that together all right so more specifically what goes into a contract those are just some of the general points but you know what should you really think of putting into your contract now I want to say again my contract templates are for sale in the Nifty not knowledge Rock shop and those agreements are super super detailed many many points are addressed so in this video I'm just going to cover a few of the big things that go into a contract or that should go into your contract just to give you an idea but my templates that I provide for example for my wedding agreement it's over it's five and a half pages long and that's because I'm very detail-oriented and as a photographer myself I want to make sure I'm protected and a part of that is making sure that I have a solid contract in place that outlines everything that's important to that you know taking the photos and the services and what comes after all right so here are the few must-haves for your contract number one one of the big things that goes into a contract are who are the parties involved this includes the photographer's name as well as the clients names along with addresses for both of you guys number two next big thing in specifics as to what is being agreed to in detail what is the photographer providing to the client how much coverage is included exactly what product is the client getting what are the actual sizes of the items if it's an album describe the album in detail what is the sighs how many spreads are how many pages what is the cover made of put that in your contract with your client you want to put it all out there into this official document that's being reviewed and signed by both parties involved in the transaction number three cancellation a late policy so what happens in the event of a cancellation and what is the photographer's policy if the client is late to the session that happens right so what what if the client needs to reschedule this shoot it is the retainer refundable those types of things you want to address those specifically number four expectations this is a big one set out what expectations what it means including provisions that are going to address items like when will the photos be delivered to the client after the session how will they be delivered how long is the proofing gallery going to be open for how long does the client have to place or an order of photos or products if the client is getting an album what is involved in the album design process how long does it take to design an album how does it work what do you how does it house the whole thing work how many album design changes are allowed and what if you want extra album design changes what's that going to cost for the client number five you want to be sure to include a provision addressing and educating your client about copyright along with an explanation as to what constitutes an infringement as I said you need to educate your clients on what copyright means you can't assume they know what can they and can they not do with their images you know most clients just have no idea so we need to educate them and the contract should make it clear that the photographer retains the copyright to the images presuming that's what you want because you should want that you know what uses are or are not allowed by the client and what will the damages be if the client violates the photographer's copyright if you're providing electronic copies of the images to the client you're going to also want to provide or execute a print release with the client with more detailed information number six what happens if the photographer can't do the session or for some reason there's an emergency an explosion of fire earthquake an act of God and in that session can't take place what happens there should be provisions in the contract that address what happens in these situations and you need to have clauses addressing these things you know with so many hurricanes and extreme weather stuff going on in recent years these situations have become very very real and I definitely have some stories from photographers that have run into issues with these these acts of God or natural things occurring and preventing things number seven you want to make sure you add a clause to limit liability I discussed this earlier as well but this is a pretty standard thing in all contracts right limit your liability number eight it's also important to provide information in the contract regarding the dispute resolution now what does that mean if a dispute arises what will happen it will it go straight to the courts will go will be go to mediation or arbitration what's going to be required to take place first and what state laws are going to be used where will the court proceedings have to take place and these are important issues to address in the contract especially in situations where the client may live in a different state than the photographer and that happens quite often you know when it comes to weddings for example or when states where photographers you know provide their services are very close together and they're working in several states all right number nine signatures you have to have the parties sign the contract so that means you need to sign it your client needs to sign it and it needs to be signed by an adult so remember that contracts can be signed electronically and there are certain ways to do that you can use a sir like shoot Q or pic safai to create your contracts online and sign them online and that's pretty cool there's something called sign now which you can use that has some great features at a nice monthly price and you may have heard of the app photography contract maker which is like $2.99 in the App Store so that's another option for you you know if you do that just make sure that you have a signed contract to show both parties have reviewed the contract and have agreed to it just that's what you need you need those signatures alright so what would it cost you if you don't have a contract or you don't have a provision clause let's say that addresses your retainer fee and cancellations now it could cost you a lot and here's just a small example maybe you haven't thought of so what happens when a wedding booking gets cancelled and that happens people cancel their weddings no do you have a provision in your contract regarding retainer or deposit fees would you have to refund any retainer or deposit fee you've taken from the client if that client cancels their wedding no I hope not because you should be super sure you've got a non-refundable retainer or deposit fee clause in your contract you know if somebody cancels their wedding you want to be sure that you keep that money they've given you because after all you've been holding this date open for their wedding you've turned away possibly other clients maybe even some other clients that were going to order a larger more expensive package you made a commitment to shoot their wedding right and so now that they canceled why should you be totally left high and dry without adding any compensation for for for holding that date for them and and of course you know it could happen you could decide that you want to apply the retainer to another date if you're available let's say they reschedule or you know they find somebody else to marry within the next two months you know you may decide your own business practices will be different but just make sure that you don't have to refund that retainer because that's a bummer right again that's just a small example of something that could come up but really there are ton of things that can go wrong and it's peace of mind to know that you have a solid contract in place with your client and you know as I said earlier you can purchase various types of contract templates nifty knowledge rock shop calm these templates are therefore the modern photographer they include the provisions necessary for photographers of today you know they're not yesteryear and talking about antiquated things this is for today and they're easily customizable they have all the legal provisions you need they should need as well as exclusive photographer ones and you should always have an attorney review your finalized contract yeah but for those of you just starting out make sure you are using a reputable contract to protect yourself and your photography business because you don't want to have these headaches you know don't want this stuff to happen to you I hope this video was helpful for you and your business more resources for photographers including my podcasts are available and can be found at nifty knowledge rocks com so check that out and it's been a pleasure mean ifti