Photographer Services Agreement

Here are the reasons why you should have a photography contract:

• The first reason is safety. I think the main reason why you should have a photography contract is for safety matters.
  • • Both your safety and the clients’. If you’re one of the people who thinks you will bother your client with a contract, this is when I tell you if you change your perspective, you will see you will actually benefit your client.
    • How? Will your clients not feel safer knowing they have a document signed by you where you confirm in detail the service you are offering them? And, on the other hand, it is your chance to make sure your client knows exactly what they are hiring, leaving no room for doubts or “oh, I thought that…”.
    • Plus, if you intend to use your clients’ photos in your portfolio, a model release clause should definitely be in your contract, so they will be aware of the intention you have and will be able to say “no” straight away, if they don’t want you to use their photos. Otherwise, you might invest time and money on your portfolio and, in the end, you might not be able to use it! The client might just contact you and say: “hey, I noticed you’re using my photo in your website, facebook, instagram or whatever… and… I don’t want to be there.” If you don’t have a contract with your client’s permission, the best you can do in that situation, is to remove their photos from your social media, website or any other public material you’re using straight away! Or that might mean trouble to you.
• The second reason why you should have a photography contract is because it’s professional. Having a contract with all of the terms of your service will show your client that you have thought of details of what you are offering and that you know what you’re doing. When you send your clients a photography contract, they will know exactly how you work and therefore, what to expect from you in terms of service.
  • • Having a contract shows professionalism and shows your client you have all of the information about your session organized in one document. After all, if you have to write or talk about all of the details of how you work every time you get a new session, you might end up losing so much time!
    • Plus, c’mon, let’s be real. You will not remember to tell your clients all the small details every time you have a new session if you just need to write that down from zero everytime! So just make things easier for you and your client! Be professional and save your time. 
• The third reason why you should have a photography contract is because it’s informative. As simple as that, the third reason why you should have a photography contract is for information purposes. That document will carry all of the details about the photoshoot.
  • • Your contact information, the clients’ contact information, the date and time of the session, the package the client is hiring, what is included, what is not included, how the photos will be delivered – if you will send them digital or physical copies , how long it will take you to deliver them their photos, who the copyright to the photos belongs to and so on. It is all about information and about making sure your client knows exactly what they are hiring.
    • Because yeah, they might not have remembered to ask you something that will be clear in your contract and that they might either agree or disagree with and that they will have a chance to talk to you before the session because they’ve received your contract!
• The contract will give your client the chance to discuss up front if there is something in the way you work they do not agree with and therefore, you, on the other hand, will also have the chance to decide if changing a specific something in the way you work is something you are up to or not before actually shooting and creating a problem that wouldn’t have existed in the first place if you had just a signed contract in hands.