whose photo is it

[DangerouslyMoody]

So I have a weird question...if someone shoots a picture with YOUR camera...who owns the rights...like when you are out and about and a friend takes your camera, snaps a shot and hands it back to you...who owns that picture....or what if you set up the entire shot and someone else hits the shutter button on your camera...kinda tricky and i am not sure of the answer on this....???

[gmarblestone]

I have no real knowledge but i would have to say its whoever took the photo. Just like if someone borrows paint brushes and paints i would think it theirs. But i am sure some lawyer would make it more complex.

G

[TxManx]

It depends on the situation...

The person who gets the credit for the shot should be the one who composed, set the camera settings, arranged the subject, etc... pressing the shutter does not make the person a photographer.

However, if you hand someone a camera, even if all the settings are pre-programmed in for them, and they compose and take the picture - it's theirs.

I personally wouldn't *want* to put my name on a photograph taken by someone else, even if it is with my camera. Quite simply because...it wasn't my photograph, I didn't take the picture...

[kenw]

Autumn, it seems there might be some more to this story.....?

on the surface, if you set it up, composed and did all the artistic stuff, them pushing the shutter button doesn't take away your ownership. If that was the case, most sculptors wouldn't own their statues, their helpers would since they actually do all the carving.

However, if someone borrows my camera, and creates the image that is captured, the composition, lighting, etc...I think they might have a reasonable expectation of ownership. After all, it is the artistic content that is copyrighted in most cases. The camera ownership is like the painter's brush. Using someone else's brush does not mean the artist doesn't own the painting he creates.

this opinion and a buck will get you, well, not much.....

[Rson]

Originally Posted by DangerouslyMoody

So I have a weird question...if someone shoots a picture with YOUR camera...who owns the rights...like when you are out and about and a friend takes your camera, snaps a shot and hands it back to you...who owns that picture....or what if you set up the entire shot and someone else hits the shutter button on your camera...kinda tricky and i am not sure of the answer on this....???

My camera; my image.

Good luck proving that YOU took the image on someone elses camera.

[groovyone]

I always credit my wife when she uses my camera. She is meaner than me anyway. haha

[DangerouslyMoody]

The only reason I ask is because I was taking some pictures last year me and my then BF were taking pictures at a train station...I am clicking away and he is standing right next to me and wants to do a photo...so he does, right next to me, with my camera, and hands the camera back...its all in my files etc, stood right next to me, used my camera that i had all set for the situation, he just happen to use it for one shot and it turned out good...and then i started thinking about this senerio and how it works LOL

[dbphotos]

Equipment doesn't make the photo, the photographer makes the photo. He who pushes the button owns the copyright.

[Dobick]

There have been a few occasions that I have set up shots, chose the spot for shooting, hung the backgrounds, arranged the lighting, directed the posing, but the other guy pressed the shutter button.

In all three instances that I remember that this was the case, the other guy owned the photos. Of course that was our agreement going in, and he paid me to be there to help out, so we had an agreement that was unique to those circumstances.

I would say though that if no agreement existed prior to this happening, that if you can identify which one of the shots that you did not take on your camera, that ethically you should not claim ownership. If you wanted to give it to the other person, so be it, but you should not claim ownership.

[DangerouslyMoody]

Thats what I was thinking too but I was curious because I had never really thought about it until I started thinking about copyrights etc

[afrikaner07]

me and the gf walked around campus one day. We only had one camera between us and it was mine. In that case, I felt that the photos she "saw", then photographed was hers. She did all the work behind the photo, and like someone mentioned before, the camera was just a tool. There has been other instances where she was using my camera, taking flower shots, and wanted me to show her how to do a certain type of shot. In that case, the work fell on my part, so in both my and my girlfriends opinion, the photo "belonged" to me. I really think its situation based. But in my mind, if you set up the shot, see it in your mid eye, compose it, set the settings etc. then its your photo, even if someone else happen to press the shutter button. I say that, even still it doesn't feel as white and black as I make it sound. I think of several situations where I did all the work, but I would give someone else the credit. I guess it all boils down to the viewfinder. If you look through the viewfinder then take the photo (even if someone else set up the settings), its your photo. But if you just press the shutter for someone else, then its theirs....I think I'm dizzy

[Bruce M. Morris]

could it not be considered a collaborative effort? Joint ownership?

[eRoc]

Blasphemy!!! I never let anyone touch my camera!

That's like touching my no-no area. So I pretty much hand my camera to any cute girl who walks by. :)

[Rson]

The fact of the matter remains....how can one prove that they took the picture.

With art the artist signs his name, with sculpture they do the same. How can one "tag" an image off a camera as their own. Impossible

[Atfulldraw]

Russel G. took one picture with my camera last weekend.

It stood out among the other 200 or so photos on the card.

It's clearly his.