I include the contracts in both PDF and doc format. What format are the contracts written in? If you do things differently, you'll have to go into the contract and change that to be the amount you ask for as a deposit. For example, I always ask for a 50% deposit when booking a shoot. I have carefully written these contracts to work in many situations, but you need to go in and customize them to fit what you do. Therefore, it would be foolish to take these contracts exactly as they are written and implement them directly into your business. The key to any good contract is simply to explain in ABSOLUTELY CLEAR fashion what each party to the contract is expected to do. Since I'm both a full-time photographer and a licensed attorney, I think I'm in a unique position to provide you with the ULTIMATE contract package for photographers. Worse yet is a contract written by a lawyer who doesn't understand the common issues that photographers face. That can spell DISASTER for a photographer.
There are a lot of shoddy contracts available on the internet, usually written by bloggers who have absolutely no idea the type of meticulous language that needs to go into a contract. This is provided merely as a template for you to adjust to your needs. Jim Harmer is a lawyer, but is not your lawyer, and you should seek individual legal advice from a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making important business decisions such as writing a legal contract. These contracts are offered merely as templates for you to customize for your situation and to match applicable law in your jurisdiction. IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE: By purchasing this product, you understand and agree that Improve Photography LLC is not a law firm and no part of this transaction constitutes legal advice. Get My Photography Contracts Bundle for $15: This is another one that photographers often skip over because they don't have a contract written yet, but it's a critical contract to fill out. You also need to be clear about how much you pay them, what they can and can't do, and how they should deliver the photos to you. Second shooter contract – If you ever have a photo assistant, you absolutely MUST be clear as to what photos they own, and how they can use the photos from the shoot.
Photo licensing agreement – This is the contract that few photographers bother with, but is CRITICAL to have! When you sell a photo to a company for use on a website, or you allow a photo to be used commercially, you NEED a good photo license agreement that spells out exactly how you're allowing the company or individual to use your photo.Wedding photography contract – Since weddings are usually a higher-dollar shoot and involve many more complicated parts, my wedding photography contract is much better suited to a wedding than the general contract.Real estate photography contract – Real estate photography is quite different than most portrait photography, so it has its own contract.However, I would recommend using one of those very long and annoying model releases if you are shooting a celebrity or another very high-risk shoot (celebrities are magnets for law suits). You can cover yourself and get a legally binding model release much simpler with this contract. They are SOOO long and make the model fill out SOOO much information that it takes forever and frankly isn't necessary in most situations. Model release – I can't stand most model releases.This contract is the shortened version of the general contract for simple photography shoots where a huge contract isn't necessary. And you don't want to have to fill out a million boxes just to book a simple shoot. No client likes to get a super long contract that makes them sign away every human right they've ever had. Short form general photography contract – Let's face it.It covers all your bases in explicit detail. Long-form general photography contract – this is suitable for baby, senior portrait, engagement, and family shoots.
Photography Contracts Available in the Download