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Commercial image usage

Lemmy

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Hello, I posted this in another Mavic forum, and I am curious if anyone here could help clarify.
A question for US residents:
I do not have the commercial license yet. A friend asked to use a drone picture of mine for the cover of his upcoming album. I did not charge him a fee for the use, but he will be charging money for the album. Am I violating the law by doing this? Is my friend violating the law? It did not cross my mind initially. Thanks for any help.
 
A friend asked to use a drone picture of mine for the cover of his upcoming album. I did not charge him a fee for the use, but he will be charging money for the album.
Did you take the photo for this purpose or is this a photo that you took in the past while just out flying for fun?
 
Hello, I posted this in another Mavic forum, and I am curious if anyone here could help clarify.
A question for US residents:
I do not have the commercial license yet. A friend asked to use a drone picture of mine for the cover of his upcoming album. I did not charge him a fee for the use, but he will be charging money for the album. Am I violating the law by doing this? Is my friend violating the law? It did not cross my mind initially. Thanks for any help.
The FAA does not regulate the use of photos - just flying.
If you took the photo on a legal recreational flight, you can do whatever you like with it.
 
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The FAA does not regulate the use of photos - just flying.
If you took the photo on a legal recreational flight, you can do whatever you like with it.
I thought one needed the commercial license to use any image taken with the drone for a commercial purpose? I am a new pilot, so navigating the legalities is tricky to figure out. Thanks
 
I took it just out having fun. My friend saw it, liked it and asked to use it.
It would be no problem then since the intent of your flight was not to capture photos for later use in commercial applications.
 
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I thought one needed the commercial license to use any image taken with the drone for a commercial purpose? I am a new pilot, so navigating the legalities is tricky to figure out. Thanks
That's a common misconception.
The FAA's regulations require a licence to engage in commercial flying so that would apply if someone was to engage your services to go out and do some aerial work for a client or customer now.
But they don't regulate the use of photos.
 
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Will do. Thank you.
That's a common misconception.
The FAA's regulations require a licence to engage in commercial flying so that would apply if someone was to engage your services to go out and do some aerial work for a client or customer now.
But they don't regulate the use of photos.
Thank you for the clarification. It seems it is about the intent of the flight. I do sell prints from time to time (taken with a DSLR) so, it is nice to know that an image I capture during a recreational flight could be sold at a later date.
 
Apologies for belaboring this subject but a new complicated situation has arisen.
Just to share with my community, I posted a photograph I took with my drone on a local FB page.
I now have two offers to buy a print of that photograph. To be certain I legally could sell prints, I called the FAA UA hotline and explained my situation. The FAA rep I was speaking with curtly replied: "What do you think?"
His opinion was that I would clearly be breaking the law to sell prints without my 107 certification.
I find how "recreational" or "hobbyist" is defined a bit ambiguous. When I took that flight I was trying to create a nice image without any thought of it being a potentially profitable image. But I have sold photographs before so, that seems to preclude me from ever being a hobbyist.

I am now studying away for the 107 test, but despite the FAA rep's opinion, I think the requests to buy prints are incidental to a recreational flight.

Thanks

here is the pic. The Hairpin Turn is a local landmark.Hairpin-03-06-2019-1.jpg
 
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Apologies for belaboring this subject but a new complicated situation has arisen.
Just to share with my community, I posted a photograph I took with my drone on a local FB page.
I now have two offers to buy a print of that photograph. To be certain I legally could sell prints, I called the FAA UA hotline and explained my situation. The FAA rep I was speaking with curtly replied: "What do you think?"
His opinion was that I would clearly be breaking the law to sell prints without my 107 certification.
I find how "recreational" or "hobbyist" is defined a bit ambiguous. When I took that flight I was trying to create a nice image without any thought of it being a potentially profitable image. But I have sold photographs before so, that seems to preclude me from ever being a hobbyist.

I am now studying away for the 107 test, but despite the FAA rep's opinion, I think the requests to buy prints are incidental to a recreational flight.

Thanks

here is the pic. The Hairpin Turn is a local landmark.View attachment 65866

I agree, but I'm not surprised at the answer that you received. It's possible that the person you spoke to is not fully familiar with the law, legal opinion and FAA statements on that subject. It's also possible that they have been instructed to discourage any such ideas.
 
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I agree, but I'm not surprised at the answer that you received. It's possible that the person you spoke to is not fully familiar with the law, legal opinion and FAA statements on that subject. It's also possible that they have been instructed to discourage any such ideas.
Thank you for the response. I definitely had the feeling the FAA rep had precluded I needed a license no matter what I said. And I am not sure how well he understands the law either. It's frustrating.
 
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I'd say go take the test, get your Part 107 and enjoy selling ALL of your prints and smile all the way to the bank :)
 
here is the pic. The Hairpin Turn is a local landmark.

as long as the property shown on the photo is not trademarked, you are allowed to sell any photograph in a digital form or as a print, as long as photo was taken from a public place.

part 107 prohibits you from being hired - you cannot provide services of any aerial tasks and get paid by other party unless you licensed. you, as a photographer, are allowed to do with your hobby pictures all you want. photography by itself is not a licensed occupation, yet.

take part 107 exam anyway, it is worth having it done.

ps. unless if you going to sell this image to a stock agency - then they may request you to provide a release from the property owner there. or may not, as that house does not seem to be the major element of the image.
 
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as long as the property shown on the photo is not trademarked, you are allowed to sell any photograph in a digital form or as a print, as long as photo was taken from a public place.

part 107 prohibits you from being hired - you cannot provide services of any aerial tasks and get paid by other party unless you licensed. you, as a photographer, are allowed to do with your hobby pictures all you want. photography by itself is not a licensed occupation, yet.

take part 107 exam anyway, it is worth having it done.

ps. unless if you going to sell this image to a stock agency - then they may request you to provide a release from the property owner there. or may not, as that house does not seem to be the major element of the image.
 
paulatkin73 said:
as long as the property shown on the photo is not trademarked, you are allowed to sell any photograph in a digital form or as a print, as long as photo was taken from a public place.

part 107 prohibits you from being hired - you cannot provide services of any aerial tasks and get paid by other party unless you licensed. you, as a photographer, are allowed to do with your hobby pictures all you want. photography by itself is not a licensed occupation, yet.

take part 107 exam anyway, it is worth having it done.

ps. unless if you going to sell this image to a stock agency - then they may request you to provide a release from the property owner there. or may not, as that house does not seem to be the major element of the image.

Thank you for the reply.

I am pretty sure I was flying over state property. That little building is a restaurant. I had not thought about getting permission from them.
 
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paulatkin73 said:
as long as the property shown on the photo is not trademarked, you are allowed to sell any photograph in a digital form or as a print, as long as photo was taken from a public place.

part 107 prohibits you from being hired - you cannot provide services of any aerial tasks and get paid by other party unless you licensed. you, as a photographer, are allowed to do with your hobby pictures all you want. photography by itself is not a licensed occupation, yet.

take part 107 exam anyway, it is worth having it done.

ps. unless if you going to sell this image to a stock agency - then they may request you to provide a release from the property owner there. or may not, as that house does not seem to be the major element of the image.

Thank you for the reply.

I am pretty sure I was flying over state property. That little building is a restaurant. I had not thought about getting permission from them.

Release is needed usually if you sell to agencies that will resell your image. It is always needed if your subject is a person. With properties it is advisable if property itself is a main subject. Your shot does not really fit into either scenario, as it is a landscape. So you are fine
 
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Release is needed usually if you sell to agencies that will resell your image. It is always needed if your subject is a person. With properties it is advisable if property itself is a main subject. Your shot does not really fit into either scenario, as it is a landscape. So you are fine
Thank you.
I would rather have the building gone, to be honest. This was done so my local folks could see this from a different perspective.
 

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