Photography

Photographers' work is perhaps more diverse than that of any other kind of journalist. And photographers are now under huge pressure as news and picture desks seek to harvest free images. Many photographers who want to cover news must work across the whole spectrum of publishing.

There are two main ways photographers charge for their work - either on commission, or through reproduction fees. In either case, freelance photographers are "authors" of their pictures under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, and are therefore owners of the copyright in their photographs; Almost always, what clients are in fact paying for are licences to reproduce your images. For convenience, however, the suggested rates are listed in the traditional categories of payments for commissioned work and for stock photos.

There is a lot of advice and information to give and we have divided it into the following sections: