Guides
Magazine photo editing: brief, selection, caption checks and US and UK rights
A magazine photo editing route: brief and picture categories, selection and sequencing, editing limits, captions, credits, releases and US and UK rights rules.
What to take away
- Fix the picture category in the brief. A staged portrait, an illustration, a file photo, a reconstruction and a documentary frame are different promises to the reader, and the layout has to keep them apart.
- Choose and sequence by what each frame does in the story. One dramatic frame, isolated, can misstate an event.
- Edit within a written limit. The National Press Photographers Association code says editing should keep the integrity of an image's content and context and must not mislead viewers.
- Do not assume you own the picture. In US law a transfer of copyright ownership needs a signed writing, and a contributor to a collective work such as a magazine starts as owner of the copyright in the piece unless it is a work made for hire.
- In the UK, photographs are excluded from the fair-dealing exception for reporting current events, so a news hook does not replace a licence.
Start with the brief and the picture category
Write the brief before the shoot or the search. It should state what the story needs the pictures to establish, who and what must appear, the platforms and sizes, who writes captions, and who holds which rights. Picture needs belong in the same plan as the rest of the issue; see the issue planning checklist.
Then name the category of every image. The labels below are the desk's own working vocabulary, not a legal classification.
| Category | What it promises the reader | Minimum handling |
|---|---|---|
| Documentary | This happened, here, then | Verified caption, original file kept |
| Staged portrait | A posed likeness | Say so if the pose could be read as an event |
| File or archive | An earlier picture of the subject | Show the date in the caption |
| Illustration | An idea, not an event | Label it as an illustration |
| Reconstruction | A re-creation | Label it as a reconstruction |
The NPPA Code of Ethics for Visual Journalists asks for accurate and comprehensive representation of subjects and for resistance to being manipulated by staged photo opportunities (NPPA code). Editorial suggestion: if a reader could reasonably take a picture for something it is not, add the label in the caption rather than relying on the layout.
Select and sequence the take
Editorial suggestion: review the whole take in order, at thumbnail size first. Mark technical failures, duplicates, key actions, context frames, details, portraits and endings. Then ask whether your strongest single frame is representative. A peak expression can last a fraction of a second and misstate the moment once it stands alone.
Editorial suggestion: build a rough sequence by function, not by preference.
- Establish the place.
- Introduce the people.
- Show the action.
- Provide the evidence.
- Show the consequence.
- Close.
Do not repeat the same information at three sizes. Hold alternates until captions, rights and layout are settled. The NPPA code also asks for completeness and context, and for avoiding stereotyping individuals and groups, which is a useful test on a final selection.
Where editing stops
Write the limit into house policy before anyone opens an editing program. The NPPA code is the reference most photo desks start from: editing should maintain the integrity of the images' content and context, and images must not be manipulated in a way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
Editorial suggestion for a house list:
- Routine preparation.Crop within the frame, whole-image exposure and colour balance, sharpening, noise reduction.
- Needs a named editor's sign-off.Local adjustments, black-and-white conversion of a documentary frame, any crop that removes context a caption relies on.
- Not for documentary pictures.Removing or adding objects, combining two moments, changing the relationship between subjects. Treat the result as an illustration and label it, or do not run it.
Work on a copy, keep the untouched original, and store the edit notes with the issue record.
In the UK the same principle is a code matter. Clause 1 of the Editors' Code of Practice says the press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images (Editors' Code). For UK complaints practice, see the IPSO rulings guide.
Rights: who owns the picture and what you may do
This section states what the US and UK rules say. It is not legal advice. For a disputed use, ask a rights lawyer in the relevant country.
United States. Title 17 of the US Code is the starting point (Copyright Act, chapter 2).
- Section 201(a)copyright begins with the creator. Section 201(b) treats the employer or other person for whom a work made for hire was prepared as the author, who then owns all the rights unless the parties expressly agree otherwise in a signed written instrument.
- Section 201(c)each contributor owns copyright in their own contribution to a collective work. Unless rights are expressly transferred, the magazine is presumed to have only the right to reproduce and distribute the contribution in that collective work, its revisions and later collections in the same series. A reuse in a different product or an archive licence needs its own terms.
- Section 204(a)a transfer of ownership is valid only if it is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights.
The US Copyright Office's Circular 16A sets out a general framework for permission: research the copyright status, which can start with the notice and the Office's records, then contact the owner with the exact material, how you will use it, the audience and whether it will be sold. The circular adds that image metadata may identify a creator, owner or licensing terms, and that only the current owner of the exact material can give permission (Circular 16A).
Fair use is a defence, not a permission. Section 107 lists purposes such as criticism, commentary and news reporting, and four factors: purpose and character of the use, nature of the work, amount used, and effect on the market (section 107). No factor settles it alone. Write down the reasoning if you rely on it.
United Kingdom. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 covers photographs as artistic works whatever their artistic quality (section 4).
- Section 11an employer is the first owner of works made in the course of employment, unless agreed otherwise. For a freelancer, the author is the starting point. Editorial suggestion: get the grant of rights in writing.
- Section 30(2)fair dealing for reporting current events can need a sufficient acknowledgement, and the exception does not apply to photographs (section 30).
- Sections 77 to 79the right to be identified as author applies only if asserted under section 78, by a signed instrument or in an assignment (section 78). Section 79(6) removes the right for works published in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical that were made for it, or that the creator agreed could be used in one (section 79). Editorial suggestion: because of those exceptions, set a magazine's credit obligations in the contract.
For the document types that prove each of these, see photo rights documents compared.
Captions, credits, releases and alt text
Editorial suggestion: verify the caption separately from the rights paperwork. Check each named person after cropping, and the action, date, place and sequence against a source other than the photographer's note. The fact-checking guide covers the method. Added context needs its own evidence.
Credits. A credit line is not a licence. For openly licensed pictures the licence sets the credit. Creative Commons CC BY 4.0, section 3(a), asks you to keep, where supplied, the creator's identification, the copyright notice, a reference to the licence and to the warranty disclaimer, and a link to the material where reasonably practicable. You must also say if you changed it, and state that the material is licensed under the licence, with its text or a link to it. You may meet this in any reasonable way for the medium, and the licensor can ask you to remove the credit details where feasible (CC BY 4.0 legal code). Record the exact licence and version, because a different licence has different conditions.
People in the picture. Editorial suggestion: treat releases as agreements, not universal forms, and record the signer's authority, the permitted uses, the term and any limits. In the UK, the Editors' Code is stricter on some subjects. Clause 2(iii) says it is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. Clause 6 says pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the school authorities' permission, and children under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child's welfare unless an adult with legal parental responsibility or a similarly responsible adult consents (Editors' Code).
Alt text. It follows the image's purpose in the layout. The W3C's tutorial separates informative, decorative, functional, complex and other image types, and says the wording depends on how the image is used (W3C WAI). The caption serves the story. Alt text serves a reader who cannot see the picture. See the digital accessibility guide.
If a rights owner complains
In the US, a notice about material on an online service goes to the provider's designated agent. Under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3), it should be written and contain a signature, identification of the work and of the material with its location, the complainant's contact details, a good-faith statement that the use is unauthorised, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and the sender is authorised. A counter-notice has its own required contents, and, for the provider to keep its protection from claims by the poster, it must restore the material no sooner than 10 and no later than 14 business days after receiving the counter-notice, unless the complainant first notifies the provider that it has filed a court action (section 512(g)). Knowingly false claims carry liability under section 512(f) (chapter 5).
Editorial suggestion: route any notice to one named person, keep the notice and the files, and log the response. A notice is a claim, not a finding.
Release check
Editorial suggestion for a final pass:
- Rights cover every useprint, digital edition, social, archive and promotion.
- Caption, credit and alt text have been read against the picture.
- Category labels are on every illustration and reconstruction.
- Crops have been checked at final size on each platform.
- Originals, metadata and edit notes are filed with the issue.
- A named senior editor has signed off any disputed adjustment.
- Print proofs have been viewed at size on the intended stock. The print production guide covers proofing.
Sources
- [US Copyright Act, Title 17, chapter 2ownership and transfer](https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html)
- [US Copyright Act, Title 17, chapter 5section 512 notices](https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html)
- [US Copyright Office, Circular 16AHow to Obtain Permission](https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ16a.pdf)
- [W3C Web Accessibility InitiativeImages tutorial](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/)
In this guide
- Photo rights documents compared: copyright, licenses, permissions, and releasesPhoto rights documents compared: copyright registration, Creative Commons and stock licenses, permission letters, model and property releases, and access terms.
