The short answer: Need? No. Want? Yes!
The long answer requires a more intricate understanding of artistic merit, a look into what photographers actually produce for their clients, what you really get when they say it’s a rights released disc, and how that value can serve your personal purposes. There's also a difference between a "copyright release" and a "print right release". Read on to educate yourself!
Artistic Copyright vs. Print Right
Let’s first understand the mass media implication of releasing copyrights, i.e. the artist's studio name on an image. Of course every client would prefer the freedom to use an image without the studio’s name showing on it. However, let’s also understand that artists have integrity, and not only is their work a consumer product, it is also artwork. Professionals are creating artwork, and it’s not an oil painting which only exists on the wall of a gallery. Modern photography is almost purely a digital art form, which means anyone’s image anywhere, any time could be utilized, altered, slandered, copied, pasted and posted to any random place on the internet which may potentially harm the artist’s integrity and artistic merit. You can well understand why photographers are so sensitive about whether to release copyrights to their clients, and if your photographer has any artistic integrity or knowledge of the digital social landscape, they should not release copyrights.
Despite these concerns, I understand my clients' needs. Although I cannot offer a copyright release, I do offer quality print-rights released images with the mutual trust that clients will respect my artwork and will not alter or misuse my images. A print-rights release means the copyright is still there discreetly, but they can make their own prints as long as images are not altered. They agree to this in writing when they make a booking and are subject to legal implications if they act otherwise.
Despite these concerns, I understand my clients' needs. Although I cannot offer a copyright release, I do offer quality print-rights released images with the mutual trust that clients will respect my artwork and will not alter or misuse my images. A print-rights release means the copyright is still there discreetly, but they can make their own prints as long as images are not altered. They agree to this in writing when they make a booking and are subject to legal implications if they act otherwise.
The Product
Before you book any photographer, you need to know two things regarding your images. First, how you will receive your images, and second, how you will utilize those images later. Images "for digital viewing only" is usually a red flag, because most people want to make their own prints.What size prints? Please be aware and ask proper questions when you consult with photographers. Some will say sure! they give rights released discs... But the images may be very low resolution, which means digital viewing only. You’d be pretty disappointed when you try to make an 8x10 print of an image that is not optimum print resolution even for a 4x6. If you want to make prints, ensure that the images on your disc are print worthy, meaning they have a dpi/ppi (dots/pixels per inch) value of at least 200. Image pixel dimensions should be larger than 800x600 (depending how large a print size you’re expecting to make). If a photographer won't disclose this information, wave the red flag.
The Product Value
Are you someone who wants to print off a thousand 4x6’s to put into your own album? Then getting a print-rights released disc (proper resolution) is a huge value for you, considering otherwise that you might be paying the photographer’s print price for all those prints, and that is going to be pricey compared to Walgreen's cently price per print. Are you someone who’d minimally like a nice 11x14 or a lustrous 20x30 landscape for your wall? Then doing your own printing may not be such a good idea. Formatting high quality photos for large format prints, and especially for panoramic prints with non standard sizing, is best left to the professionals. Even if you have print-rights released images, I highly recommend printing anything larger than an 8x10 via your photographer for highest quality results.
DVD? CD? What’s the Diff!?
Keen insight: Consider how many images a photographer shoots on a wedding day. Several hundred? A thousand or more? Now consider that a CD has about eight times less space than a DVD. If your photographer is giving you hundreds of images on a CD, you can place your bets those images are not high quality because they've been downsized simply to fit on the disc! If this is a photographer’s scheme to “give” you rights released images on cheaper storage media only for you to realize later that you have to order high quality prints from them anyway, red flag! A DVD stores images the same way as a CD (files in file folders when viewed on a computer). Plus, you can watch a slide show of your images if you put the disc in a DVD player! Fun times.
Please ask disc media questions of your photographer and be informed! You’ll be happy you did.
