Which images can be copyrighted?
Original, and not a “work for hire”
Several things must be true in order to copyright your photo:
The image must be original (in the sense that it was not copied from someone else and represents your own creative expression). If you make an exact copy of something like a painting or another photo, your copy cannot be copyrighted because it is not original. (The FAQ has further discussion of this concept.)
You must not have signed away your rights to the image, whether through a “work for hire” situation, an employment contract, a contract that assigns the copyright to someone else, or other types of written agreements (such as a purchase order with work-for-hire provisions in the terms & conditions).
If your photo is original and you didn’t sign away your rights in a specific contract, you own the copyright to your image. Although registration is not required, we must stress the business value of registering your copyright with the Copyright Office in Washington DC — ideally within a few days of taking the picture, but in any case within three months of first publication. If you do not register your copyright within certain time limits, you put yourself at risk should someone infringe your photograph.
Still not sure? More details on why we urge you to make timely and regular filings of copyright registrations are under the Enforcing Your Rights section.
The next step. To begin the process of copyright registration, you first must determine if your work has been published or not, since each situation requires a different procedure. To determine if your work has been published according to the definition of the Copyright Office, please proceed to our Published or Unpublished? tutorial page.
If you are certain that your work has been published, please proceed to the instructions for published works.
If you know that your work has not been published, please proceed to the instructions for unpublished works.