The best photography contract template collection
Running your own photography business isn’t without risks. Between copyright disputes, payment issues, and unrealistic client expectations, a lot can go wrong. Professional photography contracts protect your business by laying out the terms and conditions of your agreement from the get-go. By using HoneyBook’s contract management tools within its photography CRM software, you and your clients can sign contracts online to get sessions scheduled faster.
Design your ideal photography contract
Working with a lawyer is the safest bet when it comes to writing up a contract, but there are other means of getting a professional, legally-binding photography contract in place. With HoneyBook, you can use contracts created by attorneys. Just customize the design and content, and share easily from a single dashboard. And your clients can sign your agreements online for faster session scheduling.
Create your own photography contract for free
If you’re looking to go the DIY route, HoneyBook also has a set of free downloadable photography contract templates that you can customize to create professional client contracts. Simply select the sample contract that best matches your business needs, customize it with your own design elements, and populate it with your specific legalese.
General photography contract
Designed for every type of photography niche -- including commercial, wedding, portrait, and stock photography -- this template can be customized to any style preference.
Photography contract for independent contractor
Created exclusively for independent contractors, this template can be personalized to match your brand and specific photography services.
Styled shoot photography contract
Whether you regularly collaborate with other photographers, or you’re preparing for your first styled shoot, this contract template will help you cover all your bases.
Model release photography contract
No matter who you’re photographing, this model release form template will ensure you have permission to publish your photos, share them in your portfolio, and create custom marketing materials without liability risk.
Event photography contract
Useful for small birthday parties and large corporate fundraisers alike, this contract template has all the elements you need to reach an understanding with your clients ahead of time.
Snag HoneyBook’s free photography contract templates
Designed exclusively for professional photographers, HoneyBook’s photography contract templates for weddings, real estate, events and so much more, come equipped with all the fields and customization options you need to create polished contracts for your sessions. Created by attorneys, our contract templates allow you to take the stress out of the agreement process and get on with doing what you do best - capturing those special moments.
The best software for photography contract templates
When you’re responsible for photographing once-in-a-lifetime events, precious moments, and content for digital marketing campaigns, you need to have contracts in place to protect your business and give your clients peace of mind.
HoneyBook goes beyond a photography CRM software. You can create and send professional photographer contracts in a matter of minutes. Using the photography contract templates available for use, just build out the agreements to include your specific terms and conditions, such as payment requirements, photoshoot and editing timeline, and client responsibility.
HoneyBook also helps you manage your entire clientflow, so you can share your contracts along with your invoices and payment processing to make the process easier on everyone.
As a result, you'll spend your time capturing your clients’ important memories, rather than arguing over session details and stressing about potential lawsuits.
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Why you need a sample photography contract
When you have a photography contract in place, it solidifies your right to use and sell your images in writing, and it protects your business against payment disputes and liability issues. At the same time, it gives your clients peace of mind that you’ll hold up your end of the agreement.
But if you don’t know what to look for in a photography contract template, you can end up wasting a lot of time creating a document that won’t actually protect you.
So, to make things a little easier for you, here’s a list of 8 things every photography contract template should include:
- Space for both parties’ full legal names
- Fields for your client’s contact information, including their phone number, email address, and physical address
- Lines where you can plug in photoshoot details, like the agreed date, time, and location of the event
- A section for your payment terms and additional fees (for added requests like travel, extra photographers, and videography), as well as payment due dates
- Space for you to include your cancellation policy and your qualifications for refunds or discounts
- Built in photography model release forms and standard liability indemnification clauses
- A spot for you to add in your client’s responsibility to your contractual agreement
- Lines where you and your clients can sign the agreement and make it official
How to create a photography contract
Creating a secure contract can be intimidating if you don’t have a legal background, but you can get it done with the right tools and templates. In fact, with HoneyBook’s contract management tools, you can draft up professional photography contracts in a few simple steps.
Choose a photography contract template
Populate the document with your terms and conditions
Share and sign online
5 popular contracts for photographers
From basic photography contract templates to image licensing agreement forms, there are a lot of online contract options available to photographers. As a result, it can be difficult to know exactly which document is the best option for safeguarding your photography business against disagreement and lawsuits. Below we’ve broken down the most popular types of photography contract templates to help you pick the best legal document for your business and determine when and how to use it.
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How to personalize a general photography contract
While legalese goes a long way in making your contract look professional, it can come across as dry and impersonal on a blank background. Visually branding your photography contracts takes the administrative side of your business to the next level by reinforcing your unique style and helping you provide your clients with a consistent brand image.
Personalizing can actually be done quite easily with the right tools, as well. Here’s how to do it within HoneyBook's photography CRM software.
- Pick a template from HoneyBook’s photography contract examples
- Select a background color that matches one of your brand colors, ideally one of your neutral brand colors to make the contract text easy to read
- Swap out the stock image in the banner with one of your own photos to showcase your skills and reflect your style
- Change the text color to match your primary brand color and use an accent color for your headers to give your contract an extra pop of color
- Upload your logo into the designated space to give your contract the final touch
HoneyBook’s photography contract features
Free photography contract templates
Grab a professional photography contract template free of charge from HoneyBook’s collection. Simply select the sample photography contract you like the best (and that fits your business model). Then, you can edit it online to fit your needs.
Customizable design
Play with the contract design elements using HoneyBook’s dashboard. You can trade out the generic banner image for one of your custom photographs. You can upload your logo into the top corner. And you can adjust the font and background colors to match your branding. With HoneyBook, branding your photography contracts only takes a few clicks.
Pre-written terms and conditions
Take the headache out of contract writing by using the standard liability indemnification, intellectual property, force majeure, severability, and photography release form text that comes with HoneyBook’s photography contract templates. Just add additional legal verbiage around the existing clauses and save the document to your dashboard. Then, get the sign off from your legal counsel and send the contract over to your clients for official signatures.
Smart fields
Populate your photography contract template with your clients’ information automatically, using HoneyBook’s smart fields. All you have to do is select the field you want to edit and enter the field value. The contract will update instantly and the formatting won’t be changed in the slightest.
Photography contract FAQ
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