Photography invoice template

What goes on a photography invoice

• The shoot: the date, the place and how long, so the invoice matches the booking.
• What you deliver: how many edited images, in what format and resolution, and how they are delivered.
• The licence: what the client may use the images for, where, for how long, and whether anyone else may be licensed the same images.
• Expenses: travel, studio hire, props or a second shooter, each on its own line.
• The usual details: your name and the client's, an invoice number, the date, the due date and how to pay. What to put on an invoice covers those.

The licence line

In the UK and the US, the photographer owns the copyright in their photos unless they sign it away. The UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act says "the author of a work is the first owner of any copyright in it" (section 11), and US law says copyright "vests initially in the author" (17 U.S.C. 201). So what the client is paying for is usually a licence to use the images, and the invoice is where both of you can see its terms next to the price.

I'd write the licence as one line with four parts: the use (website and social media, print advertising, editorial), the territory, the length of time, and whether it is exclusive. A licence that says "unlimited use" invites the question later of whether it meant a billboard.

Selling the copyright outright is a different thing. In both countries a transfer of copyright has to be in writing and signed by the owner (UK section 90(3), US 17 U.S.C. 204). If a client wants it, I'd put it in a signed agreement and price it as its own line, rather than let it be assumed from an invoice.

Pricing the work

• By session or day: a fee for the time on location, which the example shows as a half day.
• By image: a price per edited image, which lets a client choose how many they buy from a proof gallery.
• By use: a separate fee for the licence, which grows with how widely the images will be seen.

Weddings and events are usually booked with a deposit to hold the date. Deposits and progress billing covers invoicing it, and if a booking is cancelled late the kill fee calculator works out what to charge.

Wording you can copy

Clauses for the Notes field or your terms. They are a starting point: change the numbers to your own terms, and keep anything with legal weight in a signed agreement.

• Usage licence

  The client may use the images for the purposes, places and period listed on this invoice. The licence is non-exclusive and starts when this invoice is paid in full. Copyright stays with the photographer.

• Personal use (weddings and portraits)

  The images are licensed for your personal use, including sharing on your own social media with credit. Commercial use, such as by a venue or supplier, needs the photographer's permission.

• Delivery and storage

  Edited images are delivered by online gallery and can be downloaded for 90 days from delivery. Please keep your own copies.

• Cancellation

  The booking deposit holds the date and is not refundable if the booking is cancelled. Cancellations within 30 days of the date are charged at 50% of the remaining fee.

Related

Other templates: graphic design, which has the same question of rights, and consulting, for a day rate with expenses. For a client abroad, invoicing clients abroad covers the currency and VAT.