Terms and conditions for a family and portrait photographer

A family and portrait photographer needs terms that deal with booking fees the client wants back, sessions that do not go to plan, galleries shared beyond the family, and the question of who owns the images. I draft those terms around how your studio books, shoots and delivers, for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Family, newborn, maternity, child and portrait photographers in England and Wales, working from a studio, on location or in clients' homes, whether sole trader or limited company. Most of your clients are consumers, which brings a set of rules you cannot draft your way out of. Many photographers also shoot personal branding and headshots for business clients, where the terms need to work differently.

What matters in a portrait photographer's terms

Booking fees, rescheduling and what the session fee buys

The booking fee secures a date you then cannot sell twice, and the terms should say so in those words, because a consumer charge that looks like a penalty rather than a genuine reflection of what you lose is on the grey list of terms unlikely to bind a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Set out how far in advance a family may move a date, how many times, and what happens for newborn sessions where the date is always approximate. For business headshot clients, add interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

Cancellation rights when the booking is made online or at the client's home

Almost every family booking is made by email, Instagram message or web form, or agreed in the client's living room at a newborn shoot. Those are distance and off-premises contracts under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and the client has fourteen days to cancel. Shoot inside that period without their express request and you may not be paid at all; give no cancellation information and the period can extend by up to twelve months. Printed products made to the client's specification and personalised albums fall outside the right, and under regulation 37 of those Regulations digital files can be delivered in the period only with express consent.

Copyright, licences and what the family may do with the images

Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 you own the copyright in what you shoot unless you assign it in writing, so your terms should grant a licence instead and describe its edges. Say clearly that a family licence is personal, covers printing and sharing but not sale, entry into competitions or commercial use, and that clients should not crop out your edit or run the files through a filter and publish them as your work. Business clients booking headshots or branding images usually need a wider commercial licence, and that is a pricing decision to make before the shoot, not after.

Using the photographs in your portfolio and advertising

Your website, sample albums and social feed are your shop window, and family clients are entitled to say no. Deal with this as a clear, separate permission at booking rather than a line buried in the small print, because the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats terms a consumer had no real chance to see as unfair. Under section 85 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 a client who commissions photographs for private and domestic purposes has the right not to have them issued to the public, so this permission is a legal requirement rather than a courtesy. Cover who gives permission where children are photographed, since images of children are personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, whether images may be used in paid advertising or licensed to a third party, whether the family may ask you to stop using a particular image later, and what happens to material already printed or in circulation.

Galleries, prints, albums and delivery

Prints, frames and albums are goods under the Consumer Rights Act 2015: they must be of satisfactory quality and as described, the client has a short-term right to reject within 30 days, and until the parcel reaches them the risk is yours, so the terms should not pretend otherwise for postal deliveries. Explain that screen colour varies from print, and that retouching is to your described standard rather than to an unlimited number of revisions. Set out how long an online gallery stays live, what a re-upload costs, and that once files are downloaded the family should keep their own copies.

Weather, illness, lost cards and limits on liability

Outdoor family sessions get rained off, photographers get ill, and cards fail. The terms should give you the right to reschedule for weather or illness, allow a named substitute photographer where you use one, and set your remedy for technical failure as a reshoot or a refund. Against a consumer you cannot limit liability for a service below the price paid, nor exclude liability for personal injury caused by negligence, which matters where toddlers and studio lighting share a room. For business clients a cap is workable, subject to the reasonableness test in the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted for your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want them checked and brought up to date. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of bespoke terms drafted for your business, reflecting the legal requirements that apply to your business and sector
• A note in plain English explaining the terms I have drafted for you
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions that protect your position and are drafted to withstand scrutiny from the other side
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly
• Your questions and comments answered by email or phone
• One round of amendments to finalise the terms ready for use

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers (I am happy to quote for this as an additional service if required)
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country
• Tax advice

Questions I am often asked

Can I keep the booking fee if a family cancels close to the date?

You can, if the amount reflects what losing the slot genuinely costs you and the client saw the term before booking. A sliding scale tied to how much notice you get reads far better than a flat forfeiture. I draft the wording so it explains itself, which usually avoids a chargeback dispute.

A corporate client wants to own the headshots outright. What do I do?

Treat that as an assignment, priced separately, signed in writing and dealt with in the booking rather than by silence. Plenty of photographers sell a broad commercial licence instead, which gives the client what it needs for its website and recruitment material while you keep the right to use the images yourself.

Do I still need a separate model release form?

Many photographers keep one, and it can sit alongside the terms perfectly well. What matters is that the permission is specific, recorded, and obtained from the right adult where children are in the frame. I will draft the permission into the booking process so you are not chasing signatures after the session has finished.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a mobile hairdresser or beautician
• Terms and conditions for a personal trainer

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.