What is Editorial Photography? How is it different from Commercial Photography?

Editorial photography is the art of capturing images that convey a story. In contrast, people use commercial photography to sell a brand or a product.

Photography has many different categories that may cross over one another, so there are chances for a photograph to be both commercial and editorial.

In this blog, you'll understand what editorial and commercial photography means and how they differ.

Meaning of Editorial Photography

You cannot use editorial photographs for advertising without a property release or/and model release. In addition, if you shoot an image shot for editorial purposes, it contains recognizable branding or copyrighted logos restricted to editorial use only.

Meaning of Commercial Photography

Commercial or advertising photography helps promote and market services or products. Therefore, commercial photographs usually need more setup compared to editorial pictures.

Difference Between Editorial and Commercial Photography

One of the most important dissimilarities between both photographs is the budget. It is pretty understandable and evident that commercial shoot budgets are usually higher and allocate more money for post-production costs than editorial photography.

Here are a few other differences between editorial and commercial photography:

Goal

The main motive of editorial photography is to convey a story to the world. While on the other hand, commercial photography has an end goal: to tell the brand's story and connect to the product's consumer audience.

Client

One major client of commercial photography is publication. The clients for commercial photography are the brands or companies. The clients are also usually present throughout the commercial shoot.

Photographer's role

An editorial photographer has more creative freedom as a storyteller. In comparison, a commercial photographer needs to follow the client's direction.

Ownership

For editorial photography, the photographer can retain ownership of the images. For example, a publication or magazine would request an exclusive license for a set period. As a result, editorial work usually pays less compared to commercial ones. One good thing for Editorial photographers in Salt Lake is that they can license their images for stock photography. In contrast, the pictures shot by commercial photographers may be a buyout or work for hire, meaning the company or brand owns the photographs.

Conclusion

This topic may look straightforward at first until you get into details. The above information will make things more transparent for a better understanding.

Always check the fine print on photos when you doubt using any image. This way, you can protect yourself from using an image for no purpose intended.

Contact a professional Editorial Photographer in Utah for an experienced editorial photoshoot.

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