Advertising or Marketing Photograph

Definition from the copyright law, 17 U.S.C. 101:

includes photographs in its definition of “pictorial, graphic and sculptural works.”

From Compendium of Copyright Office Practices, section 508.01:

Original photographic composition capable of supporting [normal] registration may include such elements as time and light exposure, camera angle or perspective achieved, deployment of light and shadow from natural or artificial light sources, and the arrangement or disposition of persons, scenery, or other subjects depicted in the photograph.

Eligibility: To be eligible for preregistration, it is required that:

• creation and fixation of the advertising or marketing photograph for a product or service must have already commenced, although further editing or modifications may not yet have occurred;
• the claimant can verify that he has a reasonable expectation that the photograph will be commercially distributed.

NOTE: A claimant may also preregister multiple photographs taken for use in a particular advertising and marketing project for a particular product or service, if at least some of the photographs have been created and fixed and if the claimant can verify that he has a reasonable expectation that at least one of the photographs will be commercially distributed.