Who this is for
Wedding photographers, portrait studios, commercial shooters, event photographers and headshot specialists. Anyone selling photographic work where the client receives edited images and the photographer keeps the copyright.
The three things every photo invoice must do
1. Call it a non-refundable retainer, not a deposit. A retainer is consideration for reserving your time and is typically upheld in court even on cancellation. A deposit is generally refundable. That single word change has decided more wedding photography disputes than any other detail on the invoice.
2. Spell out the licence, not the file count. Clients commonly assume that receiving a JPG means they can use it on their corporate website. They cannot, unless your licence says so. The template includes a personal-use clause for weddings and portraits, and a commercial clause you can scope by media, territory and duration.
3. Itemise deliverables. Number of edited images, delivery format (high-res JPG, web-res, RAW if applicable), delivery method (private gallery, USB, download link) and timeline (often "within six weeks"). This is what stops the "is it done yet" emails three weeks after the shoot.
Standard licence clauses
Personal use (weddings, portraits):
Licence strictly limited to Personal Use (archive, personal web, personal print). Commercial exploitation is expressly prohibited. Photographer retains all copyright and moral rights.
Commercial use:
Grant of Licence: Client is granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence for [media type, e.g. digital and print advertising] use in [territory, e.g. North America] for a period of [duration, e.g. 12 months from delivery]. Photographer retains all copyright and moral rights.
Both are paste-ready into the Terms field of the template.
Pricing line items photographers commonly add
- Second shooter or assistant
- Extra hours beyond agreed coverage
- Rush editing (delivery under two weeks)
- Travel beyond a set radius
- Print packages, separate from digital
- Engagement or pre-event session add-on
- Album design
How to use this template
- Open the photography template.
- Fill in the event date, venue and type (wedding, portrait, commercial).
- Adjust the retainer amount. The template shows 25 percent; adjust to your standard.
- Edit the licence clause in Terms to match the engagement (personal vs commercial).
- Download the PDF and email it with the contract.