ACKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms of Service

By ordering any services from Ackerman Photography, you agree to the following Terms of Service as stated. 

These terms are subject to change without notice.

Payment Policy

Ackerman Photography operates on a fee for service basis, all monies owed are payable upon scheduling of the services. Upon scheduling an appointment for photography, you agree to be liable for all billable services you have requested as described on the pricing schedule. If legal action becomes necessary to collect on balances due, you agree to reimburse Ackerman Photography for all expenses incurred to recover payment, including attorney's and other legal fees.  The service charge for returned check collection is $40.00 per item, regardless of the amount of the check or the reason it was returned. 

Cancellations

All scheduled services require the client to provide a 24 hours notice of cancellation or reschedule before the scheduled appointment. Ackerman Photography reserves the right to charge a $50 fee for all cancellations or reschedules made less than 24 hours before appointment time.

Unable to Start Services

The client and/or realtor are solely responsible for the preparation and condition of the property where the services are to be performed. If the Ackerman Photography Photographer on site determines that the site is not properly prepared; can not access the property; or that additional preparation of the property will delay the photographer, Ackerman Photography reserves the right to cancel the appointment and charge a $50 cancellation / reschedule fee plus any additional travel fees.

Property Staging

It is our policy that our photographer not stage or move anything on the property, however our photographer will at their own discretion, adjust minor items such as window coverings, pillows, turn lights on, turn fans off as deemed necessary to better capture the scene and move small items that may be distracting in the photo.  The Realtor and/or property owner needs to walk through the entire property to ensure it is ready for our services. This would include ensuring all lights are on and ceiling fans are off.  

Property Condition

The Photographer will do their best to ensure that all significant aspects of the property are photographed unless the condition of the aspect has a negative impact on the property. This shall be left up to the photographer’s discretion, unless specific aspect(s) of the property are specifically requested by the agent or the property owner. Once the services have been performed for a property the services can no longer be cancelled.

Property Defects

The photographer will not retouch images to disguise any known defects and/or physical structures such as cracks in wall or driveways, power lines, etc. 

Property Safety

The property owner shall ensure there are no hazards to the photographer’s safety. The property owner should supervise pets and ensure they are out of the camera’s view. Photographer may recommend the pet be taken to a different location so the services can be completed.

Quality

Ackerman Photography will provide the client with the highest quality of service and images possible. However, the quality is limited to the subject being photographed. If a Realtor or Property Owner does not properly stage the property it will result in poor quality photography.

Time Limits

Our services are scheduled for a specific amount of time and already include additional time to account for possible issues. An extreme overrun of this amount of time may incur an hourly fee of $100/hour if determined not to be the fault of Ackerman Photography.

Force Majeure

Ackerman Photography and Photographer is not liable for any service interruption or cancellation due to extreme weather conditions, uncommon traffic or transportation conditions, power failures, system failures, system hackings, force majeure or other unanticipated events.

Rainy Day

If the weather threatens to prevent the services, it is the client’s decision to continue or reschedule. If rain is already present, our photographer can perform all of the services inside and reschedule to return and perform the services outside for a travel fee. Otherwise all of the services can be rescheduled to another available time. (No reschedule fees will be assessed based on weather.)

Arrival Time

Ackerman Photography shall notify clients of a late arrival. Although we plan to be on time for every appointment there are occasions where there is excessive traffic, weather, or other factors that could cause a delay. We will make every effort to ensure we arrive at our scheduled time.

Liability

Ackerman Photography and the photographer are not responsible for property or any injuries inflicted upon any participating parties. The client will be responsible for their children, pets, guests, and for themselves and release photographer from any claims against their person or their business. The client will waive, disclaim and release Ackerman Photography and its respective owners, members, employees, agents, volunteers and representatives from any and all actions, claims or demands that they may have now or in the future, whether known or unknown, against the Ackerman Photography parties, including without limitation those related to injury to or death of persons, or damage, loss or destruction of property arising out of or in connection with the session or any products related thereto. Ackerman Photography is not liable for the failure of income of any services we provide.  

As a representation of the property, Ackerman Photography does not decide or authenticate the accuracy or correctness of floor plans, furnishing colors, furniture placement or the correctness of any other item in regards to the dimensions, scale, actual layout, or color accuracy of the images used to present the property. Ackerman Photography accepts no liability for the accuracy or correctness of any of these elements. If for any reason a lawsuit occurs that causes a customer of any Ackerman Photography product or service to bring lawsuits against Ackerman Photography or any of its subsidiaries, affiliates, subcontractors or employees, it is hereby agreed that the maximum compensation for damages given to those using Ackerman Photography’s visualization services and/or platform would be a total amount not greater than the amount paid to Ackerman Photography, its subsidiaries, affiliates, subcontractors or employees who may be acting on Ackerman Photography’s behalf for its products or services. The accuracy and correctness of products delivered by Ackerman Photography is to be verified by the Client. Ackerman Photography does not accept responsibility for missing pets during a booking. 

Indemnification

 The Client hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Ackerman Photography parties from all liabilities, losses, claims, costs (including attorney’s fees and court costs), damages or expenses of whatever nature that may result from injury to or death of persons, or damage, loss or destruction of property arising out of or in connection with the photography session or any products related thereto. 

Online Availability of Product

Ackerman Photography utilizes third party services for some of our services. Although we have chosen vendors with a high reliability, routine maintenance and server outages are beyond our control. We assume no responsibility for these outages although we will work to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.

Alterations of final products produced from our services

No alterations are approved to be made of any product that is produced based on the services we provide. No use of Photoshop or other editing programs is permitted on any product by client, property owner, realtor or any other person. 

Additional Fees

Any service requested outside of the planned service may incur a fee. This includes additional time on site. 

Client Cooperation

We will do everything within our control to ensure you receive your finished product on time. At times this requires cooperation and information from the client in a timely manner. We assume no responsibility for delay of final product due to client delays.

Copyright Notice

Ackerman Photography retains the copyright for all final services. Ackerman Photography reserves the right to use products produced from our services for promotion of our services on our website, Instagram, Facebook, Google, etc.

Client Final Product Rights

Whomever has paid for Ackerman Photography services has permission to use the products produced from our services on any electronic or printed form of advertisement for the promotion and sale of this property for the duration of the listing. It is a temporary license for one specific person (the agent or client) to use those final products for a specific purpose (advertise your listing) for a specific length of time (the duration of the listing.) Our final products can not be altered after they are received. Our final products can not be sold to another Realtor, future homeowner or any other party. They can not be used again by another Realtor who takes over an expired or withdrawn listing. If someone, including another Realtor, would like to use our final product they need to contact us for instructions and payment. Without our approval and payment, it will result in a copyright infringement / violation. They will be asked to remove our final product from any electronic or printed form. Continued use and failure to stop will result in legal action.

Further Realtor Final Product Usage Rights

Your MLS may claim that by uploading listing photos to the MLS site the agent transfers ownership and/or copyright of the photos to the MLS. Court cases have shown this is false. The agent can not transfer the ownership and/or copyright because they do not own the copyright. Copyrights can only be transferred via a signed document. MLS services want to protect themselves and their members and no one wants to spend the time and money for MLS services to fix their rules as long as they don’t violate the photographer’s copyright. Typically we ignore the false claim of the MLS in the area of copyright.

Many real estate photographers expect to license their final products to other parties such as the stager, builder, architect, interior designer or another real estate agent. Please do not give away or use your final products for anything other than their intended initial use and your license to use them. 

If you do not fully understand or have questions about our terms or service feel free to contact us via email at info@ackermanphoto.com