FOR INFLUENCERS & PUBLIC FIGURES
How to design YouTube thumbnails that look like you
YouTube thumbnail design for UK creators: the official specs, a recognisable template system, faces, type and colour, and how to test thumbnails properly.
Who owns the photos and video from a shoot under UK copyright law, and how influencers can license images to brands without giving away more than they mean to.
Usage rights for influencers are the permissions that say who can use a photo or video, where, how and for how long. Under UK law, the person who creates an image is generally the first owner of the copyright, so you usually own what you shoot yourself, while a photographer you hire usually keeps copyright in what they shoot. Brands normally receive a licence to use content, unless ownership is transferred in a signed written document.
Imagine replying to a brand’s contract with calm rather than a knot in your stomach. You know which images are yours to license, which belong to your photographer, and exactly what the brand is asking for. You can say yes to the deal, and no to the clause that hands over your work forever, without feeling awkward about either.
This guide explains ownership and licensing under UK copyright law. Pricing is a separate question, which we cover in how much to charge for brand deals. Nothing here is legal advice: for a significant contract, speak to an intellectual property solicitor.
Usage rights are the terms of permission attached to a piece of content. They answer four questions: who may use it, where (organic social, website, email, paid ads, print), for how long, and in which countries.
Behind every usage clause sits copyright, the right that lets the owner decide how a work is copied and shared. In the UK you get copyright protection automatically, without applying or paying a fee, and there is no official register to sign up to.
If you take the photo or film the video, you are generally the first owner of the copyright. That includes content shot on your phone or on a tripod with a timer. The Intellectual Property Office notes that the person who arranged a shot can sometimes own it even if someone else pressed the shutter, so if a friend or partner helps, a simple written note of who owns what avoids questions later.
A missing © symbol or empty metadata changes nothing: the IPO says the copyright symbol does not have to be present for copyright to exist. The main exception is employment. If you make content as part of a job, your employer will generally own it. Most creators are self-employed, but check your contract if you also create for a company.
This is the point that catches most creators out. The IPO says that when a professional photographer is commissioned, the copyright will usually remain with the photographer, and you will generally need their permission for uses beyond what you agreed. If the booking never mentioned copyright, you may have an implied licence, but the IPO says that usually gives only limited, non-exclusive use, not ownership.
In practice you are buying a licence. A good photographer sets it out clearly: where you can use the images, whether you can pass them to brand partners, whether paid ads are included, and for how long. If you need to own the images outright, for example for your own product packaging, ask for an assignment and expect it to be priced differently.
| Who made it | Who usually owns copyright | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| You | You | Nothing extra |
| A friend, with you directing | Depends on who arranged and took the shot | A short written note of who owns it |
| A photographer or videographer you hired | The photographer or videographer | A licence covering every use you plan |
| A brand’s crew on a campaign shoot | The crew or the brand, depending on their contract | Permission to post the content on your channels |
| An employer’s team, as part of your job | Your employer | Check your employment contract |
These two words decide most of what a usage clause means.
Watch for phrases such as “all rights”, “in perpetuity”, “worldwide” and “in all media now known or hereafter devised”. Together they can come close to ownership in all but name. They are not always wrong, but they should never be signed by accident.
Only what the contract allows. A partnership agreement may cover some or all of these, and each is a separate permission:
Agree each one separately, with dates and territories, and diarise when they end. Agree too what happens at the end: often organic posts already published may stay up, while paid ads must stop. Many contracts also have separate clauses on using your name, likeness and voice, so read those as carefully as the copyright terms.
Yes, if you are the author. GOV.UK says you can keep or waive your moral rights, which include the right to be identified as the author, to object to changes to your work, and to object to treatment that is derogatory or damaging to your reputation. Brand contracts often ask you to waive them so the brand can edit freely. That may be fine for a crop or a cut-down, but think twice if your face could end up in an edit you would never approve. One middle ground is to agree the waiver while keeping approval over significant edits.
How to price each of these rights is covered in our guide to pricing brand deals.
GOV.UK is clear that you are responsible for defending your copyright. Start by checking the contract and whether the use was covered. If it was not, a polite message with your original files and dates often resolves it. The platforms also have their own copyright reporting tools. For general questions about copyright law, GOV.UK points you to the IPO’s customer support centre, and for anything contested, an intellectual property professional.
Get the terms in writing before the camera comes out, with your photographer as well as with the brand. If a shoot is for partnership work, tell the photographer, so the licence covers it from the start. When we run photography for influencers, usage is part of the brief, and our guide to a brand shoot for influencers covers what else to plan. Clear rights are one of the quieter foundations of marketing for influencers, but they protect everything you build on top.
We want you to sign every partnership contract knowing exactly what you are giving and what you are keeping. We started as the in-house team of co-founder Jack Cartwright, a bestselling author whose covers, photos and videos all needed clear rights, so we settle usage at the brief stage. With our photography for influencers, we set out in plain English where you can use the images, including with brand partners. A clear brief, scope and fee are agreed before any creative work begins.
Not usually. The copyright generally belongs to the photographer or, by contract, to the brand. You will need permission to post those images on your own channels. Ask for it in writing as part of the partnership, ideally including the right to use selected images in your portfolio and media kit afterwards.
There is no standard term, so it is a negotiation. Shorter, clearly dated periods are easier to price and to keep track of, and a brand can always ask to extend them later for a further fee. Be cautious about “in perpetuity”, which means indefinitely, especially for paid ads featuring your face.
Not in new ways, unless the contract says so. Many contracts let organic posts that are already published stay up, while paid ads must stop. Agree this explicitly, keep a note of end dates, and check the brand’s channels when the term finishes so nothing runs longer than you agreed.
It is wise. Even without a fee, the brand may want to repost your content or use it on its website. A short written agreement covering what it can use, where and for how long avoids misunderstandings later, and gives you something to point to if your content turns up somewhere unexpected.
No. A credit does not replace permission. The IPO’s guidance on images explains that copying and re-hosting someone’s image generally needs a licence or permission, and Instagram says adding a credit to someone else’s work does not make it original. If a brand wants to repost, it should ask first.
YouTube thumbnail design for UK creators: the official specs, a recognisable template system, faces, type and colour, and how to test thumbnails properly.
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What influencer whitelisting means for UK creators: how partnership ads work on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, what access you give and what to agree first.
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