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Ok 4chan I need advice!
I am an established photographer and I've had a very successful business for the last 5 years now. I'm a huge fan of comic books, but I'm always doing traditional portraits, senior photos, and wedding photos. And sometimes you just need to do something different.
So, one of my friends and I spent a whole day thrift store shopping, I did his make up, and he modeled for me as the joker from the killing joke. The whole shoot was for fun, and not for profit. I edited them to have some of the old speech bubbles and titles from the original pieces, so they mimicked the original comics.
I really want to share these photos because they turned out incredible! However, my dad just informed me that it may be illegal. I'm not sure what to do.
I've been researching, and there is so much mixed information I can't tell what's true.
Some websites say if its non-commercial and not for profit, its okay to post it. Problem 1 if I’m a photographer, and I usually share all my work to fb and Instagram. Would posting the pics to Instagram count as for commercial use?
Some websites say you just can't if you want to truly avoid a lawsuit.
Some say to always pay your cosplay photographers (IDK how that is legal though).
Some say, as long as you're not getting money for the shoot or prints, nor redistributing it for profit you are ok.
But there really is no good information about what you can and can't post as a photographer. IDK what to believe.
Also, I can find no info on the legality of directly mimicking old comics.
I know this is a long question; but I LOVE my job and if I get sued it could mean the end of my business.
Should I not post them at all? Is it ok if I remove the speech bubbles? Or is it fine if post the photos just the way I edited them since it was just for fun?
I'll post the images in the comments so you all can help me decide.
