You paid for the photos, but do you own them? Here’s what these lawyers think!

Gloria Adesanya 18:08 - 29 October 2026

Nigerian Copyright Law: Who Owns Your Photoshoot Images?

Paying for a photoshoot in Nigeria does not automatically give you copyright over your pictures. Legal experts break down how the Copyright Act of 2022 and Nigeria Data Protection Act balance photographer ownership against client privacy rights.

Photographers legally own the copyright to the pictures they take by default.
Paying for a shoot without a contract only buys a license for personal use.
Clients own their privacy and must give consent before their photos are posted.

Photographer Edwin Blanco and his agency, Backgrid, sued Jennifer Lopez in 2025 for posting five photos of herself from the Golden Globe Awards on Instagram. Blanco sued for $300,000.

Because J.Lo. tagged her clothing and jewellery designers, the photographer argued her post was commercial self-promotion and they demanded $150,000 in damages per image, notwithstanding that they were her own images.

These types of problems are not distant, even in developing countries like Nigeria. In July, for instance, actress Anita Joseph and content creator Ogechi Ukonu (Caramel Plug) went at each other’s necks over photo ownership.

According to a Punch Newspaper’s report, the actress had superimposed her own image on a photograph of the content creator. The conversation that ensued on social media questioned Ukonu’s ownership of the images to begin with.

Caramel (Left, original picture), Anita Joseph (Right, AI-edited)

More recently, on X, Nigerians — lawyers and laypeople alike — have locked horns at different points over whether photographers own and can use the photos of their clients for advertising.

DemiladeLaja would complain about photographers charging extra for exclusive rights to photos in this manner:

“Lmaooo same with photographers. With the stupid condition that they must post you or you pay a ridiculous amount for “exclusive rights.” The wedding industry in Nigeria has become so exploitative and I blame Nigerians.”

So, say a hypothetical Tobi and Simi pay half a million Naira to a top-tier Lagos photographer for an exclusive pre-wedding photoshoot and agree that they wanted to use them to surprise their guest on the wedding day.

But three days before the wedding, Simi opens Instagram and sees her face on the Explore page. The photographer, eager to attract new clients with his stunning work, posted their pictures without asking.

When Tobi then calls to demand the pictures be taken down, the photographer fires back: "I took the pictures; it’s my creative work, and I have the right to post my portfolio!"

Who is right? The client who paid, or the creative who captured the image? In Nigeria, according to the exposition by lawyers who spoke to Pulse Nigeria, the answer lies in a fascinating grey area between the Copyright Act of 2022 and the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) of 2023.

Reality check: Payment does not equal ownership

Nigerian Copyright Law: Who Owns Your Photoshoot Images?

There is a common misconception in Nigeria that once money changes hands, ownership automatically transfers. Habeeb Eyinade, a legal expert at EandC Legal, advises that it is dangerous to assume so.

"Merely paying for the photograph does not mean you own it if you did not create it; ownership only transfers to the person who commissioned the work through an express provision in an agreement," Eyinade explains.

Eyinade clarified that copyright vests in the author of the work. And in the context of photography, the author is the photographer. The lawyer explains that the amount you pay notwithstanding, the author is the legal owner of a piece of photo.

Eyinade points out that the law addresses this explicitly:

“When it comes to the ownership of a photograph, especially where an individual contracts a photographer (whether professional or not) to take a picture, this question of who owns the copyright is expressly answered by Section 28 of the Copyright Act. The law provides that, generally, copyright shall vest in the author, which in this context means the photographer who created the copyrighted item.”

Funmilola M. Onalaja Esq., a Transactional and Advisory Lawyer at Mondial Solicitors, lends credence to Eyinade’s argument. She went further to draw parallels with other creative professions to illustrate how intellectual property works:

"It's just like writing. If you pay a writer to write you an article, it doesn't mean you own the copyright to the text. It belongs to the writer. It's just like painting, too. The fact that you paid for a painting doesn't mean you own the copyright to it. It's the original author's intellectual property."

You want exclusive ownership? Here's what you've got to do

The law also allows parties to contract the ownership of a copyrighted item via a written contract

It is not impossible for the ‘photographed’ to exclusively own the photos. But there are things they have to do to get there.

Eyinade explains this to Pulse Nigeria. He said that “the law also allows parties to contract the ownership of a copyrighted item via a written contract.

For example, if you host a photoshoot at your company, invite a photographer to take pictures, and execute a contract stating that the ownership of the pictures belongs to the organisation that commissioned them, ownership goes to the person who paid for it.”

Essentially, paying for a photoshoot without a written contract only buys you a non-exclusive license, not the copyright. This means you can use the photos for your personal enjoyment, but you cannot legally use them for commercial purposes.

If you want total ownership, you must execute a written contract explicitly stating that the copyright is transferred to you. Once that contract is signed, the photographer loses all rights to exploit or use the image.

You need to know these things in the digital age

If Nigerians must then learn anything from J.Lo’s $300,000 headache or any of the advises these lawyers have given, it is the following:

A tag is not a legal pass. Simply typing "Photo credit: @PhotographerName" in your Instagram caption doesn't magically give you the right to use their intellectual property, especially if you are using the picture to promote yourself or your business.

Screenshots don't cancel copyrights.Just because a picture is incredibly easy to download or screenshot online doesn't make it public property. The law still protects it.

"I didn't know" won't save you. You can't plead ignorance in court. Paying a small fee to properly license a photo is always cheaper than defending a lawsuit.

Privacy is the client's lifeline

If the photographer owns the pictures by default, does that mean they can plaster your face all over the internet to advertise their business? Absolutely not!

Even without a written contract, the Copyright Act gives the commissioner the right to restrict the photographer from publishing or distributing the work to the public. However, the strongest protection actually comes from privacy laws.

"Images and pictures of people are considered personal information under the Nigeria Data Protection Act," notes Eyinade. According to Section 65… an image is information that can be used to directly identify an individual."

It is true that a photograph is considered property (copyright) of the author but your face is considered an extension of your fundamental human right to privacy under Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution.

"Copyrights are treated as property, while personal information is treated as an extension of privacy rights under the Constitution. Because of these privacy rights, a photographer cannot publish or exploit the work publicly without expressly seeking the consent of the owner," Eyinade clarifies.

When property rights clash with fundamental human rights, the law is clear on which takes precedence. "Where there's a clash, privacy, being a fundamental human right, comes first," Eyinade emphasises. This means that while the photographer may own the copyright to the picture, they do not own your face.

This means that even a photographer cannot publish or exploit a photograph containing your personal information without your explicit consent even if the photoshoot was free. This also means photographers cannot feed client pictures into AI models for training or editing without first seeking consent.

(Note: If the photograph is of a building, an animal, or a document without recognisable personal information, privacy laws do not apply, and consent is not required for publication).

What happens when there is no contract?

Dialing back to the hypotheticals used earlier — Tobi and Simi. What happens if they take this to court, given that they never signed a formal contract? Here is how Eyinade explains it;

"Where there's no agreement, the court doesn't need to know what the parties agreed to because there was never an agreement ab initio," says Eyinade. "Nevertheless, the court will not let the parties go without a remedy, and the remedy is already contained in the said Section 28 of the Copyright Act."

The court will deem the photographer as the copyright owner, but it will simultaneously recognise the couple's right to use the pictures personally and protect their personal data.

Posting a client's identifiable image without their express consent is a direct violation of their privacy and data protection rights, opening the photographer up to a lawsuit.

So, the next time you book a photoshoot, remember the golden rule of Nigerian photography law: creatives own the copyright by default, but clients own their privacy.

For absolute peace of mind, skip the verbal agreements over WhatsApp. Sign a contract, clearly state who owns the final images, and explicitly grant or deny consent for public posting.

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