I'm about to get headshots and a comp card. I'm wondering if it's standard for the photographer (whom I'm paying for all these shots, of course -- not test shots or anything) to have a disclaimer that says upon choosing him as the photographer, I'm allowing him to use my shots on his website and in his advertising. Thanks for any info or experiences in advance.

Doesn't sound standard to me. Is it something the photographer is asking you to sign? I've never done anything like that. A few times a photog has asked my permission to use my picture in his ads. I don't know the legal technicalities, but my educated guess is that if you don't want your pix in their ads, they can't use them there. (I suspect this photog intends to use whichever of the pix from your session they choose --- What if it's one you hate? If it's a condition of your being photographed by this person, and you're uncomfortable with it, then you need to find a different photographer. Let's see what other people have to say about this.

I see nothing wrong with the photographer's disclaimer. I'm sure there are a lot of actors who have shot with photographer, had a terrible experience with that photographer, and then get pissed when they see their headshots on that photographer's site without the actor's permission.

It is standard. The way photo copywrite laws work, the photographer owns all rights to the image and can do whatever he/she likes with it, regardless of who the subject is or whether they paid for them. A release signed by the subject is needed if they plan on profiting from the image in some way, but I don't believe using it on their website would count.

Mindy Sevener
www.thepixelpusher.biz

Copyright laws, sorry. I realized I misspelled that after I posted.

Mindy Sevener
www.thepixelpusher.biz

I've done marketing in the past for a number of portrait photographers (not specific headshot photographers) and this was the norm. Most of these photogs used the client images in blogs and social media profiles (like Facebook business/fan pages) and it alleviated the need to go back to the client after the session and ask permission. If the client was not OK with this, it wasn't an issue for any of the photographers to still take their portraits. The only time it was an issue is if you were doing the photos on trade (your time in exchange for prints or electronic images typically means the photographer could use the images in whatever way they choose). However; as the other poster said, it's for copyright reasons overall. I would let them know you're not comfortable with your images being used for commercial/advertising purposes and see what they say.