A photograph is copyrightable the instant the shutter closes, but the copyright is nearly unenforceable until it is registered—and most photographers never register. This guide explains why photographs count as authorship at all (an answer that runs back to an 1884 Supreme Court case about an Oscar Wilde portrait), who actually owns a wedding gallery or a corporate headshot, and how to register up to 750 images in one filing through the Copyright Office's GRPPH and GRUPH group options. It maps the deposit and title-list mechanics, the registration-timing rules that decide whether an infringement case is worth bringing, and the separate metadata protections of DMCA Section 1202. It closes with the frontier questions—monkey selfies, AI-generated images after Thaler v. Perlmutter, and stock-photo demand letters—plus a working checklist and FAQ. The goal is one plain-English roadmap a working photographer, a marketing manager, and a judge can all follow.