Stolen pictures

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I recently had someone take my image of a longnosed butterfly fish and blend it with a copperband for a kind of joke thread - I'm not the kind of person to be possessive (and the image itself wasn't even that good!), but I thought it was a bit out of order not to even ask permission before tampering with one of my pics. I also didn't like the idea of the 'enhanced' :eek: image getting spread around the web - so I emailed him and he removed it (although he added a few sarcastic comments in the thread itself)..... brings me to a question really - I have put the copyright symbol and my name etc on some of my better images, but thats it. I haven't actually got them copyrighted at all. Is this worth doing? does it act as a deterent? does it give you any cover if the image does get stolen? - if I moved on to a more advanced level of shooting should I be properly copyrighting my images? and what does this involve?
 
You automatically own the copyright of any photo you take. The copyright symbol and claim are just a reminder to everyone who sees the photo, requesting them to get in touch with you if they want to use it. It's not like patenting an invention, there is no legal process to go through. On the other hand there is no one to police the use of your copyright, unless you are a professional with an agent etc.
'Fair use' of your work by anyone is allowed, but exactly what that means is debatable. In addition copyright law in different countries is struggling to keep up with modern technology - hence all the pirating of films, music etc.

Alan
 
I gave permission for a person in Europe to use a specific photo. I gave him a link to the image instead of e-mailing it to him. He linked to the image, and then downloaded every picture I had loaded on the hosting page. He argued that permission for one is permission for all. I disagreed, but let him know that I have never withheld permission for an informational site. He apologized with e nice letter, and I let him use the images after that.

The hardest issue I have had is when a third party stole my image off of that european site, then used the picture for an auction and claimed that the fish in the picture were the actual fish for sale. Never did get that one satisfactorily settled.
 
I'm jumping in a little late here, but I want to comment on copyright laws. Like Alan said, as soon as you put any work of art in a physical form (ie a print for photos, typed out on paper for stories, sheet music for a song, etc), it is automatically, legally copyrighted in your name. That said, you can register your work with the copyright office. It's been a while since I looked at the prices, but I believe it's $35 per indivitual photo -or- you can copyright a collection of photos (they just have to be under the same title - ex: "Chelle's photos 2004 - 2005") for, I believe, the same price. The benefit to registering is if there ever is a legal dispute, you have proof that that photo actually belongs to you as of a certain date. Otherwise it would be difficult to prove (unless the photo was published somwhere under your name with a date) who it actually belonged to since you both could roduce copies of the photo.

Also, just something to keep in mind. Any time you photograph personal property that is not on public display (like a pic of a personal residence or someone's dog), you really should get a property release which baically states that the owner has given you permission to photograph their property. Likewise with people. Anytime you take a picture of a person (I believe they have to be recognizable, so if it's something like a sillhouette or their back, it doesn't apply), you have to get a personal release saying they gave you permission to take their picture.

If they are photos for your own private collection, then it's not too big of a deal, but if you ever want to sell, publish, or publicly display those photos, you really should have those releases.

As for keeping people from stealing my photos, I'm just really picky about which ones I make available online. I also never put any high res pics online. I used to keep them below 600 pixels wide/tall, but I've recently inched up to 640. I don't post anything above that, though. So even if someone did save my pic, they wouldn't be able to get a decent print out of it. The only thing anyone's ever stolen from me and used online (that I know of at least) is an avatar with my oscar (why someone would want an avatar of a fish that's not theirs, I don't know). I asked him to remove it and he did. He told me he found it on another forum, but I went there and didn't see it anywhere.

EDIT: It's $30 to register. Info here: http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html
And also some info here: http://www.piercelaw.edu/tfield/copyVis.htm

-Chelle
 
It never happened to me. The pictures that are online on other sites (that I am aware off) are with my permission and with proper credit. In my case, there is othing much worth stealing anyway :redface:
 
Pictures of mine end up with other people all the time. I've had fish pictures end up on auctions and also people claiming that my fish were their own in galleries on other fish boards! Each time an email to the admin got rid of it. The problem is that each time I was informed by a friend. How many pictures are being used falsely that we don't know about? I guess all we can do is catch the ones we see.

As far as taking pictures of other people's property, that is the main reason why on my photography website I specifically say that the Orange County Choppers pics are not for sale. They can steal the pics all they want, but they can't make a print out of them because my printable files aren't uploaded anywhere.
 
The photos I have on the web are all saved at 72 dpi and approx 500 pixels wide or tall. I also shoot RAW now so anyone who says my RAW file isn't the original will lose big time in court.
 
Another thing you could do is Add a Copyright, something like this one.

CLICK TO ENLARGE FOR BETTER PREVIEW



i just post my pictures with the standard 72 dpi.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom