help, copyrighting

Christina wrote:
What's the very best way to go about copyrighting your photos? My
understanding thus far is that if I place a "c in a circle" along with
a date and my name on my image, it is protected. Ofcourse, someone
can crop that out and use it, so I suppose that digimarking my image
will track where it goes and that way I can too. This way I've stated
that it's mine (with the "c in a circle") and I can track where it
goes. Is this the best way OR what do you do? I want to create a web
portfolio of my images and have them protected. Thank you!
Christina

As soon as you hit the shutter button and the image is saved (to memory
or film), the image is yours, you own it.

Adding copyright information to an image serves to notify people that
don't know images are copyrighted. If somebody is going to steal the
image, they will whether or not there is the © symbol on the image or not.

There is NO WAY to protect your images on the internet. The only thing
you can do, is limit the possible uses the image could be used for.
Don't upload anything larger than 600pixels, and place © Your Name on
any photo you really like. Any, place text saying the images are
copyrighted at the top of every page.

You can register the images with the copyright office, but that's not
really needed, most of the time.

--
Whatevah / Jerry Horn
Jerry {at} whatevah.com (working address)
Freelance Photography and Web services.
spambait:

(Christina) writes:

What's the very best way to go about copyrighting your photos? My
understanding thus far is that if I place a "c in a circle" along with
a date and my name on my image, it is protected.

Well, it's a little easier. Images are protected by copyright when they
become "fixed." Depending on what medium you are using, basically this
means when the image hits the negative or CCD and you save it. What you are
talking about is the copyright notice. Under US law, notice is the c in a
circle, the year of first publication, and the name of the owner of the
_copyright_ (_not_ the name of the person owning the image)A.

Please see
http://www.philipstripling.com/ilaw.html#copyr
for information on copyright from reputable sources.

Ofcourse, someone
can crop that out and use it, so I suppose that digimarking my image
will track where it goes and that way I can too. This way I've stated
that it's mine (with the "c in a circle") and I can track where it
goes. Is this the best way OR what do you do? I want to create a web
portfolio of my images and have them protected.

The sad fact is, when you put your images online, they are mine -- or
whoever else wants them. I have friends who have all sorts of tricks to
keep images from being copies, but I can almost always defeat it. On one
email list I'm on, one guy challenged people to 'steal' two images. The
first reply came within 15 minutes of the time of his post to the
list. Interestingly, everyone who 'stole' them used a different method.

This doesn't keep me from posting images to the Web. I do use a copyright
notice, and I have a license in my Web site that people who post images or
text without prior permission will be charged a certain amount; people who
get permission can use images for free for educational purposes.

--
Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@
http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily.

I agree with the first two respondents. The image is yours once you
create it. I would add a couple of points:

If you are photographing people, a model release helps to clarify the
ownership of the image. If you hire or ask someone to pose for you,
it is a good idea to get a signed release.

There is a technology called "watermarking" which would allow you to
place information in the file that can be obtained even if the image
is cropped. Check your image editing software (e.g. Photoshop) or do
an internet search. Some watermark schemes let you register your
watermark & do some tracking, but that costs $$$.

For my site, I keep the image of only modest size (usually less than
500 pixels in the longest dimension), with some modest compression.
Thus, your image is sufficient for showing off your work but
insufficient for someone to grab it & use it for their own.

My personal taste is to forego putting an explicit copyright notice on
my images -- I find them distracting & annoying. But do what you
will.

looknsee
http://www.looknseephoto.com


On 13 Jul 2004 15:06:30 -0700, (Christina)
wrote:

What's the very best way to go about copyrighting your photos? My
understanding thus far is that if I place a "c in a circle" along with
a date and my name on my image, it is protected. Ofcourse, someone
can crop that out and use it, so I suppose that digimarking my image
will track where it goes and that way I can too. This way I've stated
that it's mine (with the "c in a circle") and I can track where it
goes. Is this the best way OR what do you do? I want to create a web
portfolio of my images and have them protected. Thank you!
Christina

This Guy Here (put a "." between the "x" & the "n") writes:

If you are photographing people, a model release helps to clarify the
ownership of the image. If you hire or ask someone to pose for you,
it is a good idea to get a signed release.

I agree on the need for model releases, however, I don't want to confuse
ownership of the copyright, ownership of the image, and the model's
rights. Copyright springs into being when the image is fixed. Having an
identifiable person in the image doesn't affect the ownership of the
copyright. The model's rights are governed in a contract usually referred
to as a release because under the contract the model releases certain
rights to privacy, to the use of the model's image, and so on. The release
(or not having a release) affects neither actual ownership of the copyright
nor of the image.
--
Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@
http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily.

This Guy Here (put a "." between the "x" & the "n") writes:

If you are photographing people, a model release helps to clarify the
ownership of the image. If you hire or ask someone to pose for you,
it is a good idea to get a signed release.

I agree on the need for model releases, however, I don't want to confuse
ownership of the copyright, ownership of the image, and the model's
rights. Copyright springs into being when the image is fixed. Having an
identifiable person in the image doesn't affect the ownership of the
copyright. The model's rights are governed in a contract usually referred
to as a release because under the contract the model releases certain
rights to privacy, to the use of the model's image, and so on. The release
(or not having a release) affects neither actual ownership of the copyright
nor of the image.
--
Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@
http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily.

This Guy Here (put a "." between the "x" & the "n") writes:

If you are photographing people, a model release helps to clarify the
ownership of the image. If you hire or ask someone to pose for you,
it is a good idea to get a signed release.

I agree on the need for model releases, however, I don't want to confuse
ownership of the copyright, ownership of the image, and the model's
rights. Copyright springs into being when the image is fixed. Having an
identifiable person in the image doesn't affect the ownership of the
copyright. The model's rights are governed in a contract usually referred
to as a release because under the contract the model releases certain
rights to privacy, to the use of the model's image, and so on. The release
(or not having a release) affects neither actual ownership of the copyright
nor of the image.
--
Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@
http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily.