Stairs

Al-Wazeer · Apr 25, 2009

KmH said:
You're correct in that as soon as a work is created it's copyrighted. The issue is, what constitues 'protection' and lets not confuse Copyright law with Patent law.

In the USA if your copyright is not registered you are severly limited in what you can sue for. Basicly you can only sue for the income lost from that infringement only. If your normal charge for the image is $75, that's how much you can sue for. You cannot sue for attorney and court costs, which is why the first question an attorney will ask you is, "Is the image registered?" If you answer, "No it's not." they will tell you to get it registered ASAP and come back when it is. You have 3 months from the time the image was published by the infringer. You will still be somewhat limited on what your attorney can sue for.

If you register your copyright before the infringment occurs you can sue to recover any income the infringer realized by using your image without your authorization. Further, you can get additional awards if you can show the infringer knew they were infringing and did so willfully as well as recover your court and attorney fee's.

I followed a case in Florida. A realty company selling high end properties infringed 7 images of exteriors and interiors of several properties in a brochure. The court awarded the photographer $12 million because the infringement was willful.

If your images are registered and sound company infringes your work awards, after court and attorney fees, wind up right around $100,000.

Unregistered image suits wind up in small claims court.

so you have to register EVERY SINGLE PHOTO to make sure that it won't be stolen, isn't that too much? i'm just a hobbyist!

Torus34 · Apr 25, 2009

Just as golf equipment manufacturers have a club for every lie, camera manufacturers have supplied a camera for every purpose. Using a camera not suited to a particular type of picture can create no end of trouble.

If you wish to produce high quality prints of this type pick up a 4 x5 with tilts and swings [they pop up regularly on eBay] and you can get the shot right the first time without post-processing.

Al-Wazeer · Apr 25, 2009

Torus34 said:
Just as golf equipment manufacturers have a club for every lie, camera manufacturers have supplied a camera for every purpose. Using a camera not suited to a particular type of picture can create no end of trouble.

If you wish to produce high quality prints of this type pick up a 4 x5 with tilts and swings [they pop up regularly on eBay] and you can get the shot right the first time without post-processing.

thanks for the advice, will think about it

KmH · Apr 25, 2009

Al-Wazeer said:
so you have to register EVERY SINGLE PHOTO to make sure that it won't be stolen, isn't that too much? i'm just a hobbyist!

That's just in the USA remember.

Registering your images won't keep them from getting infringed(stolen). The only way can prevent theft is to not put them on the Internet.

It costs $30 to register as many images as you can upload via the web in 30 minutes, if you do it online, and you can upload compressed files. Otherwise, you can register hundreds of images at a time by mail

abraxas · Apr 26, 2009

Clean and sharp, nice tonal range and contrast. To limit distortion keep your lense at as much of right angles and parallel as possible. Keeping the center of the lense higher in relation to the subject helps too- Raise the tripod up as high as you can. Watch the edges through your viewfinder and you can see what's happening better. It makes it easier to correct later. Tilt-shift lenses get pricey. Another possiblity is learn to take advantage of distortion.

Al-Wazeer · Apr 26, 2009

KmH said:
That's just in the USA remember.

Registering your images won't keep them from getting infringed(stolen). The only way can prevent theft is to not put them on the Internet.

It costs $30 to register as many images as you can upload via the web in 30 minutes, if you do it online, and you can upload compressed files. Otherwise, you can register hundreds of images at a time by mail

well, i'm in Bahrain and i don't think that there are any regulations that will help me to protect my photographs, but i'll ask bahraini photographers association, maybe they know something..

abraxas said:
Clean and sharp, nice tonal range and contrast. To limit distortion keep your lense at as much of right angles and parallel as possible. Keeping the center of the lense higher in relation to the subject helps too- Raise the tripod up as high as you can. Watch the edges through your viewfinder and you can see what's happening better. It makes it easier to correct later. Tilt-shift lenses get pricey. Another possiblity is learn to take advantage of distortion.

thanks for the advices, these are really helpful.