Copyright of Photographs

[spmakwana]

Hello,

I'm passionate photographer and doing photography from last many year, and takes thousands of photos every year.
And sometime post many photographs over the internet and always curious about copyright of my photographs.

I know as it's artistic work the moment I press the shutter I becomes the owner of photograph,
But I wanted to know that can I write "© My Name and All right reserved. No Reproduction without prior permission" ?
It's not convenient for me to take copyright of every single photos as there are thousands of photographs I've taken and it also can cost me a lot to take official copyright by country government and I can not afford it.

So what to do? I don't want anyone to use my photographs without my permission.

 

[ShaneF]

Sad to say if you post something on the internet someone somewhere is going to steal it. There is no stopping this, you can copyright images all you like but in the long run its like locking your car and locks only keep honest people out.


If you dont already have a registered business i would start there so all your photos are property of the business and any copyright fees will be some what deductible.

i dont know im tired and crazy im sure one of the pros has some better advice then my ramblings.

You have some nice photos though i might download some and print them for my wall..... joking..

 

[480sparky]

........
It's not convenient for me to take copyright of every single photos as there are thousands of photographs I've taken and it also can cost me a lot to take official copyright by country government and I can not afford it......

In the US, you can copyright as many images as tou want for $35.

 

[tirediron]

There's nothing to stop you doing that, but whether it would have any weight in law,I have no idea. I know nothing about Indian copyright law and what international treaties they may or may not be a signatory on; if you're seriously concerned, then I would seek the advice of a qualified solicitor, but as mentioned, anything published on-line is likely to be stolen. The question is, (and I mean this as no reflection on your work), is it something someone is likely to, or would want to steal? I too have thousands of images, but I don't worry too much about it because the majority of them are head & portfolio shots for actors, models, etc. Not work that's likely to be interesting to too many others.

 

[Tailgunner]

Hello,

I'm passionate photographer and doing photography from last many year, and takes thousands of photos every year.
And sometime post many photographs over the internet and always curious about copyright of my photographs.

I know as it's artistic work the moment I press the shutter I becomes the owner of photograph,
But I wanted to know that can I write "© My Name and All right reserved. No Reproduction without prior permission" ?
It's not convenient for me to take copyright of every single photos as there are thousands of photographs I've taken and it also can cost me a lot to take official copyright by country government and I can not afford it.

So what to do? I don't want anyone to use my photographs without my permission.

Most editing software comes with the ability to enter information into the Metadata file such as copyright or don't redistribute etc. I always enter my name, state, country, photo location and Do not copy/edit etc. Then I watermark all photos that I plan to share with the Copyright symbol (C) and my initials which is done in batches, is it's simple.

Now as mentioned above, this only keeps an honest person honest. So every once and a while I'll do an Internet search on my photos to see if their being used without my consent. It was because of this that I found Bot Blogs and Forums scrapping content including photos from TPF.com.

........
It's not convenient for me to take copyright of every single photos as there are thousands of photographs I've taken and it also can cost me a lot to take official copyright by country government and I can not afford it......

In the US, you can copyright as many images as tou want for $35.

This is good to know. So how difficult is it to do?

 

[Gavjenks]

This is not a great place to ask about Indian copyright law.

Regardless of the law, though, two ways to effectively indirectly "protect" your images, in a way, are:

1) Only post small versions online in places that are freely accessible. Large enough to appreciate quality and detail, but not large enough to print at any reasonable size. For example, 1200x800 pixels or so is enough to appreciate a photo, but cannot be printed any larger than about 8x10, and even that would be really pushing it, depending on where the print is hung. It's also not large enough for a 1080p wallpaper. So even if people steal it, they will be unable to sell it to a magazine or sell it in a gallery or most stock agencies or anything else that would make them any significant money off of it. If and when people pay you for the image, then you can give them the large versions.

This will effectively prevent people from stealing your photos, not by making them unable to do so and not by making it legally easier to prosecute them, but instead by simply eliminating any profit margins they have for stealing it. You remove their MOTIVE by doing this, not their opportunity.

2) You can watermark your images. This is much more controversial than #1, and you have to do it the right way, but it can be effective as well. If you do watermark, don't do it with the intention of making the image unusable! Make your watermark very small, tasteful, and unobtrusive. For instance, taking up less than 1% of the photo down in a subtle corner somewhere. This is easy for people to remove, but that's fine. Your goal is not to stop people from removing it. Instead, your goals are to:

A) Advertise who you are for people who honestly share the photo without attempting to take credit for it, and generate traffic to your site, etc., without ruining your photos, and
B) Make it difficult for anybody to steal your work while claiming they "didn't know any better." if you have small signatures in the corner of all your images, then if somebody steals it, removes the signature, and then sells it, it will be VERY difficult for them to make the argument that they didn't know any better. The fact that they clearly intentionally removed your name makes them look obviously guilty, which makes it much easier to prosecute them if indeed they made a lot of money off of your print and if it is worth it to do so. So it's less of a barrier to stealing it, and more of an indication that the theft was intentional and guilty. Sort of like the little stickers they put on electronics that you have to break to get at the screws, to prove you voided your warranty.
C) Some countries have been or are considering laws where unlabeled, unmarked photos may end up with fewer copyright protections in the future. By tastefully signing your images, you protect yourself in the future against any laws like this that may take effect soon in certain jurisdictions.

 

[KmH]

Copyright costs nothing in the US.

Image copyrights can be registered online with the US Copyright Office (eCO) for $35. Registering by paper form and regular mail costs a bit more.
Unpublished images have to be registered separately from published images.

U.S. Copyright Office - eCO Frequently Asked Questions
Five Things You Can Do to Protect Your Online Images | Photo Attorney

Here in the US the required form(s) of a copyright notice are explained in - http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf

 

[Tailgunner]

This is not a great place to ask about Indian copyright law.

Regardless of the law, though, two ways to effectively indirectly "protect" your images, in a way, are:

1) Only post small versions online in places that are freely accessible. Large enough to appreciate quality and detail, but not large enough to print at any reasonable size. For example, 1200x800 pixels or so is enough to appreciate a photo, but cannot be printed any larger than about 8x10, and even that would be really pushing it, depending on where the print is hung. It's also not large enough for a 1080p wallpaper. So even if people steal it, they will be unable to sell it to a magazine or sell it in a gallery or most stock agencies or anything else that would make them any significant money off of it. If and when people pay you for the image, then you can give them the large versions.

This will effectively prevent people from stealing your photos, not by making them unable to do so and not by making it legally easier to prosecute them, but instead by simply eliminating any profit margins they have for stealing it. You remove their MOTIVE by doing this, not their opportunity.

Good advice, I'm going to start doing this my self.

This maybe nothing of significance, but would it make any difference in attaching the images through the forum vs posting an image link? My thought is a person has to be a member in order to view attached photos where as anyone can view image links.

 

[snowbear]

OP - Visit here: India Copyright Office