copywriting photos? Is this nessecary?

I was just wondering about my photos if placed online for viewing. Can someone steal my work? Is there some process I need to take so that they are legally exclusively mine?
Just wondering. This may sound like a silly question but I want my work to be my work.

 

that was one of my concerns too, there are a lot of threads that discuss this in length. I would have a look through, might answer your questions.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1089902

 

hey thanx man. Lot of info and exactly what I was looking for

 

I don't really worry too much....but I have started putting a watermark in the corner.
You can put a watermark over the middle of the pic if you like...that usually stops people from stealing them.

 

It often stops people enjoying them in any way too. I know I never give a watermarked photo a second glance.

 

I just read a recent magazine article about this exact subject and the watermark option was discussed and according to this article, a jpg with a watermark gets converted to a tiff and then back to jpg, and the watermark is gone. That's how the pros are stealing images.

Not sure how accurate this info is. But the article is worth looking at. I was surprised how much money you can be recovered if people register their images.

PM me if anyone wants to know the souce.

 

We just covered this in school (for obvious reasons) anything you create (writing, pictures, music, draw, paint, etc) in what ever medium is automatically copyrighted.

 

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

 

Ok? I just tried it. I wanted to see if it was true and it didn't work. PM sent.

 

We're not talking about the same watermarks here .

I suppose you mean some kind of digital fingerprint inside the image but not on it? If that is the case then sure. If you convert it and convert it back the watermark is gone.

 

Yes I believe the article was speeking of the digital watermark, not an actual visible one.

 

There is an article in Februarys Popular photgraphy on this subject.

It's amazing how many people are getting there material ripped off. Check
out the article. It was interesting, though it sounds to me that it is not that easy to copyright your images without filling out forms, and dealing with that
govt. dept.