Flickr to post or not your best shots?

[JG_Coleman]

Although I have my own domain, I still post photos to Flickr. Whereas I have about 250 photos on my domain, though, I've only got about 40 of those on my Flickr account right now. So, my ratio is roughly 15%... I want the exposure that goes along with Flickr, but I also don't want a 1:1 copy of my galleries there. Gotta give viewers some reason to come to my dedicated site.

I reduce every photograph that I upload to Flickr to 600 pixels on the long edge, regardless of whether it uses portrait or landscape orientation. That's large enough for the photo to be nicely visible, but small enough that it can't be stolen for any truly useful purpose. I also put a rather large watermark on the bottom-right corner which, despite not covering the whole photo, is still pretty prominent. Depending on the content of the photo and the composition, the watermark could probably be cropped out on a few, but the relatively small megapixels of the Flickr image would make the cropped version rather useless.

My feeling on the possibility of images being stolen is that it's simply a risk in the world we live in now. Will your images be stolen? Maybe. Will you know about it? Probably not. Are you really going to lose sales that you otherwise would've had if your work couldn't have been stolen? Unlikely. Chances are, somebody will only steal it to begin with if they had absolutely no intention of legally buying/licensing it from you. You're not "losing sales", you know. If they couldn't steal it from you, they'd just steal something similar from someone else.

It's along the same lines as the music industry trying to go after people that pirate their albums online. It's understandable that they don't like the idea... but it's also an inevitability these days. Like it or not, the "pirate" music exchange has changed the music industry forever... likewise, the internet has made photography more stolen than ever. It's part of the world we live in now. Keep a look out, go after thieves you happen to catch up with... but otherwise, get your work out there and get it seen... and don't lose sleep over whether or not one is being pirated here or there. If your photos are sale-worthy, you'll sell them. If they aren't sale-worthy... hell, be happy that at least somebody likes them enough to bother stealing them.

 

[Derrel]

Ok, KmH, I've wondered long enough and it is time to ask: are you a lawyer? Considering some of your advice, I seriously doubt it but...

Everything about your legal advice posts makes me think you are since all they do is try and scare people silly with BS legal crap. Overall I can't help but think you are a cheesy lawyer who knows very little about the law. An ambulance chaser kind of freak. The kind of lawyer who got his degree in a fourth world country.

FYI, I divorced my first wife by going to the library with her for a couple hours, read the darn books, write up whatever paperwork we needed and we were done. Lawyers not needed. Thank you very much.

Who the hell are you?

Yet another oddball post from our cloudywalker, with character assassinations and disparaging remarks... "cheesy lawyer", "ambulance chaser kind of freak," "fourth world country", "who the hell are you?"etc,etc,etc.

Back to the OP's question: NO, never post your A-list material on the web. if it's A-list grade stuff, it never goes on the web. Simple. FLickr is a haven for people who steal photos. If you post your best stuff on Flickr,it's useless as stock.

 

[edouble]

Although I have my own domain, I still post photos to Flickr. Whereas I have about 250 photos on my domain, though, I've only got about 40 of those on my Flickr account right now. So, my ratio is roughly 15%... I want the exposure that goes along with Flickr, but I also don't want a 1:1 copy of my galleries there. Gotta give viewers some reason to come to my dedicated site.

I reduce every photograph that I upload to Flickr to 600 pixels on the long edge, regardless of whether it uses portrait or landscape orientation. That's large enough for the photo to be nicely visible, but small enough that it can't be stolen for any truly useful purpose. I also put a rather large watermark on the bottom-right corner which, despite not covering the whole photo, is still pretty prominent. Depending on the content of the photo and the composition, the watermark could probably be cropped out on a few, but the relatively small megapixels of the Flickr image would make the cropped version rather useless.

My feeling on the possibility of images being stolen is that it's simply a risk in the world we live in now. Will your images be stolen? Maybe. Will you know about it? Probably not. Are you really going to lose sales that you otherwise would've had if your work couldn't have been stolen? Unlikely. Chances are, somebody will only steal it to begin with if they had absolutely no intention of legally buying/licensing it from you. You're not "losing sales", you know. If they couldn't steal it from you, they'd just steal something similar from someone else.

It's along the same lines as the music industry trying to go after people that pirate their albums online. It's understandable that they don't like the idea... but it's also an inevitability these days. Like it or not, the "pirate" music exchange has changed the music industry forever... likewise, the internet has made photography more stolen than ever. It's part of the world we live in now. Keep a look out, go after thieves you happen to catch up with... but otherwise, get your work out there and get it seen... and don't lose sleep over whether or not one is being pirated here or there. If your photos are sale-worthy, you'll sell them. If they aren't sale-worthy... hell, be happy that at least somebody likes them enough to bother stealing them.

Good info! Your website is great!

 

[mooney101]

I personally prefer a Facebook page because it separates you out from those on flicker. But I'm sure it couldn't hurt to watermark your images and put up a mini portfolio.