Taking Pictures

[neea]

I come across a webpage tonight. At first I thought it was neat because I was learning lots but the deeper I went into the pages the more disturbed I became.

There were galleries of 'art' people had created by using other peoples pictures. I'm sure they were stock photos, free stock photos.
But it made me angry to see how someone could take 3 different pictures blend them in photoshop and put them in their own galleries as art.
Sure this may be digital 'art' to some people. They were very nice!!!

What is stopping people from going into random photographers webpages, photographers trying to make a living, and taking their pictures?
They weren't making money off them or claiming them as all their original work.

But it still bothers me.
Perhaps they should be out taking their own pictures to blend together.

Does anyone else see why I'm upset or am I being moody and tired???:er:

 

[The_Traveler]

When you post images on the web, they are available for people to use as long as the people don't use then for commercial purposes.

You might be moody and tired but you are also right to be upset but that's the problem with the net.

 

[neea]

And there is no way around it either.
You can put fancy flash things that pop up saying 'Copyrighted' when they right click but they can still print screen. The quality isn't going to be very good at 72 dpi but still... it chaps my @$$

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

You could also put ugly watermarks on them, but if someone wants it badly enough, they can clone over it. Also, who wants to make their images ugly for potential clients?

It wouldn't bother me so much, except that it would be nice to see what people use my photos for. If someone is going to use it for a project or to practice their art or whatever, I would be interested to see how they use my photos. But it seems like people just scarf them up for their own use and it doesn't matter to them who took the picture.

Neea, what website is it? If you don't want to post it, you can pm me the address. This is something I'd like to see.

 

[fmw]

If you don't want others to use your images, don't put them on the internet. It's that simple.

 

[craig]

I second that emotion. If I post it on the web I do not care if it gets robbed or stolen. Now my commercial and editorial client's work is rarely posted because they pay for exclusive rights to the shots.

 

[fmw]

I second that emotion. If I post it on the web I do not care if it gets robbed or stolen. Now my commercial and editorial client's work is rarely posted because they pay for exclusive rights to the shots.

Commercial shooters like Craig sell their time and expenses not prints so Craig's attitude is the right one. I once used a shot that was done for a travel magazine back in 1985 to illustrate a point on this forum. I can't think of another instance that I ever posted a client's image.

Sometimes people don't steal images. I once had a nice image of a chambered nautilus that I had posted on the web used for book cover. The Australian publisher asked permission and gave me credit for the shot on the inside cover. He even sent me a copy of the book. That was fine with me. Nobody paid me to make the image. It was a personal amateur shot. No big deal at all.

 

[neea]

Yeah, that's all easy to say when you have clients and have people paying you but when you're looking to find them and know that the internet is the best and easiest way for everyone then it makes it hard to have a photography website with no photography.

 

[fmw]

Yeah, that's all easy to say when you have clients and have people paying you but when you're looking to find them and know that the internet is the best and easiest way for everyone then it makes it hard to have a photography website with no photography.

Why do you think the internet is the "best and easiest way for everyone?" I would completely disagree with that. Just like it is very difficult to make any money selling brand name products at a profit on Ebay, it is difficult to sell images on the internet. Why? Because it is easy. Everybody and his uncle does it. If you have a website with photography aimed at selling images, tell me, how many have you sold? Pretty close to zero?

 

[neea]

Why do you think the internet is the "best and easiest way for everyone?" I would completely disagree with that. Just like it is very difficult to make any money selling brand name products at a profit on Ebay, it is difficult to sell images on the internet. Why? Because it is easy. Everybody and his uncle does it. If you have a website with photography aimed at selling images, tell me, how many have you sold? Pretty close to zero?

How many have you sold? Through your website vs other methods.

There isn't a huge market in my area for any kind of art. If I ever want to sell any of my pictures it's going to be through my website and to people that live no where near me most likely.

 

[fmw]

How many have you sold? Through your website vs other methods.

There isn't a huge market in my area for any kind of art. If I ever want to sell any of my pictures it's going to be through my website and to people that live no where near me most likely.

Through stock agencies I've sold about 15,000 images (not that many images, some sold many times) over the years. As a commercial shooter I sold my time and expenses, not images. But there were certainly 6 figures worth of images involved in the process.

I don't have a photographic website because I don't shoot professionally any longer and I could care less if people see my amateur shots on the internet. I had a web site in the late 90's and got one single shoot from it. That shoot didn't pay for the total I spent hosting the website for the few years that I had one. Trust me, putting up a small time website to sell images on the internet is an exercise in futility. There are thousands of them - no, tens of thousands of them. People aren't even likely to encounter your site.

I make my living doing e-commerce on the internet. I'm not guessing. I'm speaking from 9 years of experience selling on the internet. Putting up a website is really simple. Like I said tens of thousands of photographers have done it. But selling things from a web site is not so simple. It is, in fact, really difficult. I have one web site that is in the 50,000 busiest sites (there are tens of millions of sites) on the net and it is the second largest one in our industry. I guarantee you, I couldn't build one today that would do nearly as well and I know how to do it. It is really difficult.

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

Trust me, putting up a small time website to sell images on the internet is an exercise in futility. There are thousands of them - no, tens of thousands of them. People aren't even likely to encounter your site.

So the real question is why photographers put up websites? I was talking with a local photographer, who has been building his reputation in the community for years and who now owns a gallery, and I asked him what he thought my chances were of selling on a website and he said it depends on the type of photography. Portrait work or weddings are one thing, because you're selling your time, not the images, exactly, so who cares if someone steals some images of random brides and their bridal parties from your site? Who would even do that? But with fine art prints, this photographer compared a website to a catalogue, and the photographer to the store name. If it's a well-known store/brand name and if people like it, they might seek out the catalogue and buy items from it, if they're not able to get the actual store. But otherwise, you're sharing commercial space with tens of thousands of other stores, and if no one has ever heard of you, they're going to go with a store they're familiar with.

I assume that neea is talking about selling fine art prints, versus selling her time for portraits/weddings/photojournalism, etc. So maybe what you really have to consider is your audience? I'm just starting out on trying to sell fine art prints myself, and I don't expect to make money from it! I shoot what I like, and if others like enough to buy it, I'm thrilled. But there is one major reason I can see for having a website, and this is online identity. Even if you live out in the middle of nowhere, you can introduce yourself and your work to people anywhere in the world through a website. Just pick a small selection of work to display, and nothing you're terribly attached to.

And if you find that you really like a particular aspect of photography, you can use the website to sell services/your time. For example, I really like architectural photography, so I'm thinking about offering services for real estate and historical preservation.

The internet isn't necessarily the best or easiest way. Have you considered shopping your work to local galleries, restaurants/pubs, and craft shows? There are plenty of opportunities, no matter where you live, some just require a little more driving time.

Anyway, I hope I haven't treaded too terribly off topic. I do so enjoy rambling on.

 

[neea]

Have you considered shopping your work to local galleries, restaurants/pubs, and craft shows? There are plenty of opportunities, no matter where you live, some just require a little more driving time.

Is this question for me?

If so I have talked with every art and framing store within a 1 hour driving radius. Art just isn't big around here (at least as far as prints of pretty things goes). Most people wouldn't know art if it hit them in the face.
I'm part of the local art club and they have a show/sale every year. Of all the artists in the area probably less than 5% sell anything at the sale.
At the moment I'm in no position to charge for my time and services so a webpage serves as a little display case where people are free to look and if they like buy.
I take pictures because I enjoy them. If it can make me money now then that's great, if not.. I need more hours at work to buy more equipment.