DVPhoto

Photocritic have a very interesting post titled “What do you do when they nick your photos?”

It’s a reality we all have to deal with when posting our photos online. Obviously the vast majority of us aren’t quite so popular/good that it becomes a huge problem. Yet even as a average photographer, you probably have a few great photos; imagine how you’d feel if someone else made a profit off those at your expense. Or worse; when you complained, you were the one who got censored?

Apart from the obvious “never put your photos online”, how do you stop someone using your images for their own gain. For me the most obvious is don’t give others access to the large resolution photos. Sure they can still steal your 600 pixel wide photos, but they won’t be able to use them for much. Other options include putting a water mark on the image, but the more effective the watermark (i.e. how much of the image it covers), the more it destroys the photos beauty.

Some people might think that proposed new laws might do the trick; but I think these laws miss the point and are more targeted at trying to put kids and their parents into jail. A teenager using your photo as a wall paper for his desktop is not the problem. Companies stealing your photos for profit is the problem, and the laws currently cover that just fine, though they could perhaps benefit from some changes making it easier for an individual to pursue a large company.

I personally use a Creative Commons license for most of my images. I also try to make sure no one can download full resolution versions. And I dread the day I find someone selling my work without my permission. I dread it because it will take effort and money to make them pay, but I sure as hell will do everything in my power to bring them to justice.

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Tags: News, Philosophy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 11:57 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.