I have read various opinions on protecting images from copyright violations over the years. The bottom line is any picture on the internet could potentially be used illegally. The only way to be 100% protected is to not have them online to begin with, which isn’t an option for many. You can put up some stumbling blocks (no right clicks, etc), but none of them are fool proof in actually preventing the theft. There are so many ways around those hurdles now. So you have to accept the fact that someday some images may be taken (if not already.)
Awhile ago I settled on putting a transparent logo watermark on my images. I have read some thoughts that some photographers consider them too distracting, but I think if done in a subtle way, they do not distract from the primary content of the image.
Having read a great post at Carolyn Wright’s PhotoAttorney site reaffirms my decision to do this. She details the specific sections of the law that grant some protection by using watermarks. I have always thought that ignorance (versus apathy) could be the excuse for someone using an image illegally. But with a watermark on the image, it certainly gives a strong case towards intent to violate that copyright if they try to remove it. It is nice to see specific sections of the law that supports that presumption on my part. By using a logo (or something similar), it also makes it harder for someone to simply crop it off the bottom of the image. Of course, some numskull may just post the image somewhere with the watermark clearly intact.
In addition to the watermark, I also list in my image metadata copyright notices and place specific verbage that the notice is not authorized to be removed. This probably isn’t as good as the visual watermark, but is an easy thing to add on all of your images when imported to your computer by using metadata templates or presets in a program like Lightroom. The metadata verbage is also good to include if sending an image out for publication or if it is licensed for specific usage rights where you may not have the watermark on it.
Either way, just hope that you find out about the theft and it could be your lucky day as Dan Heller describes making money from stolen images. Dan goes into great detail about the aspects of image theft on the net, the trouble in finding such violations, and how it may be the best thing that ever happened to you. So have that watermark intact (or removal of) as your proof and ultimately talk to an attorney if you discover an infringement.
Fine Art Registry has a lot of great articles on this too. I also saw an article in a Western Art magazine by a lawyer on the subject of art theft. Very sad. I’ve seen a lot of people lied to about originals as they were unaware as buyers by not doing their research. Great article.
great advice buddy.. Ialways embed file info in ps [copyright,etc] and have a transparent watermark on my website.. now if I create one like yours [know what I want, just can’t get it right..yet]
love the a.copper! we don’t see many up here, beautful shot..
and hey, I talked to Kimberli.. looks like you, Mike M. and myself are making the govs issue.. cool eh? may the best man/woman be chosen by good ol Jennifer [insert choke here] 😉
Chris, I think it depends on the situation. If you just have your images ‘open for use’ to anyone, then you have absolutely no control. If you handle it on an image by image basis, then perhaps you can work it into a written agreement that credit is given. But I wouldn’t place a lot of value on a photo credit unless you are sure it is going to generate a lot of traffic your way.
With regard to Dan’s comment, does anyone know how effective those statements are that implore that potential user to use it for the web, but to please give credit?
I have found that most image “theft” is actually from well-intentioned people who want to promote your work. But often they do it in sloppy ways, taking an image off your site, resizing it, republishing it elsewhere, etc, and they often forget to give you any credit. Once they do this, *poof*, you image is out there, with no attribution. I know that some people complain about watermarks, but I just think they are a necessary evil in the internet age. You need to make sure that whereever your image goes, it leaves a trail of breadcrumbs back to your own site.
Mark,
Thanks for this entry, very helpful and pertinent. It is amazing how even knowledgable professionals will make decisions to use images from an internet source without, or maybe in spite of, knowledge about copyright. I can only assume they just don’t think they will be caught. Thanks also for the links you provided and the wonderful image.
Paul
Hi Chris,
Using small pixel dimensioned images helps somewhat, but offers no help if say someone were to take the image and use it on another website without your permission. In addition, have you tried some of enlargement software out there? It is getting pretty darn good these days in uprezzing low rez images. I think that even a web image could be printed in a magazine somewhere. (Some images are printed fairly small) Perhaps they don’t care about the image quality as much.
Then – not only did they steal your image, but it looks bad too! 🙂
Very useful post, Mark. I love to post my pictures in forums and the blog, but always wonder about people ripping off the few good ones. Does using low resolution give some protection — in that the thief can’t make a decent print?