Photography - Copyright and Fair Use

[starchild]

That's disgusting. I'm glad Cain looked into it. My myspace is under a fake name and set to private with the beach as my profile pic. At least that way anyone looking at my page where the real pics are (who isn't a hacker of some sort) is someone I know. It sucks to go that far but people aren't all good (

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TammyB Water marks are where their is writing over top of the pic's.. I think Anny has them on her photos.. I forget what they said about the pictures, they were "searching" for something bad to say, it just to be rude and it was clear they were jealous of the girls they used. We do have a BDW photobucket account, so girls can always post it in there..

I think photobucket is searchable like youtube. The pictures might be seen by more people on a photobucket account. I think if it's going to make people safer, it needs to be something password protected.

[jthrasher]

I think the general misconception is if you purchase the digital negatives or the photographer gives them to you, you can do whatever you want with them. I think in many cases the term "owning the rights" has been shortened from "owning the rights to make prints" and thus confusing the boundaries of copyright.

 

I can't speak for all photographers but for me, and I think most of us would agree, when I give my clients the digital negatives, I give them permission to make prints from the files on the DVD. That doesn't mean they "own all the rights" to the images. They have the right to make prints and some other things I'll bring up later, but it doesn't mean they can give copies of the files to anyone. The bride & groom are my clients. They are the ones who have the rights to the files. Not Aunt Jane & Uncle Bob.

 

Owning the digital negatives doesn't allow them to submit the images to a magazine for publication without my consent. In most cases clients of course would have nothing but the best intentions but not all publications will put a photo credit, or there could be a situation where I and possibly the client could be financially reimbursed for the use of the photo.

 

It doesn't bother me at all if a client posts the photos online. The problem is that not everyone knows how to properly size photos for the web and just upload files large enough to make quality prints from. If somebody steals that image and makes prints from it, or passes it off as one of their own, I stand to lose some potentially serious income. This is why it's best to post a photo credit or watermarked images when posting them online. And, making sure they are smaller file sizes.

 

There are many things we can't expect clients to understand about copyright / fair usage. Many people just don't know, so this is a great thread to educate all of us. Thanks for posting it. I hope this helps a little. :-) I look forward to hearing everyones thoughts

[Amy&Andy]

God I am way too naive.......I hadn't even thought about my BD pics being ripped off the site and used in a bad way. Crap. I'm glad they are down now. That is so flippin sad that people just can't be trusted anymore. I honestly hadn't even given any thought to the possibility of anyone seeing those pics than you girls. I just realized that I have uploaded a few onto photobucket and now I'm taking them down also. Geez....what a world we live in! Sad.....

However...if any of the gals I "know" really wanted to see them I would be happy to e-mail you.

[TATrisha]

The topic of posting the BD pictures online came up with Shawn and I during the last American Idol season. If you recall, there were "porn" photos floating around of one of the contestants. Alright, I looked at them. To me, they were BD photos. She was covered in all of them... but it was very BD like. For instance, one was her standing in a fountain in a fitted white long t-shirt. Clearly covered, but... well, you know. I actually thought most of them were very similar to what I've seen on here. Anyway, long story made not so short if people dig hard enough they can find any photos you post on-line and make up any story they want to go behind them. Just a word of warning.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoBride When I posted my BD pics slideshow, the photographer set the slideshow to expire in 14 days. She said even if someone downloaded them to try to save them that they would expire. I thought that was a good way to safeguard myself. Never went back to make sure it actually worked though. I just trusted her.

definitly safer, but you do still have to worry about people taking screen shots.

[leigh miller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikkiStreak Off the top of my head, I know of one photographer on here (Leigh) who has posted in the past when brides ask for advice about their photography contracts. Leigh has given advice for brides to ask for ownership of their images. I never really gave much thought to this until I started seeing the other side of the argument from photographers.

im late to this thread! sorry just saw it.

im not sure if the leigh youre talking about is me, but i just wanted to say thats the opposite of my stand on the issue. while most of my wedding packages include the digital negatives on DVD for personal use i retain the copyright always. ive turned down weddings because the client wanted me to turn over the copyright to them. here in the states whomever takes the photo has the copyright UNLESS there is some other written agreement. what i grant is limited usage right for personal purposes. making prints, personal websites, etc... the images cannot be sold or published without my permission. really that limited usage usually gives couples what they need.

[MikkiStreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leigh miller im late to this thread! sorry just saw it. im not sure if the leigh youre talking about is me, but i just wanted to say thats the opposite of my stand on the issue. while most of my wedding packages include the digital negatives on DVD for personal use i retain the copyright always. ive turned down weddings because the client wanted me to turn over the copyright to them. here in the states whomever takes the photo has the copyright UNLESS there is some other written agreement. what i grant is limited usage right for personal purposes. making prints, personal websites, etc... the images cannot be sold or published without my permission. really that limited usage usually gives couples what they need.

my bad.... I was thinking it was you I read it from.... it's been a really long time tho. I just remember when I saw the post about ownership of images, it stuck in my mind because no one had ever mentioned that before in response to brides asking for contract advice.... I was probably thinking of someone else....