Jandjeby14

Since photography is a hobby and I don't sell photos, I am honored. I might feel different if someone made a lot of money on one of my photos.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

kb6kgx Loc: Simi Valley, CA

There’s an “Annual Fee”???? 😱

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

My business work is more like 'catalog photography' - pictures of things to help post and sell them. For me, these are watermarked with the (c) date and name - every image. Still some are stolen by lazy SOBs who can only steal, not create/originate.

My personal work is far more precious to me. I do watermark these pictures. It is/would be a shame to reduce the resolution or show less than the best to UHH viewers. But, I feel I must. So, you will never see my original with the full resolution, full detail of my images. For example, D850, Yosemite Valley with El Capitan on the left and Bridal Veil Falls on the right. Tree branches visible atop El Capitan and the facing mountains. 5 small waterfall streams down the face of El Capitan, etc.

That's a shame. But, I don't have another answer. Or...... Maybe a lower res full view and small 'highlight' full res images of parts of the original. I have many images that could show a 'full image' and then some 'detail views' to show what I saw and wanted to share.

Ralanco19

I Will only worry if it turns up in a museum and I wasn’t paid thousands for it. But then, probability is about 0.0%. Just like 99.99% of everyone else who calls themselves (when no one else is calling them that) a photographer. Just relax, shoot up a storm, and have fun. Life is too short to worry about such small stuff.

plumbbob1

Years ago I read in one of my photo lawbooks that the courts have decreed that if the work is probably yours then it is in fact copyrighted.

Now, I'm waiting on some rich Corp. To steal one of mine so my lawyer can go after them.

Maybe the only photo that I make any money on.

fotoman150

I don’t care unless the images are used by a competitor in my area.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

As a hobbyist, I too am not much worried about it. But if they steal it, what are they going to do with it? If they try to sell it, publishers will demand the seller swear ownership and assume all liability for violations--if you find out, you can get plenty of money. You, on the other hand, have proof in your original file, if it comes up.

I teach college, and I can tell you that 9 out of 10, often 10 out of ten, college students think you can copy pictures from the internet and use them in papers. Until I tell them. Then most of them don't believe me, because they have been doing it since first grade and they get an A. Amazingly, many students will cite the source of a picture (as required in college), but when you go to the site, it says at the bottom, All Rights Reserved. Since the law is very complicated indeed, most people still don't understand it even after they Google it.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Good humor response.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Yes, plumbbob1, the moment you take a picture, you own all rights to it--except all the exceptions, such as when you were working for a newspaper on salary for pictures (work for hire), or of course you can give or sell the rights to somebody, or the issue might arise whether you took the picture legally (peeping Tom? Not old enough to own property?), etc., etc.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

If you really think your photos are so unique and valuable, then of course you should protect them. For myself - if someone wants to steal them and claim them as their own - I am flattered!!

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I would think using copyrighted photos without permission for school papers could well fall under the fair use exception, which allows use for criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and teaching.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Google fair use for photos--there is some ambiguity regarding school use versus college use. I have served on faculty of several colleges, and they all are very strict about a) citing the photo or text source, and b) getting permission to use a photo. (I have sometimes got permission without charge. Many photos online will give permission for a fee, depending on use.) Colleges demand that faculty not use works without permission, and that we require the same of students. When I taught at a Federal Prison, one of my students was doing 5 years for copying photos without permission (and it does not matter if it is for profit or not).

Simple fair use of printed material for the purpose of a review or news report is fair--but notice that movie reviews on TV never show more than a few seconds. Otherwise, they may be accused of using the footing as entertainment, not free press. Student research must also be sure that the cited passage is only a reference for their own writing, not the bulk of their paper or even a substantial part (which might require a jury decision in court). To copy a photo is very different from copying text--merely to show a picture is to use it for your own purposes, and to use all of it. It is like music in that the score is a copyright work, but a performance of it is another copyright work. I can copy Beethoven (out of copyright), but I cannot copy a performance that is still copyright in most cases. (If I am covering a speech in public and the Beethoven performance is in the background, I am not violating copyright; but the speaker who used it as background must pay. If the speaker has posters that use copyright pictures, the speaker must pay, but a reporter covering it does not--that is fair use.)

Students can simply use pictures from sites that offer public domain pictures ("free pictures"); some still require that you give credit to the photographer.

RCJets Loc: Virginia

I am in a photography club in which our president / instructor is a highly experienced photographer. He strongly recommends Copyrighting your work if you are going to be posting it on line. He mentioned in a meeting on the subject that he saw one of his photos in an ad somewhere without his knowledge. Since he had copyrighted it, he contacted the LARGE company about it. He was sent a nice sized check to avoid the costs of suing that company.

Something to think about if you have a photo that someone else might want to use.