ShelterCove Loc: Nowhere, CA

I understand that if I take the photo then I own the copyright. My question is about the date. Do you use the date you took the photo, or the current year date, or no date at all? (Like just the copyright symbol and my name?). I have searched around on the internet but haven't found anything that addresses this question. Also, I don't intend to register with the U.S. Copyright office. Just want it be known that an images belongs to me. Thanks for any advice.

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

go to the search engine above and put in copyright or watermark and you will probably find a slew of different answers to your question. Im sure one will be that if you dont register it you cant prove it. The most impressive one I have heard is keep your pictures at about 600dpi and they will be too small for anyone to bother trying to steal anyway.

donrent Loc: Punta Gorda , Fl

Deleted...

Mickey88 Loc: Central Florida

it should be the year the photo was taken

from research I did some time back the most commonly accepted is

copyright year name

ShelterCove Loc: Nowhere, CA

thank you! That is what made the most sense to me, but don't know that sense is involved sometimes!!!

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Good Answer. A slew, indeed. If not a plethora. Or a Cornucopia.

I think you mean 600 pixels in width/height. 600 DPI is a fairly high PRINTING density (DOTS PER INCH), it has nothing per se to do with the size of an image. And sometimes you hear to convert images to 72 DPI, because that is a typical MONITOR or screen DPI, but is way to 'loose' for printing. If you printed a picture at 72 DPI, it would have the resolution of your typical newspaper photo, eg crappy.

It's all very confusioning because computer geeks like to keep everybody befuddled... :) - Makes 'em look more like witch doctors.

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

Technician I obviously am not. I thought dots were pixels????

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Do NOT use the copyright symbol © unless you have registered the copyright, which involves a fee. However, you can say "Coypright 2011" without the symbol. Even if you don't, you are the copyright owner. If someone violates your copyright, the onus is on you to prove it, unless you have registered it. In that case, it's "No contest."

ltruex Loc: Waco TX

Use the date it was made, and registration is not manditory, and only helpful if you suit for copyright infringement. Larry

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Not always. The pixels on your sensor are a heck of a lot smaller than the DOTS your inkjet printer spit out. The confusion comes about because of the different ways of measuring things. Don't worry about it. Print at 300DPI, and you'll be fine. Your computer monitor probably displays 72, or maybe 96 DPI. But think about your sensor - in a typical APS-C sensor camera like the Canon 50D, there are 15 million pixels crammed onto a sensor barely 3/4 of an inch square.

At 300DPI, a 4x6 image requires 4 x 300, or 1200, and 6 x 300 or 1800 pixels worth of data, so add the 1200 and 1800 and you get... right, 3000. Thus, a 3mp camera can print a 4x6 image as sharp as a razor. You could halve the DPI to 150, and still get a fairly sharp 8.5 x 11 image out of a 3mp camera. (4x6 blown up..)

ShelterCove Loc: Nowhere, CA

Am I understanding it would be "illegal" to use the symbol unless you register? Not that because everybody does it makes it right, but I don't know of anyone who has done the registration. They just use the symbol. I assumed they were interchangeable. Way more complicated than I thought this would be!

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Per the Copyright office, the symbol should only be used when the copyright has been registered. It's perfectly OK to say "Copyright 2011" without the symbol.

ShelterCove Loc: Nowhere, CA

Break out the handcuffs! Seriously, thanks for the info. Had no idea. Will share with my fellow copyrighters. :)

Mickey88 Loc: Central Florida

interesting, I've never heard that before, and as I stated before I did extensive research to find the best, most acceptable watermark

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I too have not heard of that but there's a world of gotchas I haven't heard of. I doubt I will stop using. A few years back I did have a issue with a website and company who pulled some of my cityscape pictures of Atlanta for their website. They had cropped my ©copyright out of the image. Here is what I was told:

To contact them and request the picture be taken down (which I did and they did)

That unless registered with the US Copyright office, I could sue and the picture is legally mine but I would not be entitled to monies for my legal fees. So, no one sues as your outcome willl be a cease and desist and a lot of cost

My pictures are only protected in the US unless registered.....and even those images have limited protection.

If registered with the US Copyright office (which comes with a modest fee and you can send more than one image with your request but each request requires a fee) you are entitled to damages, attorney fees and legally sit in a position where the defendant sits in an indefensible position.

Someone mentioned resize your website images.....for the web. You should regardless of the copyright issues. Monitors are running at 72dpi so your images should be sized to that dpi (it's like trying to put more water in a glass that is full to add more dpi) and I usually stay with 1000 pixels at the longest edge or less. I do this for web space only. Anyone who wants one of my pictures can snag it (even though I disable their mouse clicks).......and with the fractal programs can easily res-up most images to a very printable size at 8x10 with few if any artifacts. In fact, with CS5, their res-us capabilities improved tremendously. OnOne has a fractal program that also does wonders.

I am involved with PPA and will try to get clarification on the © question.

Thanks for the heads up!


















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