Horror of Horrors!  You just received an e-mail from a fellow Active Rainer telling you they recognized some of your listing or staging photos on someone else's website.   Or you were checking the profile and website of a newbie and the photos on his website looked just like yours.  Because they ARE yours! 

Though you would be outraged and appalled at this discovery....there is something even worse.   The only thing worse than seeing photos of your hard work and creativity on someone else's website is finding out that the photos in question had been watermarked and/or copyrighted by the plagiarizer.  This now puts you in the unenviable position of having to show proof of ownership of your own photos.   Grrrrrr!!!

I propose a simple plan of action to assure that potential conflicts over true ownership of photos are settled in the rightful owner's favor.  Just as in "fighting fire with fire," this involves using photos to fight for your photos.

Stagers and Real Estate Agents realize the importance of taking many different shots, from various angles and sections of the room, in order to get the very best photos.   So what happens to the photos that don't make the cut and aren't featured on your website?  Do they end up deleted or filed in the circular file?  Those non-selected photos can be your "insurance".....guaranteeing that you will win should a conflict over photo ownership ensue.

If  someone copied and pasted these before and afters and put them on his own website.....

I would present this before photo from my "insurance collection" that shows the front of the kitchen cabinets, the old vinyl floor, dishwasher, and refrigerator....none of which are visible in the other photos.

And this after photo that shows the seats of the barstools, a different window treatment, a desk, and the new vinyl floors....further proof that I am the rightful owner of the photos in question.

The person who stole the photos would have nothing with which to back up his claim or prove that he had ever been inside that particular home, let alone staged and photographed it.  His only chance of victory  would be in trying to intimidate me enough to drop the claim.  Not going to happen!!!

You need only display one or two of each room's best photos in your portfolio.  But it is imperative that you keep some of the rejects on file as proof of ownership.  You never know when those photos with the homeowner watching tv in his recliner, the Dalmation stretched out on the bed, or the one that shows your reflection in a mirror while taking photos of the bathroom, etc. might need to be used as "evidence".  If you use a 35 mm camera, the negatives are your proof.

The "insurance photos" can also be used to support your claim of a stock photo-free portfolio.  Someone who uses stock photos would usually only have a single set of before and afters of each room. 

Having to defend ownership of photos of your own work is definitely a worse case scenario.  I don't personally know anyone who has ever been involved in a "my word against your word" situation requiring them to fight for their own photos.  However, if someone is morally bankrupt  enough to steal photos and pass them off as their own, they  may also be brazen enough to challenge you to defend your claim.  

I would love to hear other ideas and suggestions for helping to make sure we are prepared to win should we ever be called in to battle to fight for the right to use our own photos!