Photo Copyright Not Protecting ~ CASE Study to prove a point

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Photo Copyright Not Protecting ~ CASE Study to prove a point

Look at these STUNNING photos - my apologies to the original artist who received no recognition for these brilliant photographs. No doubt the photo expedition was also quite expensive!!!

I received an email today which contained these, among other, incredibly exquisite photos. I did a little digging on Google to see who might have taken them. Sadly, here is what I found:

Mr. Stanley,
Thank you. The pictures are indeed beautiful. But, I am not the rightful owner of those. I found them somewhere in the internet.

Sorry, this just doesn't work for me and it shouldn't work for you either. I'm looking for solutions and will share what I learn. If you have protective ways, please share them for all of us. Thank you.

Posted by Gail MacMillan on 02/19/2009 08:03 PM

Comments (33)

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Originally posted at: My Titusville FL Real Estate Blog: Photo Copyright Not Protecting ~ CASE Study to prove a point

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33 Comments on Photo Copyright Not Protecting ~ CASE Study to prove a point

FEB

2009

Gail - I saw these several weeks ago and thought they were awesome. I wondered if they were original but did not follow up on it. Glad you did!

Mary

Watermarking photos is one way to protect them. However, in order for it to be really effective, it has to be intrusive.

Gorgeous shots Gail !

Thanks for posting !

It sure is a shame when people have to steal others work without giving proper credit...

Gail I actually remember these photo's when they were originally published. It was a study on glaciers, sea ice, and the artic regions. The phenomon you see is when the ice freezes at different times in different conditions and can create these wonderful displays of color.

Hi Gail, I see so many beautiful photos on the internet-- never a clue who the photographers might be. I do believe there are people out there who don't mind sharing, and just love the fact that the photos are out there for everyone to enjoy. As far as the copyright issues--- I'm very interested to see what you learn. you "cute little control freak, you!" ( YOU SAID IT... I DIDN'T) LOL!!!

Amazing. Some photos will take your breath away. I wish I could have seen them in person. Thank you for sharing and I wish you the best in 2009.

I got them in an email too a few weeks ago. They are beautiful

I agree with Lane about watermarking. And perhaps a signature on the photo at the bottom? I am having this dilemma about my own work, what to do, what to do.

They are amazing photos!!!

Gail,

I've come to the conclusion that if someone wants to republish your pictures and not give you credit there really isn't much to do about it. However, claiming it as original is a bit much. :)

Steve

Gail - I needed a picture the other day for a blog post. I went to flickr and found what I was looking for. I e-mailed the owner of the picture and he was delighted that I wanted to use his picture. The one thing I explained to him that I would give the credit for the picture at the end of my post.

Gail, It is amazing at thow many people will just take another person's work and think NOTHING about it. I checked copyscape and found another agent here locally who was using my wording on her website. I thought about saying something but I think it would cause more harm than good. Her site is the free site that our MLS gives us so I'm not going to make a fuss.

Hi Gail, I guess I'll have to agree with Steve Hoffacker on that one. By the way, those are gorgeous photos.

~ Life is Good

Gail, These photos are exquisite! I wish they were mine! I have a photostream, as you know, on Flickr, and have restrictions for use, using Creative Commons. I expect to see something of mine out there one day without the proper credit given. Other than suing, and it has been done to the great advantage of the copyright holder, there is not much to be done about it. The music and movie industry has been battling this for many years. It still happens. A watermark disturbs the image, and a copyright can be cropped out. If you come up with the magic solution, patent it quick, you will be a rich Ladybird!

Debi

Lane has the answer, and you can't really put it at the edge either or it can just be cropped right off. You have to be really envastive to protect your work.

FEB

2009

Gail- These are beautiful photos and the photographer certainly deserves credit. You brought up really good points in your post.

Gail - You can always watermark them, I should be doing it myself. But I have so many photographs, most of my best ones I never through on the net unless they are watermarked.

www.searchmypics.com

If you take a look at my photographs on this web site, they have all been marked and this service was free. My web designer mentioned to watermark them or make the re-size the attachment so small that when it is blown up it blurs and loses clarity.

Hi Gail:

Excellent photos! I haven't seen these before...

We talked about this off-line. That's great that you took the time prior to posting to see if you can locate the originator...

ToulaRosebrock.com - Lacey Township Real Estate

Hi Gail, thee are really beautiful pictures and I think it's great that you have made the effort when so many others just copy and paste with no regard for the work (or as you pointed out) the sometimes huge expense to capture these incredible pictures!

The pictures are amazing, so I have to thank you for sharing them with us. The copyright issue is another story. I have to agree with Steve's statement, some people just have no morals. It's neat that you at least tried to fine the original owner and give him the credit he's due. Gail, Have an awesome day!

Hi Gail-These are truly beautiful photos. Thank you so much for sharing them. have a great day and weekend. :-)

Thank you all for the helpful and thoughtful comments. This will be a group reply of sorts....

I guess the first thing I want to say is it was not my intention to post these photos for comments, but when I thought about it...realized they are so worthy of comments, who could really resist :-) I hope the rightful owner will find them and claim them as his/hers. I would be very happy to take them down or post a link in the right place. I used them to make my point!

As Lane and Robert Swetz mentioned, watermarking is an option....just not a very appealing one for obvious reasons. Robert's watermark is on the very bottom, kind of like a signature, just a little larger. Cropping would definitely make his pictures less appealing.

Andrea, the signature on the bottom can easily be cropped out, as Tammy pointed out.

Steve, you're right nothing will stop a determined plagiarizer so we do what we can.

Marchel, by not saying anything you are actually endorsing her action. If it were me, I would definitely bring it to her attention. You might be doing her a favor in the long run.

Robert Schwabe, you did exactly what should be done, way to go.....you're a model blogger :-)

I think Mary is right when she says there are those who don't mind sharing, but I would still like to know whose work is whose....there's that control thing again, sorry...it's habit! Sometimes, I just like to say great work, and shoot an email off.

Debi, LOL...I wish they were mine too. We'll have to take a trip to The Antarctic if we even want to try our hand at this level of photography.

Meantime, as Debi mentions Creative Commons is an excellent avenue. Pay the Copyright fee if you feel it's that good. Claim your rights in your alt text. There's an IPTC Bridge platform (International Press Telecommunication Council) which promotes standards for image data exchange for the Press. Don't ask me, but there's a lot online about it.

Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for sharing your viewpoints. I'll make the rounds even if it takes a few days ;-)

Those ARE gorgeous! That is too bad they are allowed to just float around.

Gail - Here is an example of wetmark if someone doesn't know. You can put it in the corners or even run it diagonal through the photo.

Photo by: Robert Swetz

FEB

2009

Thanks Tony & Libby, hopefully they will float back to the owner. I would love to see more of this person's work.

Thanks Robert, good idea to show the wetmark with a picture....a very pretty picture at that :-)

FEB

2009

The pictures are stunning, but I'm kind of confused as to whom Mr. Stanley is.

Hi Russell, Mr. Stanley left a comment on this guy's blog (unnamed) who featured the pictures. The blog guy tells Mr. Stanley that they are not his photos. I just C&P the response to the comment. Hope this explanation isn't even more confusing ;-)

Gail, I received the same e-mail and thought how absolutely stunning. You wonder where all these e-mails actually start and how to track down a rightful owner of photos....

FEB

2009

Hi April, boy you're right about that and in this case I could not find the photographer. I was kinda hoping he would just show up and claim. Pretty silly...wishful thinking! Thanks for stopping by :-)

FEB

2009

Hi Gail - These are gorgeous photos. My camera Nikon D40 can be set to "stamp" my identity on the photo which can't be seen. Not that my photos are of this quality. It's great to share but also important to have ownership of intelectual property.

Hi Judy, My Canon does the same, I did a post on it so others could at least have some basic protection, here's the link: Photo 101: Metadata & Your Photo Copyright Are you shooting in RAW? Let me know if you're doing anything different. Thanks, have a super weekend.

MAR

2009

Gail makes a great point of going the extra mile and embedding your copyright data into the photograph. You can watermark the photograph depending on the need. I've received requests to use my photographs that are posted and usually all I ask is to have some credit provided; and have done the same for others.

Hi Jeff: Thanks for your feedback. I'm thinking of placing a very light watermark on some of my photos. It's not the best view, but I think it makes a statement.....haven't quite decided yet!

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Gail MacMillan

Titusville, FL

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