How do you keep people from stealing your Before & After pictures?

hi, Jessica:
Funny thing: there was a Stager in Austin who left to pursue other things, and is now a producer for one of the HGTV 'Staging' shows - I forget which. She did awesome work - mostly modern. Real slick furniture, lots of deep colors. And her website still has the A.S.P. photos.

My solution is pretty easy, and I have received mixed reviews.  Mostly, Stagers think it's annoying (maybe, jealous? :P), and owners think its 'cute'.  But, I brand all of my Staged photos (I don't like calling them Afters).  I do not worry so much about the Befores.

Here's an example from a home I DeStaged today:

I find some way, some where a place to put the Staged Brand.  Does it take away from the picture?  Maybe.  But the point of doing it is to leave my mark... Granted, it could be easily edited. At least, I could, and I am no Photoshop Wizard.  Sounds like a lot of work to me personally.

Have you researched copyrighting digital images?  At least then, if some one is using your Staged Photos, you have recourse.  It's not as difficult as you might think - I did the research a couple of years ago.  Lots of articles to be found on Google.

Good Luck!

Jessica ~ I think your mark is fine, as in your picture.  It really doesn't take away from the photo, it's subtle, but there.   There's another group for you to join called True Portfolio - all the members state that all the pictures on their site are their own, and Julianna, who started the group, had a logo you could put on your website stating that your pictures are your own.

Branding your photos is a great idea.  I would place it higher on the green so it can be read.

Watermarking or branding is a great idea. I agree with Virgina, move your name up some so it can be seen better.

Okay, I know I'm pretty much a Pollyanna, but I have never felt the need to do this with my photos. Am I just too trusting? Thanks for the info!

Love your night stands. Are those yours and if so where did you get them? Kym

Jessica: I watermark all my photos. I had several hijacked before I started watermarking them. I don't like having to do it, but I dislike having my work used to promote someone else's business (someone who is too lazy or incapable of doing the work themselves) even more.

There is a way to digitally watermark your photos but it is expensive and you still have to police offenders yourself. You are notified anytime any one of your photos that has been digitally watermarked is used anywhere on the Internet. You pay to watermark them, and you pay a monthly monitoring fee. I hope it doesn't come to that...

Hey Jessica,

This is something I really need to start doing!! By the way I love that room!! Great job!!

Jessica,

It is sad to see what's happening in our world.  To think that others would steal our photos is hard to believe but it happens all the time.  I have even had stagers who have assisted me (and I have paid) if they could use my photos!  Love your bedroom...it is sooooooooooo calming.

And Michael, ASP's continue to use the photos from SHC all the time and "claim" them as their own!

Jessica - It must be frustrating when others steal photos.  When that happens, I would call them on it.  Hopefully it does not happen too often.  I do know that a lot of content from bloggers has been copied and pasted as well.  Many times those people get caught doing that.  I think it all comes down to karma in terms of what comes around, goes around.  Those people doing bad karma will have negative energy around them and will suffer for it at some point.  ~ Chris