beware of photo theft

[abortretryfail]

What?!!! I'm just an amateur... considering all I have is a 300D and a kit lens

...that "mis"credit sucked like paris hilton (now you're wondering if that's a bad thing)...

Hmmm... nah! My wife would kill me

...do you shoot film still?

The last time I shot film was a few months ago trying out a friend's Bronica. Other then that
I shoot digital now.

Although I still have my 1965 Nikorrmat FS with 50mm Nikkor lens

[Kmdr Kabog]

Why steal photos?

[abortretryfail]

Actually it's more of the users... people download photos from the net and use it on their work.

eg. downloading a pic and using it on your website or publishing it in a magazine or brochure
without informing and/or compensating the photographer.

I know one magazine here who keeps republishing my pictures without pay because they say
they have the "right" too. While other publications are made to pay for each and evertime a
a picture is published and republished.

Here's something also nice to read...

http://www.copyright4clients.com/

[adjong]

let me share this story:
a couple called to interview me for a wedding package. now i don’t primarily shoot weddings but if my schedule is free i wont mind the job - may cash na, free food pa! anyways, because i don’t specialize on weddings, i charged cheap. but i still didn’t get the job because another photographer charged cheaper AND i was sure some of the photos he showed were from manila photographers' posts or websites! that moment when the couple turned my proposal down, they compared me to their choice (the photographer left pa his "folio"), i couldn’t comment not because i just lost the job but thinking about the nerve of the photographer! whew!

so, be careful:
when you submit files or photos to clients
when you submit files or photos to contests
when posting big files in the internet
when having photos printed
when signing photography contracts
when selling photos

most present protection or precaution we are doing – somebody always comes up with a way around it. for me, the best thing to do is be aware and beware

[pnoize]

what saddens me is the fact that commercial establishments use these stolen pictures for their advertising. A large format printer confessed to me that he downloads pictures and use them for his clients tarps.

[irangejuice]

large print ads don't use free stock photos? Is it really worth risking their big business?

[Minuano27]

large print ads don't use free stock photos? Is it really worth risking their big business?

as in anything else involving legal matters in the Philippines, the problem is ENFORCEMENT. the photog owns the copyright to his work, but enforcing his rights are an entirely different matter. one lawsuit involving one photo takes a whole lot of time and money. multiply that by the number of lawsuits that have to be filed against several people, and after a certain point, it won't be worth the cost.

i'm not saying that people in the large ads business do this deliberately. however, people who take shortcuts have "calculated" the risks and the probabilities of the consequences, and they figure that it's probably not worth it for the one who owns the photo to file lawsuits over a photograph.

the same basic problem applies in other countries. but having been in this line of work for 20 years now, i can tell you that the problem is magnified in this country - how often have we heard of the complaint that we have too many laws but no enforcement? sad to say, "that's the way it is" in this country of ours.....

[Junpei]

hey guys I'm a noob to this copyright thing, so watermarks aren't effective?

[sister maria]

@abort - bronica! makaibog man na uy. i just posted in the critique thread. that day other studes had med-format mamiyas, bronicas, etc... i only had an ae-1p... gubaon pa gyud. aha, suko diay si misis when you think of dirty thoughts, which is... a lot! joke lang ha.

@adjong - my hubby is what i call a serious hobbyist. sometimes i'd say "sayang" because he doesn't care if his teachers rip-off his prints. all he cares is just one or two good shots out of hundreds that he likes and he's happy with it. he says he finds it quite rewarding if the shot he imagined materializes in print. i call it contextual purity of passion in its dumbest. hay naku. when they shot stock, he did not even charge a penny for the ones his teacher took as his own. sus no, na-a unta ko'y extra money to shop.

[kenoidz]

now i know...i thought watermarks are very effective...thanks abortretryfail....