Web sites, Copyrights, Keith Urban and "Can you email me some pictures?"

[BillsBayou]

I got about 75 feet from Keith Urban at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival yesterday. Forgive me for not knowing who this guy is, but apparently the ladies in the crowd were all screaming for him. A friend of mine was watching me catch a couple of OTHER artists with my 70-200 f/2.8 lens and begged me to get some pictures of Keith Urban. Yes, she actually said "I'm begging you, Bill. You HAVE to get up there and get pictures of Keith Urban." She made the point several times. So much, in fact, that I've got four business cards with email addresses from teenagers on up. They all want pictures from me.

(Is that a cash register I hear?)

I'm NOT a pro, or really a pro-wannabe. But I'm realizing that carrying a 5D with a 580ex (which worked wonderfully, btw) and a hooded white 70-200 on a monopod is going to get me noticed. I may as well be prepared with an answer to the question "Can you send me some of the pictures you take?" ("free" is implied).

One: Am I legally allowed to sell photographs I took at the N. O. Jazz Fest? How do I go about finding out that fact?

Two: What are the legal issues surrounding the sale of photographs of artists? (That one has a short answer, right? ;) )

Three: What's the best way to stamp copyright text on a JPG? And what's the best resolution for web photos?

I'm sure the people handing me business cards want me to send them the original 4368x2912 pixel photos so they can do their own printing.

Eeeeeaaaahhhhh, no.

I think I caught a couple of good pictures here. So they'll just have to be happy with a 600x400 with my copyright SOMEWHERE on the photo.

Here's the two idea's I'm floating. I'm sure the watermark is the one they DON'T want me to do:

[Bruce Hamilton]

Forgive me for not knowing who this guy is, but...

Keith Urban is a country singer, and he's engaged to Nicole Kidman. They're all over the tabloids, can't believe you don't know who he is...

[SonyaL]

The kids and the adults love him wonderful shot yes you can sell these.
Offer the kids postersize prints they will go for that for sure.


Sonya

[PhotosGuy]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=166840

[mjordan]

Before any more of your images see the light of day or a web site or even a forum like this, get your images registered with the copyright office. Then if someone uses your images for commercial use, you have a better chance of collecting some serious money. Registration gives some added punch to your copyright on the images... for instance, if you did have to take someone to court for using one of your images for commercial use, and you won, they get to pay for all legal and court costs, even if you don't win anything. BIG incentive for them to pay you what you want if you catch them.

Although it also applys to casual useage as well, I usually don't worry about the screen savers and screen prints some people do for their own enjoyment. But people wanting to make money off my images is a different story. So if you haven't thought about it, you might give it some thought.

Mike

[RockSlut]

The kids and the adults love him wonderful shot yes you can sell these.
Offer the kids postersize prints they will go for that for sure.

Might want to make sure that in doing so you have the subject's permission. Doing otherwise is the same as selling bootleg CDs and is a reason why photography access is so restricted at most concerts.

[SWPhotoImaging]

Keith Urban is a country singer, and he's engaged to Nicole Kidman. They're all over the tabloids, can't believe you don't know who he is...

Thanks, now I know who the heck he is, too . . .

[Mike6158]

Before any more of your images see the light of day or a web site or even a forum like this, get your images registered with the copyright office. Then if someone uses your images for commercial use, you have a better chance of collecting some serious money. Registration gives some added punch to your copyright on the images... for instance, if you did have to take someone to court for using one of your images for commercial use, and you won, they get to pay for all legal and court costs, even if you don't win anything. BIG incentive for them to pay you what you want if you catch them.

Although it also applys to casual useage as well, I usually don't worry about the screen savers and screen prints some people do for their own enjoyment. But people wanting to make money off my images is a different story. So if you haven't thought about it, you might give it some thought.

Mike

Do you register each image or is there some kind of "bulk" registration process?

Mike

<EDIT> Oops... thanks PhotosGuy... I just saw your link...

[mjordan]

Mike, you can send them in all in one batch on a CD. You still fill out only one form and pay only one fee of $30.

The web site is: http://www.copyright.gov/

The parts you want to look at are "About Copyright" and "How to Register Your Work" in the "Visual Arts" section.

Under "Publications" and "Forms" you will find the VA form that you need to fill out. If all of your images are the same category, published images or un-published images, you can use the VA Short form. That is a single page. You can print it out from the "Forms" area and fill it out in about 10 minutes.

There are several good references in the "Circulars and Brochures" under "Publications" also.

Basicly, what you want to do is put all of the images you want to register on a CD. Put them as jpegs that are at least 800 pixels or so on the long side and about 35k or so in size. If you only have a few images, you can make them bigger if you want. The key is to make them big enough that if you had to, you can see them good enough to compare to the image in queston in court.

Put a label on the CD with your name and address and the same title you give the collection of images on the VA Form.

You can put them in folders on the CD if you want. I do that if I have several different categories, like Scenic, Dog Show, Indoors, etc. If your images are published, send two CDs. If they are not published, you only have to send one CD.

Fill out the form. Write a $30 check. Send it all the the Copyright Office. Use Delivery confirmation. With this you can look up on the USPS web site and see when they were delivered. When the info is up that they were delivered and the date, I print that off and put it in my files with a copy of the form and one CD. The day they are shown as delivered is the day your registration takes affect. In about 3 months you will get a certificate of registration. A couple of months or so after that, you can find your registration in the Copyright Office website database.

That's about all there is to it. <grin>

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mike

[BillsBayou]

Thanks for the information, everyone. The only photography not allowed at the festival is motion. Audio recordings are out as well. I posted 41 photos on a web site. I stamped them all with a ©2006 william butler. I also modified the EXIF data.

The kicker is the photos are all 600x400 (portrait or landscape). Not worth much for printing. I've made no offer to sell the photos on my web page. I fired off emails to the people (read: strangers) who approached me at the fest. I'm sure I'll be hearing from them regarding their expectations versus my posts. If they respond with anything interesting, I'll let you know.

[mjordan]

Don't let the 600x400 size fool you. You can get some pretty good prints from that, depending on file size and resolution. Even at 72 ppi, you can get a decent print from it... considering it's a free print to someone. Somebody did a test of different size web images and how good a print job they could get out of them. I wish I could remember where I read the results, but it surprised a few people. It's not high res quality, but when people are going for free, quality is not exactly their first priority.

Good luck. I hope you get a lot of responses from the people. I know it makes my day when I get a good response from an event like this. And sometimes it leads to bigger things.

Mike