A picture of a picture? OMG!

[chris_m_atl]

I have some artwork displayed and for sale at a local restaurant. I went in for lunch last week and one of the servers, in casual conversation, noted that she liked my artwork so much that she took a picture of it for her daughter. Framed it, and gave it to her. I never even considered this would happen! It is clearly for sale; so, how should I respond to this?

I'm flattered that her daughter loved it so much; as children were my intended audience. But after picking the server's brain a bit more I'm finding out that a number of people have been taking photographs of the art...but not purchasing. :cry:

Is there anything I can do other than reprinting with a fat copyright symbol across the design, of course. ;) I also would rather not take down the display, in the interest of gaining exposure in the community.

Thanks,
--Chris

[cdifoto]

Pull the art off the walls. F 'em.

[chris_m_atl]

I suppose it's a double-edge sword. Pull it off the wall and nobody sees the artwork with no chance of a sale. Keep it there, and let 'em steal it by taking pictures. Has this happened to anyone else? It's a fine-dining restaurant, so it's not like I'm putting it at a buffet.

[cdifoto]

I still say pull it if you haven't sold any yet. Ignore the theft of it for a second and ask yourself if it's even worth keeping there as a business decision.

[chris_m_atl]

I've freelanced some newspaper advertisements for the restaurant. They allow the display space for free due to the large responses they received from the newspaper campaign. From a business perspective, it's free marketing directly to the patrons of the restaurant. Which the majority of visitors are the government/political authorities for the community. I have received additional clients as a result of the art display.

[Tomi Hawk]

I've freelanced some newspaper advertisements for the restaurant. They allow the display space for free due to the large responses they received from the newspaper campaign. From a business perspective, it's free marketing directly to the patrons of the restaurant. Which the majority of visitors are the government/political authorities for the community. I have received additional clients as a result of the art display.
Thats awesome .. and congrats on the add on clientele ..
Put a reflective surface of some sort over the images .. that way when they use their flash
they get a nice hot spot on their point N shoot. May diminish the quality tho .. errrr
Just a thought?

[Radtech1]

Just a thought. Next time, frame it with really, really shiny reflective glass. They end up with a beautifully framed photo of themselves taking a photo.

Rad

[jackies35]

I agree with the above post... Put a glass right on it...

This reminds me when I showed a little girl her prom pictures that her Mom asked me to shoot. Would you believe me she said this to me:
"OMG!, I am so cute... These pictures are awesome!! I'll get my Mom to purchase a package and I will make COPIES for my friends"

WHAT! I just seen money running down out of my pocket, my purse, etc...hahhah

Some people just don't know!!!

Second story!
I was picking up my photos up from Walmart and noticed a young girl behind me waiting to print some photos. Well, not only did she want to print photos, she wanted to may copies or scan a few of her pictures. Well, as she went to the Lab processor, she handed over the pictures she wanted scanned. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY A STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE LAB PROCESSOR SAID NO!!

Thank God she did say no! If not, that studio could sue (if they find out)...

How could you avoid this? Is there any special paper or something. I am going to start a post on this. I will search around first but this really pissed me off!!:(:

[MJPhotos24]

I agree with the glass idea or just tell the restaurant to not allow pictures being taken of the artwork because of copyright, it should be up where someone is working anyways to stop them anyways. Or if it's framed just add the "no photos" to the glass or frame.

Nice examples jackie, I've seen it happen a few times. Last year a girl I coach was telling me her plan to just buy some wallets and copy them herself so she could give them to all her friends. What the ?!?!?!?! I explained it a bit and got the "so?" response. I didn't take the photos, but the local place who's really good did.

Two years ago I'm talking with a pitcher from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays I know pretty good and just happen to look over his shoulder, literally 30-50 8x10 home printed copies of my photo that someone stole and started blasting out. It looked like whoever got it just handed them out to every fan, really annoying.

People just dont care, it's like music downloads...which CD's are now protected, which brings me to the paper idea. YES, there is paper out there that you can't scan. I believe Kodak made it first a few years ago and when the lights from the scanner hit it you see the "copyright" across the image. If that is on the market though IDK, I did hear it was being "invented" though. Also, is it the metallic finish that causes problems? I know theres a finish out there that causes problems but isnt an end all. Wouldn't it be great if there was a paper that not only said copyright when you tried to scan it, but when those scanning lights hit it it made the word appear on the photo? Now they're original photo would show copyright across the middle and they'd have to order a new one, ha. "Hey, I told you not to try and steal the photo!"