Copyright photos and a site

[A_Whelan]

Hey
After reading http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=486874
I have been doing some reading of my own. I recently got into photography and already have in mind a few ideas or a website, designs, etc. to hopefully expand my photo knowledge and eventually land my first job by advertising my website and photos. After reading the thread above it was a bit of a shock that something like that could happen, so I've decided to get my own site to host everything on.

My question to you is how do I officially copyright my photos so that no one can use them without permission? Also if I allow someone to use a photo and settle for an amount of money what should I do to go about this process in terms of paper work and what not?

Hope you can help answer these questions for me, I'm sure there are others out there who have thought of or are thinking about this as well.
-aaron

[Tumeg]

Flickr will allow you to upload as many photos as you want, have as many sets\albums as you want, and for $25/yr you can chose your copyright, and chose if you want to let people blog about your photos, as in post them on there blog, and you can change if you want the photos to be available for download. Go to my flickr and try to take some photos... The only way to do it, is with a screenshot of the photo...

[A_Whelan]

Thanks for the post.
What about putting them on my site? Would I just put a disclaimer on the front page or something and say they are copyrighted? Or do I have to submit them to some organization and get a certified certificate?
-aaron

[Rachel B]

This site may be of help to you:
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html
also I believe if you ever need to take someone to court for copyright infringement it is best to have your photos registered with the copyright office, this can be done easily on the website or submitting a CD.

[Mike R]

For starters, you should have a watermark across all images that are on line and never display or keep high res files on line. And review the link provided by rachelsne

For the proper forms to use when when selling usage rights, get the book Business and Legal Forms for Photographers It has most of the forms you'll need. The book explains each one and they are included on CD in multiple formats, including MS Word and PDF. You can easily edit them.

[bieber]

Flickr will allow you to upload as many photos as you want, have as many sets\albums as you want, and for $25/yr you can chose your copyright, and chose if you want to let people blog about your photos, as in post them on there blog, and you can change if you want the photos to be available for download. Go to my flickr and try to take some photos... The only way to do it, is with a screenshot of the photo...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/2397446976_7aab4333f1.jpg?v=0

That's the direct link to one of your images, hosted on Flickr. There's no such thing as "protection" for images on the web, only creative ways to irritate your users. In Flickr's case, it more than occasionally irks me that to download a copy of one of my own images, I have to click on that damned "All Sizes" link, rather than just the usual right-click affair...

And to the OP, copyright is automatic, but it is helpful to register them with the US Copyright office if it comes to pursuing legal action against somebody.

[TeeJay]

... but it is helpful to register them with the US Copyright office if it comes to pursuing legal action against somebody.

Assuming that the OP is based in the US! (they don't state where they are in the world)

TJ

[amfoto1]

In order to every claim the much, much higher punitive damages in these sorts of cases, at least in the US, your registration of copyright needs to happen within 90 days of the images first publication in any way. "Publication" includes posting it on the Internet anywhere where it is publicly accessible.

But, things in the US may change radically. Anyone know the current status of the of the Orphaned Works bill? Last I heard some of the big companies lobbying for it and their lackeys in Congress were still trying to get it enacted this year, and if that happened the whole playing field would be a real mess and many peoples' copyright protections would evaporate overnight.

[bieber]

In order to every claim the much, much higher punitive damages in these sorts of cases, at least in the US, your registration of copyright needs to happen within 90 days of the images first publication in any way. "Publication" includes posting it on the Internet anywhere where it is publicly accessible.

But, things in the US may change radically. Anyone know the current status of the of the Orphaned Works bill? Last I heard some of the big companies lobbying for it and their lackeys in Congress were still trying to get it enacted this year, and if that happened the whole playing field would be a real mess and many peoples' copyright protections would evaporate overnight.
How would it "evaporate" anything? The bill is to allow people to make use of works for which they have "diligently" tried and failed to find the copyright holder, and allows the holder of said copyright charge a reasonable usage fee in the event that they appear at some point after said use.

[Lunajen]

I would also look into finding out if you have software that allows you to enter your own metadata on your images. There you can embed information like who took the photo, when, with which camera etc. I beilieve you can do some of that in photoshop and Lightroom.