Grrr...people scanning images.

[larann78]

:evil:

What should I do? I was on Facebook this morning and long story short, found that one of my clients scanned her entire proof book and posted it on her facebook page. It's great advertising, but ****ty scanning quality. My issue is that how do I know she isn't scanning them for reprint too? Do I send her a bill? Do I call her and ask her to take them down? Do I tell her that she needs to remove them and I will provide her with low res files for her Facebook page that are not all grainy?? Or, since I do business in a town of 2000, do I leave it alone?
God scanners suck.

[Hyun]

Personally (and I'm not a pro, so take this for what it's worth), I'd go for the "provide with low res files". If the scanned photos she put up are terrible, that's obviously not a good reflection on you (the average viewer will think, "gee the photos suck," not "gee, the person scanning sure didn't know what he/she was doing").

Also keep in mind that once others have the proof book or have bought prints from you, you really don't have any realistic or meaningful control over what others do with the them, and worrying about them will only drive you crazy.

I'd stay professional and polite and contact her and explain to her your dilemma. And maybe work something into the future contracts about the handling and ownership of the proof book contents. Not that this will stop people from doing stuff like this, but when you do contact them, you have more leverage.

[Stephie]

:evil:

What should I do? I was on Facebook this morning and long story short, found that one of my clients scanned her entire proof book and posted it on her facebook page. It's great advertising, but ****ty scanning quality. My issue is that how do I know she isn't scanning them for reprint too? Do I send her a bill? Do I call her and ask her to take them down? Do I tell her that she needs to remove them and I will provide her with low res files for her Facebook page that are not all grainy?? Or, since I do business in a town of 2000, do I leave it alone?
God scanners suck.


I hear ya. I took some photos of my sister and her boyfriend at a formal event and gave them to her on a disk. She put them on her myspace...which its fine, I mean its my little sister but one of the mother's of the girls she teaches dance too prints them all off (of myspace) and prints them (probably at walmart) and gives them to her as a gift at recital. I was a bit irritated but what to do?

Anyway, If it were me, I would probably leave it alone. Even though it's irritating. I understand she wants to share her images...

I also might provied her with the low res files and tell her to put those up..crediting you.

[breadandbutter]

Honestly, you can't fight it, but you can take the opportunity to create better customer service and advertisement.

[bigbaby987]

Give low res pics and keep it moving. She'll appreciate you and you're showing great customer service.

[WMDunkin]

yeah just say i saw you put them up there let me provide you some with better quality so it looks better for the both of us.

[amykillianphotography]

Along with the recommendation of giving her low res prints, I would definitely watermark them first. I am starting to offer this to my clients. I offer to give them some of their images, low res, marked with my logo, for them to post on their facebook/myspace. This way they get their images up and I get the advertising. :)

[amfoto1]

If there were a big "Proof" watermark or "www.holtportraitdesign.com" on the images, would she have been able to scan them?

I hate watermarks, but in some cases they're just a necessity.

There's probably not much you can do right now, without making yourself look like an ogre. Maybe you can find an opportunity sometime to quietly let her know what a copyright is and how damaging and upsetting it is to you and your business when people violate your copyright and post poor quality copies of your work for all the world to see.

I had a similar situation:

An incredibly egotistical and cheapo lady bought exactly one 4x6 from me for all of $7 from a sitting (she & her dog!). She scanned it, printed it on her Christmas cards, made a transfer of it to iron on to a tote bag (which she showed off to me) and who knows what else. She didn't ask permission or even bother to try to remove my signature or copyright symbol from the image.

Oh well, I just avoid that particular group of people now anyway. Last time was shortly before Christmas a couple years ago, and many were showed up with their own cameras to either shoot over my shoulder or to slip in and use my props and Santa Claus whenever I stepped away help a customer with an order or go take a pee.

Please don't mention "Red Hatters" around me... Ever!

[souporman]

:evil:

What should I do? I was on Facebook this morning and long story short, found that one of my clients scanned her entire proof book and posted it on her facebook page. It's great advertising, but ****ty scanning quality. My issue is that how do I know she isn't scanning them for reprint too? Do I send her a bill? Do I call her and ask her to take them down? Do I tell her that she needs to remove them and I will provide her with low res files for her Facebook page that are not all grainy?? Or, since I do business in a town of 2000, do I leave it alone?
God scanners suck.

Yea, it's crappy when people use your images without paying for them or getting your permission.

How much did you end up paying in royalty fees to use that music embedded on your website? :-P

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

[ryant35]

Give low res pics and keep it moving. She'll appreciate you and you're showing great customer service.

I also agree.

[30Duser]

i had a customer that came in for senior pics do the same thing. i simply emailed her low res images of her favorite pics and called it a day. she loved them so i was happy.

[pcunite]

yeah just say i saw you put them up there let me provide you some with better quality so it looks better for the both of us.

That is what I would do... also make your profit in such a way that this does not hurt. All the rest of us are doing this so we won't be working against each other on pricing...

[daclozer]

If they are actual prints, I would get a big ugly stamp that says "PROOF" on it and stamp it across the picture. If it is on a disc I would write proof across the picture in big black type. There is a machinr that is advertised in the classified section of many photography magazines that puts a texture on prints that makes them unscannable. I don't know what it costs or if it is cost effectivbe. If you do a large volume, it may be worth the investment.

p.s Your website rocks ! I love the tunage and the backgrounds.. I might have to copy them... JUST KIDDING !!!!

[cdifoto]

:evil:

What should I do?

Raise your prices and give 'em a disk of webbies so they don't have to scan. I do it as a courtesy. I tell them it looks better than scanning so if they have myspace, facebook, or want to email 'em around, they've already got resized versions ready and waiting.

[jra]

Raise your prices and give 'em a disk of webbies so they don't have to scan. I do it as a courtesy. I tell them it looks better than scanning so if they have myspace, facebook, or want to email 'em around, they've already got resized versions ready and waiting.

That sounds like a good idea to me :)
I actually had a customer attending a wedding reception a few months after their shoot wearing a t-shirt sporting a scan of one of the proofs I had provided them with (a senior photo). They never paid for the photo or even asked me about re-printing it. The gal obviously saw no problem with copying my work and putting it on a shirt to wear right in front of me. IMO....many people are ignorant of copyright laws and don't realize they doing wrong by scanning or copying proofs. A bold watermark will certainly help but it does detract from the actual photo.

[cdifoto]

The truth is I'll sell a medium resolution disk of their images fairly cheap ($350, ~200 images, in a nice slim jewel case w/custom full color jacket) just so they don't have to bug me every time they want a 4x6, 5x7, or even 8x10. It's not really worth the hassle for either of us. My lab has minimum orders for free shipping, and actually paying shipping can't be justified until you've ordered enough prints to get free shipping! :D

I'd rather sell 'em the disk so they can get at least a somewhat quality print right off the file wherever they choose at their own leisure. They won't be pro lab quality but they look better than them badly scanning one of my prints and THEN getting a somewhat quality print off that file from the same place. They usually still end up ordering a couple lab prints of their favorites.

You can't really lose print sales that you never would have gotten in the first place.

[tim]

Be nice. Offer her low res images, watermark things in future. I would also offer the low res images on disk at the same time as the proof in future. I put all the images online so they can just send people the link, and the gallery system makes it hard for people to save the images - but if they do they're watermarked anyway.

[Alexajlex]

OP - It is pretty standard practice (at least in my area) for the the wedding photog to sell the proof book. This is done in the after sale meeting.

One person sells it for around $375.
The proof book costs around $100 (Mpix estimate based on the last prices I got from them).
So $275 in profit.


It's all driven by the digital age.

[slivr]

Larann -
I agree with most of the others: Contact and offer low-res images for her myspace pages explaining the replacements will represent your work better to friends than crappy scans will ... and then in future transactions with others you can have that anticipated usage built right into your pricing model or offer it as an optional purchase.

People WILL post images on their social sites such as MySpace or FaceBook without consideration of your rights. So I chose to embrace that issue and make it easy for them, providing a CD with a sampling of pictures that are limited to small 72dpi images (the resolution of a monitor) and about 3x4" in size. I brand them with a small, fairly unobtrusive copyright at the bottom of each image so users aren't tempted to edit the photos and remove it. It's just easier for them to post 'em "as is". These images appear great onscreen, but won't produce decent prints or enlargements ... my work is better represented to web viewers ... and I don't have to face the unpleasant task of confronting a client and battling over rights. You cannot estimate the value of good-will you'll build by incorporating this into your workflow and product line. I've shot high-school events and portraits for 8 years and embracing MySpace this way is a win-win for my friends and clients.