Dealing with photo theft....but in a differnt way...

Would love some opinions on how to deal with a certain situation.....I'm hired to work a venue on most weekends where I capture "red carpet" type photos of arriving patrons as they show up for an evening event. During the event, I present the printed photos to them in a folio and offer them for sale.....and in general, I get about a 50% buy rate. The problem I have is that when I present the photos, there are always a few people who break out the cell phones and try to take photos of my photos.
I'm at a bit of a loss as in how to handle these individuals. On one hand, it really sparks an anger nerve as these people are basically making a blatant attempt to steal my work (which takes money from me and my family as the money I earn is based directly on the number of photos I sell) but on the other hand, I really don't think most are doing it maliciously.....it's just become so much a part of the culture to take a cell phone pic of something you like. I've went the route of simply ignoring it (which I don't like for obvious reasons) to asking politely for them to please not do it (which generally upsets the patron).
The photos I take are a perk offered to the people attending the event.....they can either buy or refuse. I can't risk upsetting people who've paid to attend the event (so I must step carefully). In today's culture, I'm sure this must be an issue for others covering events and printing on site.....so how have you dealt with this issue? What's the nicest way to convey that these photos are the way you pay the bills and taking photos of them with cell phones is simply out of line? I want to firmly convey the message but I want to do it in a very professional and non-threatening way. Suggestions?
Just to add....the people that attend these events are not usually people that are strapped for cash and I don't think their main drive is to avoid paying for the photos....they are mainly just attempting to share their activities on facebook or whatever else social networking site.

First off, I think they probably would be in the demographic of the ones that would not buy anyway. How do they view the pictures? On a monitor I am assuming? Would a privacy filter on your monitor work?

losangelino wrote in post #15700770
How do they view the pictures? On a monitor I am assuming? Would a privacy filter on your monitor work?

The OP presents prints in a portfolio. No monitor.

As far as the cell phone issue goes, just simply tell them that you do not allow people to take photos of your photos. Then ( as long as you can or are willing...) tell them that you also have a digital option. Offer high resolution and also a lower resolution package if they are looking to share them digitally.... just make sure you charge properly.

OR... you could get some clear sleeves with your logo printed on it so if they still manage to get the cell phone pic, its "watermarked" and then when they purchase, take the sleeve off OR you could leave it on as a marketing tool.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #15700882
The OP presents prints in a portfolio. No monitor.

Yep....all photos are printed in hopes of making a sale. We put the finished images in the hands of the clients and if they want to decline the sale they are required to return the photos. The clients have possession of the images for about 5 minutes or less before being required to either purchase or return the images......this is in hopes of inspiring the impulse/emotional buy of course. I'm just trying to figure out how to politely deter certain people from simply taking a cell phone pic in an effort to "steal" the work (which I'm quite sure they don't see it as stealing). My goal is to be professional, on point and very non-intimidating. I do realize that the vast majority of people doing this aren't really aware that they are actually stealing something.

Do you have anything like a sign or a note asking them not to take pictures? Maybe a stick-on no adhesive watermark?

Perhaps you could offer something where if they buy the print they also immediately get a copy sent to their phone via mss or email, so that they can share via social media. A little more legwork, but could also improve your sell-through.

I think it's incredibly rude of them to just start grabbing shots with their phones. The cheek! You could try:

"Excuse me sir, but taking pictures with your phone breaches my copyright, I'm sorry, but this is how I feed my children/myself/family​/pets whatever..."

How are you actually presenting the photo? What about using a folder with a clear cover, then print something to the effect of the photo being for sale and not to copy or photograph the contents without permission?

A lot of people will likely get offended when you actively point out they've done something wrong/stupid, but are far more likely to have less of an issue if they're quietly informed before hand.

How about a piece of laminate over the top of the photo with a sticker saying something to the effect of, "Copyright, XYZ Photography. Please do not duplicate or photograph."

A couple of thoughts.

They're PROBABLY not your client anyway. You're not losing any money, as they're not going to buy the print one way or another. However, they are getting something (your work) for nothing, so I guess there's that.

They don't realize that they're stealing your copyrighted material. That concept just does not exist in many people's heads. The thought process is this: "I have my cell-phone camera in my hand, I can take a picture of things that I can see, how fun is this?" So, the theft generally isn't being done maliciously. You can't verbally attack the person, it will only cause a scene.

You've got to tread gingerly. Even though the person is probably not your client, if you treat them poorly they'll still tell all their friends how terrible you are.

A small sticker "Please don't take photos of my photos" would probably help dissuade most of them.

... but none of that is going to make you any money.


There is a need and a desire for digital versions of your photos, so if I were in your shoes, I would pursue that. Actively sell it!
For the same price as a hard print, I will RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT send you, via a text message or email, a Facebook-sized digital copy of the image. For $X.00 more, you get a reusable flash drive with the full-sized digital copy AND the version that's optimized for Facebook. And for only $XX.00, you get it all: The print, the flash drive, and the instant digital version! Share with all your friends!

I just took my daughter to a cheer competition and there were pro photographers there taking pictures and you could go to where they were set up and look at one of a many number of screens they had set up. To keep people from taking pics of their pics they had a watermark across the whole photo that would allow the photo to still be seen but if you were to take a picture of it you would clearly see the watermark going over it.

You print all the photos for all the attendees? Would it be an option to have someone just outside the rope hand the attendee a "claim ticket" for the photos? We had a recent non-profit event where the attendees were photographed, then handed a "claim ticket" with a number that matched the image...on it were three options...printed 4x6 for $10, high res, emailed (with a space to add email address) for $15, or both for $20. They could turn in their option and payment anytime throughout the night. It worked well for us, and we didn't print anything we didn't need to. I understand that your situation is a little different...but maybe an idea that would reduce your costs and frustration of cell phone stealing.

I think the first thing to do would be to NOT give them possession of the photos until money has changed hands. Allow them to see them, but not have possession. This way, when they pull out the cell phone, just put the photo away out of sight. This would be the equivalent of not putting the photos on the internet when people ask how to keep others from doing screen shots....

I know exactly what Jwheeler331 is talking about as that is my bread and butter (cheer comps) and we still try to stop people from taking cell phone shots.

The people who are satisfied with a cell phone shot of a photo are NOT going to spend money on a print, I hope I am wrong, but that's just what we have found in OUR experiences. When we started offering digital images, those people started spending money.

Good luck.

To me it seems like the best suggestion is to hand over the pictures, so that they still get the emotional impulse to buy them. But as soon as you print them, so as to not have them see you do this, you put them in sleeves with a a large, semi-transparent watermark on that's on the sleeve itself. I am not quite sure where you could go to watermark see-through sleeves but I'm inclined to believe someone somewhere offers this service. Either that or put a visible sticker that's easily removable on the shots you hand over stating something along the lines "Unless purchased, reproducing this image violates copyright law."

I think whoever's taking pics of them just doesn't realize what they're doing, and I am inclined to believe that, though not all the people who do this would have otherwise purchased the picture, perhaps at least a few more people would.