Taking credit for my work.

I did some concert photography for a friend's band the other week, and i'm gonna be giving him the jpegs tomorrow.

I wouldn't consider them 'professional' or anything, but obviously nothing you could get out of using a compact camera (due to low light).

As far as watermarks and things of that nature, should i just put my name on it, or do i need a C (for copyright) symbol or anything like that?


Also, do you think that borders should be put on the concert photos (do you think it makes it look more professional), and are there any programs that will border a batch of images at a time?

put your watermark on your images.

Do a search for "watermark" on POTN and you will see 100's of threads with people crying like little babies that people used their unwatermarked images.
Then they get false hope that they can get some kind of reparations.
There are some silly people on POTN forums.

is it worth it? - if you did it for a favour then what you going to say when they ask for the prints without the watermark? it'll cost this much $$$? it sounds like your are just trying to get your name out there if you haven't got a signed model release you can't use them for anything anyway. You'll perhaps get more experience at the venue - then you can see about making some cash.

if you don't have a model release / contract then you have no real rights to them or professional usage opportunity. The band may use them, but if you don't want them to use them why did you photograph them?

copyright at this level is general courtesy at the BIG Hello Wedding copyright itself becomes big business - same laws in either but it's all relative. and your photos are worth about £120 if you get the front page of a national magazine so relative to the possible use how much do you think they are worth? - that doesn't matter a dot it's how much someone is willing to pay for them. and the good networking and friends you may make are worth more the a few quid at this stage

if you are really worried just give them prints see the cost as a copyright protection measure and that way if the band wants to use them they will have to approach you - you can find out what and why and decide on a price..

I lost count of the amount of bands i was photographing when i was about 17 but i never made any money - plenty of beer and plenty of laughs and some great parties but no cash - id have only spent the cash on beer, laughs and parties anyway

well prints are out of the question, i dont know anyone that actually prints out pictures anymore... people just want photos for their bands myspace page and things like that. most people, including myself could care less about having something in my hand.

my intentions aren't really so much to get my name out there... moreso just to have a professional presentation to them, so that if another band happened to see them, they wouldnt think they were done by an amateur (though i know the content conveys that much more so).. and if they liked it, might ask who the photographer

I would have them sign a contract in exchange for the photos. It should say something along the lines of "i will always own copyright, you will give me full model release, all use in print and web must go through me". That way if your friend makes it big, the record companies aren't the ones profiting off your pics (even a small record company can easily afford your services). If you don't, you'll regret it later.

As for boarders and such, pretty pointless to me. You can add that through html anyway if it's for web.

Hi,

If you wish, put a watermark on the images. It can just be your name, semi-transparent.

Personally, I think watermarks serve limited purpose. People skilled with Photoshop can usually edit one out, if they work at it. They are mildly insulting, sort of like telling people "I don't trust you" and clutter up your work making it hard to view. Plus, they make for more work, once they have select the images they will use.

First thing you should do is go into the images' EXIF data. There you can mark the image as copyrighted, and add information such as "© Copyright, 2008, All Rights Reserved, John Doe." Also add your contact information, at least phone number and email address.

Depending upon the software you use to edit the EXIF, this can often be done as a batch. Oh, and don't "Save for the web".... In some softwares this strips off EXIF metadata so that images load faster.

Now, personally, I like to "sign" some work. It's just a smaller signature, in a font that looks a lot like I write it, placed in one lower corner or the other. I don't like to use the © symbol on the face of the image. I make the signature transparent, so that it's minimal.

But, I wouldn't put a signature on an image that's intended for publication, stock or commercial usage.

You really don't need to have anything on there. You don't give up your copyright in any way.

Next, on the CD or DVD itself I print "© Copyright, 2008, All Rights Reserved, John Doe: This disk and all it's contents." .

Also, I include a .txt file on the CD/DVD that spells out any usages I'm allowing, and limits others. For example, it might allow "prints, for personal use", but not for commercial use, nor transfer of license to any third parties. Of course, this varies depending upon the specific terms of the job.

I agree that it would be nice to get signed model releases. Should actually get them before starting to shoot, but you still might ask for those in exchange for some usage they may want to make of your images. Only with a signed release can you ever use the images for any commercial purpose, up to and including in your own advertising (portfolio display and limited edition "fine art" print sales would not need releases, though).

I don't know about bordering the images. That's really an aesthetic call. I don't know of a program that can do it as a batch, either.

If the photos are worth putting your name on and you think they are good enough that other bands might seek you out to buy your services, then I'd ask your friend to put a credit near the photo, refer you to others, or whatever. I personally hate watermarks and never use them.