is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Denmark License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.bagkameraet.dk. Alright, slapping on a big ol' © might be easier, but sometimes the easiest solution is not the right solution. And sometimes we do stuff without really giving that much thought to what we did and why. Go get coffee, this rant is gonna be a long one.
As photographers, we produce images. We produce a lot of them, actually. Some of them are made because the sunset was too pretty to resist, some of them are made because a happy couple paid us to cover their wedding and give them beautiful images to remember their beautiful day. But today, images aren't tucked away in albums on a shelf, they get sent around the world via e-mail and shared with, literally, the entire world over the internet. So now, people can STEAL THEM! *gasp*! And SELL THEM! AND MAKE MONEY THAT WE SHOULD HAVE MADE! So to protect our images, we cover them with hideous watermarks, hide them in flash presentations and generally plaster ©s all over the place. I did the watermarking myself for a while but I got annoyed with it, it distracted from the image. I did it to get som sorta "branding" thing going, but I didn't follow it through. I only used the logo on my images and as my avatar here on POTN.
Most other shooters use the watermarks as copy protection, so that no one can steal the images and sell them off as their own. If you put a subtle watermark in one of the corners of the image, to avoid it distracting the viewer from the image itself, it's easily removed by the image-stealing nigerian mafia pirate. So you get real high-tech, and us flash to show your images instead of just plain posting them. One push on the "Print screen" button, and the crook has your image. But you have one more trick up your sleeve... you cover all your images in HUGE, semi-transparent watermarks that will take HOURS to remove in Photoshop. Now nobody will steal your images. Because now they look like crap, or at best, something that was probably nice, but now covered in watermarks. And not only do they look like crap to the crooks, they look like crap to your customers. You spent a lot of time on that shot, why ruin it with a watermark that will either be ineffective or ruin the shot? Yeah, I quit using watermarks myself, but the choice is yours.
I have pretty much everything from snapshots of my own snotty kids to excerpts from wedding shoots like the one above on my flickr. Yesterday, I changed the permissions on every single one of them (they have a batch job for it, don't worry) from the usual "All rights reserved" to Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5
. That basically means that you are free to use my images in any way you see fit as long as A) it's non-commercial and B) I get credit for the image. You can even use the image in your own works, as long as you share them under similar terms and credit me for the original image. All that, without worrying that I will hunt you down with a pack of rabid lawyers and demand that you pay me an amount suspiciously close to the price of a complete L lineup. I'll only do that if you claim the image is your own or use it in an ad.But NO! I must be joking? That will destroy my business and maybe even the entire industry! Nope, sorry to disappoint you. I'm pretty sure that the only ones that will pay for non-commercial uses of shots like the one at the top of this post are the people IN the shot. And they already paid. So why should I threaten anyone looking at the image that I will cut off their arms if they as much as e-mail the image to their friends? It's a different story with stock photography, but I hope you only upload those shots to your agency and not forums, flickr, etc. I post my images on the net to get exposure, to make people see the images. Why would I release them under a license that severely hinders the sharing and flow of information that the internet is so good at? In stead, I have actively chosen a license that lets people use my images as much as they like, as long as they tell other people where they got them. That way, I get more exposure (at least in theory) and I don't have spend tons of money feeding and grooming the pack of rabid lawyers.
If you have read this far, I hope (and think) that you will at least think about what license you choose to release your images under. Think about what is best for you and your business and how you can get the most from your web presence. Think of your images like business cards. Would you print a line at the bottom of your cards that said "DO NOT PASS ALONG TO FRIENDS!"?
Sorry for the long rant, but that's how I see it. You may have another opinion, feel free to sound off - after all, that's why it's called a forum
