Notice... don't give your photos away

Billo78 wrote in post #11136402
You're kidding, right? Your client wants to show off your photos to hundreds of potential cilents and you hit them with talk of illegal activity? Why on earth wouldn't you want your photos to be seen by as many people as possible? After a wedding I upload a selection of discretely watermarked images to my FB business page and tag the couple in, you cannot get better free advertising. Then you get people commenting and liking photos and their friends see that they've commented and it's all happy times.

OF COURSE a bride is going to call them 'her' photos, it's her day and you're the guy she paid to cover it, it would be ridiculous for her to say "Here are my photographer's photos guys!"

You can't fight Facebook, not should you want to, this is the best facilitator of word of mouth advertising that's ever existed, I just don't understand some people. Worst case scenario you lose out on a few low value sales to guests, best case scenario you book a bunch of high value weddings out of it.

ABSOLUTELY!! lOl.. what is wrong with people... hello someone else doing my marketing for me.. maybe i should take legal action against them. BAD IDEA JEANS!

Personally I don't have any issues with the Facebook side of things. All my packages include a print/distribution release (the exception being commercial use of images by the client). I don't mind if a client wants to show the world their wedding day.

As I do not offer print sales at all and all my packages include a wedding book/album (some get picky over labelling them albums) I am quite happy for the free publicity/WOM.

It does depend entirely on your business model though as to how much of an issue it is. I only do weddings and after each one is done I move on to the next. No waiting for print orders that may come in, no trying to get follow up work (baby shoots, portraits etc).

Looking at it this way, Facebook isn't going to go away any time soon nor is the way in which digital images can easily be distributed so you can either adapt and embrace the evolution or try and fight it... personally I can only see one winner in the long run.

Steve of Cornubia wrote in post #11952841
Armed with this information and a bit of criminal guile, they CAN impersonate you.

They are more than welcome to my ex wife...

Steve of Cornubia wrote in post #11952841
Simple. Stay off Facebook.

OK, that's easy for a 50-something like me, not so easy for the online generation, but I only see risk....

A lot of interesting perspectives being espoused in this thread - but this one is the most WOW...

Steve - identity theft existed LONG before social networking sites... of course many people share TOO much information about themselves... but seriously, this is quite an unrealistic view of FB (or whatever the next networking site is). I am no apologist for facebook, but it is a great marketing tool - especially for photogs since FB is all about friend to friend sharing and very photo-centric.

Steve, once you go one the net full stop you are opening yourself up to having your details harvested. You sign up to a site like this one, the servers get hacked, more of your details are out there.

I'll hazard a guess but you originally came from the UK and currently own an Adria and are not overly impressed with the Bicycle scheme is Brisbane? I might be wrong there...

Even if you never go on the to Internet in your life you could still see your details leaked via the Internet as just about every business is connected to it in one shape or form.

It is just a easy for a potential fraudster to lift a bag of rubbish from your bin on collection day.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #11953308
Even if you never go on the to Internet in your life you could still see your details leaked via the Internet as just about every business is connected to it in one shape or form.

Point well made

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #11953308
Steve, once you go one the net full stop you are opening yourself up to having your details harvested. You sign up to a site like this one, the servers get hacked, more of your details are out there.

I'll hazard a guess but you originally came from the UK and currently own an Adria and are not overly impressed with the Bicycle scheme is Brisbane? I might be wrong there...

Even if you never go on the to Internet in your life you could still see your details leaked via the Internet as just about every business is connected to it in one shape or form.

It is just a easy for a potential fraudster to lift a bag of rubbish from your bin on collection day.

Nothing you say proves me wrong. Saying 'They'll get your information somehow' seems naive and defeatist. It doesn't hurt to be careful, especially as many young people fall foul of the internet in some way every day.

Oh, and I don't own an Adria. Can't afford a caravan AND a good selection of lenses.

People fall foul of scams in every walk of everyday life... the Internet is just yet another means with which someone can potentially be duped. There are very few people these days who are able to live off the grid entirely.

I'm guessing you sold the caravan then...

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #11953404
....I'm guessing you sold the caravan then...

Nope.

Jeez, you'll never make a living as an identity thief. Even MY bank manager (not the sharpest tool in the box) would look at you sideways if you turned up claiming to be Steve, "can't remember my second name but I might own a caravan".

I'm trying to make the point that once you interact with the Internet in some fashion then your personal details are at risk. The risks are there for everyone but most people don't fret about them.

You have a bank account, use and ISP and have an email account which means that you are already exposed to risk.

There is another user on this forum who has similar levels of "heightened concerns" about USB drives spreading viruses. There will always be those at the edges with more polarised views.

I think I'll take my chances along with the other 500 million Facebook users. If my identity gets "stolen" the banks are insured and I will still be me.

Back to the subject of images on Facebook... Yay for free marketing and WOM.

The compression of large images is horrible on FB anyway...it's best to resize regardless of whether or not you're concerned about image theft. I've found that somewhere around 700-720px looks best...but like Robert...I only tag about 5-10 photos on FB and then link that post back to the blog.

To the OP - how many pictures are you actually able to sell to random wedding guests? What is your financial loss percentage in print sales by posting photos on FB or selling a disc?