What rights do I have for my photos?

[xtremmountaineer]

Ok so my friend kind of dragged me in to taking pictures of tournament paintball since their photographer recently left to go do bigger things and since i have a camera and im looking for ways to get some ROI I agreed to do it. Anyway this friend of mine knows a lot of people that are interested in using my photography in their websites and such. Anyways I ended up making a pdf slideshow type thing in photoshop cs3 out of the converted jpegs that have my copyright logo on them and my friend wanted to see them so I sent them to him thinking ok this is pretty safe since the pdf dialog said that I could password protect the document against copying. Anyways a few minutes later he sends me a picture which is one of the pics from the pdf thing he says "print screen ftw" and needless to say I was pretty mad that he just did that so I went outside and took a walk and when I came back he said he print screened all the photos and put them on this paintball forum and said that everyone really liked them and was asking who the photographer was but by the time I got back he signed off. Anyway my friend really just wants to help and thought that doing that would help get my name out their but im still pretty mad that he did that without my permission I thought he would be smarter than to do something like that. So.... I really need to know what rights I have over my images, how I can enforce those rights, and what security measures I can take against people that "right click and save" and print screeners

I know theres probably tons of information out there on the internets but I really need to know this stuff quickly before I get in over my head

Thanks to anyone that helps me out,

Daniel

[bigjon0107]

Well, you have full rights to your image. Any unauthorized usage of the photo is considered a violation of copyright. If you really want to get serious with this, registrar the images with the US Copyright Office. It is like $45 or something for a CD of images.

But think about it. Do you really want to take some serious action for them just being posted on a forum like PbN, Flagstation or something. And he is your FRIEND with good intentions, a lot of violations are ignorance. No excuse, but true none the less. If you really want to "enforce these rights" you are opening a massive can of worms and be prepared to deal with the result. You would probably be best off with talking to him first.

-Jon

[WarrenG]

Daniel,

You do have some protections, but the process was flawed from the start unless you had a contract or even a written agreement of some sort pertaining to how the images would be used and how you would be compensated. Secondly, did you get an MR for all the people you photographed? If not, you would be pretty limited on any sort of financial gain other than selling them to the individuals and if this was your intention, did you inform them how they could get a copy of the images (i.e. - passing out a business card to visit your website for purchase). So, now it comes down to the fact that your images were posted onto the site without your permission, although...you did release a .pdf slideshow to one of the members without stipulating how it was to be used. Here is my advice, since you stated that you wanted some exposure for ROI, let the people post them to the websites as it is great advertising. Provide them with low resolution internet images with a watermark that has your copyright and contact information. Show up a few times to their events and before you know it, you will have more business that you would have gotten from the original images posted to the web. Just let him know while you don't mind them being shared...you want to put all your info on them so they know "who the photographer was and how to reach me". While all photographers receive an implied copyright on an image once they create it, you need to submit an application (as Jon stated) to enforce it properly. The reality is it is very difficult to protect your images even with that process completed because for all the "right click protections and watermarks" if someone wants you image, there are ways of getting at it. The best line of defense, is to control how and where you release your images from the start.

W

[andyz]

Originally Posted by xtremmountaineer

Anyway my friend really just wants to help and thought that doing that would help get my name out

Your images are your images. If this person is your friend, call him and tell him you'll get your name out there in the manner that is best for you, and that while you appreciate the help, you'd like your shots taken off his site.

Perhaps you can add these to your site and he can link to yours, which gets your name out, and gives you control. (Or as much as you can get putting your work out there for the world to see.)

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

BTW similar topics to this have been covered here dozens of times, DO A SEARCH!

BTW if you have your pics on the net someone will find a way to get them no matter how you try to protect them so the simple thing is to post small low rez files that they can only get small pics from.

[xtremmountaineer]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I found this website http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html
and it seems to go into a lot of detail about what im dealing with although I haven't read the entire thing (its quite long). Yall are right though he is my friend and I wouldnt want to throw the book at him for posting the pics on pbnation.. I guess I need to get a website pretty soon then.....

[J Eddington]

Just remember that someone like your friend may be clueless. He has no idea that a photographer owns the copyright and that he needed permission. Some people have no idea what the copyright means.

[xtremmountaineer]

o he knows about copyright law he just thinks that he guiltless because he was "advertising" my name

[J Eddington]

Originally Posted by xtremmountaineer

o he knows about copyright law he just thinks that he guiltless because he was "advertising" my name

Never mind then! It's just I have run into some pretty clueless people. So kick his butt! There is no reason for him to have done it!

[xtremmountaineer]

haha well he did drive me out to the paintball field several times......