It is unfortunate that there will always be someone who wants to take something you have. We live in an online world and the way we do our everyday tasks has changed but theft will still be an issue we have to deal with. It is too easy for people to swipe an image off the internet. I take a hard line on this. Theft is theft. My images are my images and I worked hard to get them. I do look at each instance and deal with them differently but again - theft is theft. It is hard to judge a person through email, but an apology does go a long way. If you are a web designer or some sort of business that should know better you get no sympathy from me.
While I would like to believe that being nice would work, in the long run I think it only hurts us more. If someone stole your son's bicycle would you just let the guy off if he gave it back? It was only a kids bike, nothing too big.
I know my images are used all the time without my permission. I will deal with the ones I know about, but I don't want to get paranoid about it. People will take pictures of my images at a show but I know almost all of them are not going to do anything with them. I don't want to put a huge watermark on my online images where it detracts form the image itself. I want to make the experience for my customers a good one whether it be online or at a show. I'm not going to chase away a person who is taking pictures of my images because that altercation will be in full view of other customers.
If it is a small use of my image I will almost always go for money. I may ask for only a little but the fact that they have to actively write out a check for $50 or $100 really lets them know that what they did was wrong. I also let them know that they can go to iStock and get an image for a few bucks.
Scott
Scott Sharick Photography
Honolulu, Hawaii
www.scottsharickphotography.com
www.scottsharickblog.com
www.flickr.com/photos/scottsharick/
On Oct 25, 2010, at 4:24 AM, Tim wrote:
>> Hello Tim,
>>
>> I am by no means saying that we should not defend our rights or to allow
>> theft. I am however, saying that before we charge in all guns blazing,
>> to think if there is a way to change it to our advantage.
>>
>> It obviously depends upon where it's used, how and to what extent.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew Mills
>>
>
> I agree that we should not go in guns blazing, if you notice I gave them an option...and thankfully they quickly removed the image..
> Here is a little story to show you how persuasive the attitiude is. I did an art show a couple of months ago and have a number of HDR images on display. A local photojournalist stopped by who was covering the event and we got to talking shop (and my HDR(s))..He has had larger (older) papers lift images from their site and use them for a story without giving proper credit..These are papers that have been in business for a long time and should know better...he told me he has had to call them on it 1 to many times...
> The end result is no different then the facebook issue..using an image without first gaining permission and not even bothering crediting the correct person..
> I know its been mentioned on here before...but the only way to (hopefully) guarantee credit is to watermark your images if you post them online..
>
>
http://artshowphoto.com/support.htm
PLEASE READ....PLEASE TRIM POSTS!!! Keep quoted material short.
Repeat or create accurate subject lines.
If you want to advertise services related to art shows or photography, either in a forum post or on the resource web site, please contact the forum owner for permission.
Resource web site at
http://ArtShowPhoto.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment