your pics are my pics

smugger

Please tell me if I am being uptight or I should take it as a compliment when the following happens:

I take photos at a wedding or on a weekend getaway and I send my smugmug album to my friends as they were there or to show them where I went. I am an amateur, I don't do this for money but for my own enjoyment and creative release. However, I do usually work in cs3 to post process which takes time. On more than one occasion I have sent an album out and I find later some of my images in their own album on another photo site, their blog, or their social networking site with no attribution as if they took it themselves. I don't think they realize that some of those photos do not just pop out of the camera like that or that I could look like I am stealing their pics if I end up posting to a public site later than they do.

I guess it's b/c it's among friends, I am hesitant to say anything at all. If I took someone else's photos, I would attribute them and I always thought the same would be done to me. I don't mind if my friends want to use them if it's not for commercial use but I mind that they put them in their albums as if they took them. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone before with your friends and what you did. Maybe I just need to be flattered and let go of my dismay?

MarkTodd

smugger wrote:

Please tell me if I am being uptight or I should take it as a compliment when the following happens:

I take photos at a wedding or on a weekend getaway and I send my smugmug album to my friends as they were there or to show them where I went. I am an amateur, I don't do this for money but for my own enjoyment and creative release. However, I do usually work in cs3 to post process which takes time. On more than one occasion I have sent an album out and I find later some of my images in their own album on another photo site, their blog, or their social networking site with no attribution as if they took it themselves. I don't think they realize that some of those photos do not just pop out of the camera like that or that I could look like I am stealing their pics if I end up posting to a public site later than they do.

I guess it's b/c it's among friends, I am hesitant to say anything at all. If I took someone else's photos, I would attribute them and I always thought the same would be done to me. I don't mind if my friends want to use them if it's not for commercial use but I mind that they put them in their albums as if they took them. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone before with your friends and what you did. Maybe I just need to be flattered and let go of my dismay?

Add your signature and copyright info to the shots? Add a link back to your site?

anwmn1

Add your signature or watermark to every image so even if they share it- your name will be on it.

I would also ask them to provide a link back to your site. Something like-

Check out more great shots taken by our friend "Name"

I don't think it would be too much to ask.

Icebear

What he said

I've seen some of my shots on other folks' blogs, but they've always given me credit. Guess my friends are a different kind of folks.

smugger

Yes, I thought that if they were to use my pic in their blog, they would at least attribute me but they did not. I spoke to one friend who said that she had no idea that I worked on them and would have done the same thing if I hadn't mentioned it to her.

I am ok with a creative commons policy on them, I wish smugmug would allow that as a tag on the albums or images, maybe underneath the captions? Or a popup message when they right clicked on it?

I thought abt watermarking them but I like sharing them free of marks. Invisible watermarking seems to only be useful if I wanted to take legal action for someone republishing my photo. I don't want to sue my friends . No solution is a perfect one I guess, I will have to take the good with the bad with any decision...

denisegoldberg

smugger wrote:

Yes, I thought that if they were to use my pic in their blog, they would at least attribute me but they did not. I spoke to one friend who said that she had no idea that I worked on them and would have done the same thing if I hadn't mentioned it to her.

I am ok with a creative commons policy on them, I wish smugmug would allow that as a tag on the albums or images, maybe underneath the captions? Or a popup message when they right clicked on it?

I thought abt watermarking them but I like sharing them free of marks. Invisible watermarking seems to only be useful if I wanted to take legal action for someone republishing my photo. I don't want to sue my friends . No solution is a perfect one I guess, I will have to take the good with the bad with any decision...

I don't think you're being uptight at all. Even if you hadn't edited the photos, they are still yours!

I actually upgraded to a pro account after a similar incident to get the right-click protection. (OK, OK, I know that was a pretty extreme reaction, but I did it anyway. It just pissed me off when people started "taking" photos of mine.) As it turns out right-click protection only works when viewing the photos within the smugmug galleries (as opposed to in my blog or other places...), but it's a start. Of course, even with right click protection, it's the web... so someone who wants to grab the image from their browser cache will be able to do so. It's a start though.

If you're a pro user, turn right click protection on. If you're a power user, someone here has published a hack that implements right click protection. I imagine you should be able to find it by searching the customization forum.

I don't know where your galleries are, so I can't check. But you do have the originals turned off in your galleries, right? And I assume that you have also turned off the share photo option (at least when you're not logged in).

--- Denise

dangin

my .02:

• DO watermark. if you decide to be more serious with your photography and turn into a serious amatuer or semi-pro you'll start watermarking your images sooner or later. you'll even realize it's free advertisement.
• DO right-click protect. right-click protection is a deterrent not a solution. anyone that knows what they're doing with a browser or can figure out that the image they're looking at is cached on their computer somewhere is going to get your images.
• DO understand that this is just the start of your images getting pilferred. yup, it happens. a lot. it's unfortunate, but that's reality for ya.
• DON'T display the original images. small, medium, and large only.
• DON'T be mad at your friends if you're not doing this for money. again, think of it as potential advertisement.

coldclimb

I just usually ask my friends:

"Hey, can you add my name to the caption? And maybe a link to my site?"

Typically works well. After all, my friends are my FRIENDS, and are more than happy to help me out, especially in return for the pictures they love.

What's sadly amusing is how much I abhor myspace, and how many of my pictures are scattered around on it.

claudermilk

Same here. I've made it clear that my friends have permission to use my photos of them, but I do want attribution--which they are more than happy to give. Being largely artistic types themselves, they "get it" and see the point--they also want to make sure it's known that I took them. Some fool must have told them I'm good at this or something. D

Pixel Popper

Be direct...
IMHO, there is nothing more effective than simply being direct with your friends. Just tell them. I'm sure you can find a kind and gentle way to ask that your work is credited. No one should take offense by that kind of request.

smugger

denisegoldberg wrote:

If you're a pro user, turn right click protection on. If you're a power user, someone here has published a hack that implements right click protection. I imagine you should be able to find it by searching the customization forum.

I don't know where your galleries are, so I can't check. But you do have the originals turned off in your galleries, right? And I assume that you have also turned off the share photo option (at least when you're not logged in).

--- Denise

I don't have the share function turned off because I wanted to link to them myself (I can still do that if I am logged in?). I guess I should be more careful about that. I did turn off originals though. Through this thread I am realizing I may either need to not care or I need to start to watermark or ask my friends for attribution =/. I wish they would have naturally just thought of it, it feels awkward b/c I think some of them will think I have a big head b/c they dont understand how I feel about photography. Another idea I have is to put in the caption of the album the creative commons license definition....

Thank you all for your responses! If anyone else has an opinion, feel free to share...

StevenV

coldclimb wrote:

What's sadly amusing is how much I abhor myspace, and how many of my pictures are scattered around on it.

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I shoot high school Marching Band and other events, and so many of the kids were "stealing" my images for their FaceBook accounts that I took a different approach. I got a FB account myself and post some of my pictures there as well.

The full-size versions go on SmugMug, and a lower-resolution version goes in a FaceBook gallery that has pointers to my SM account in its description. That way the kids get a somewhat-sanctioned version to use as they were going to anyway, I get some 'advertising' out of it, and the parents still go to SM to purchase prints.

LiquidAir

My policy is discreet watermarks; just a small URL and a copyright near the edge of the frame. Yes they can be cropped off, but most people won't bother and those that do know they are doing something wrong.

LiquidAir

StevenV wrote:

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I shoot high school Marching Band and other events, and so many of the kids were "stealing" my images for their FaceBook accounts that I took a different approach. I got a FB account myself and post some of my pictures there as well.

The full-size versions go on SmugMug, and a lower-resolution version goes in a FaceBook gallery that has pointers to my SM account in its description. That way the kids get a somewhat-sanctioned version to use as they were going to anyway, I get some 'advertising' out of it, and the parents still go to SM to purchase prints.

That's a great idea. Give them and easy way to do it right and they'll use it. That's why I don't turn off external linking. I would rather them link my version than post a copy somewhere else.

denisegoldberg

smugger wrote:

I don't have the share function turned off because I wanted to link to them myself (I can still do that if I am logged in?).

You can turn it on only when logged in if you'd like. That's what I do, CSS below:

/* enable share button only when logged in */

    .share_button  {
        display: none; }
    .loggedIn .share_button  {
        display: block; } 

--- Denise