Copyright Your Photographs Online

Online Photography School

Copyright Your Photographs Online

When it comes to protecting your online photography there are many ways to prevent people from copying or distributing your artwork.

Protecting Your Imagery:

If you are like me you have probably uploaded your precious photography at one time or another to either your own website / blog, or to an online gallery such as PictureSocial, 500px or Flickr. The benefit to showcasing your imagery is obvious, you want visitors to see your work, but you want your work to be secure and represented the way you want and, importantly, where you want.

Locating photography being used without your permission.

Google Images
The first thing I recommend is to visit the mighty Google Images page. Where Google.com is unmatched for searching textual data, Google Images is the king of pixel based searching. Google Images utilizes a special algorithm to find imagery that is exactly your work and imagery that is visually similar. The interesting thing with Google Images is that you can drag and drop your photos directly onto the search bar. Of course, if you want to be boring, you can always just use the camera icon.
TinEye
TinEye is another reverse image search engine. Very similar to Google Images but it offers many additional services including the ability to register your imagery. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist.
Additionally, you can use it as a tool to locate higher resolution versions of imagery (which seems extremely hypocritical considering the nature of this article – but, I digress). Either way it’s tremendously useful for tracking down your online imagery.

Steps to Protect Your Photography From Being Stolen:

Watermarking is one of the most critical anti-plagiarism tools that you can deploy to combat the theft of your work. First off, it’s free and it solves 2 issues at once. One being that it visibly demonstrates that you want your work protected and that it’s not free or licensed for distribution. Secondly, it provides a level of self promotion back to your blog or online gallery which enhances the opportunity that your work will be credited or for that matter you get new clients / fans or stalkers.

Where there are many options for watermarking including visible and invisible the standard for most photographers is to add your name to the bottom or side of your image. I personally recommend that you add your website / blog or online gallery like 500px or Flickr to your watermark.
The option of visibly watermarking your image comes in 2 forms. One being my preferred method, a simple stamp at the bottom or along the side of your image. It’s a tasteful way of claiming ownership without obstructing the image. This way the experience for the viewer is pristine and if done correctly it will not steal any attention from your artwork.

The second version is the full image watermark. This method is reserved for those that absolutely want to maintain full control of your imagery. Unfortunately, this technique also obscures the photo and in my opinion ruins the ability to appreciate the art. However, I have used this watermark technique for a client that knew their work would be stolen. You can often see type of watermarking being used in stock art photography. Of course if the person stealing the image really wants they can take the time to clone out most watermarks albeit it’s never really done well.

Making a Legal Difference

If your watermark is removed by someone you have a case under the copyright law for infringement which can provide additional damages against the accused violator. You can reference – 17 USC § 1202 – Integrity of copyright management information.

Metadata – The Good and the Bad

Many photographers are aware of the hidden data that is embedded into your digital files. One being EXIF which stands for “Exchangeable Image File Format” and is a standard that specifies the formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras and now smart-phones, scanners and other systems. The other 2 forms of metadata that can be embedded are IPTC “International Press Telecommunications Council” and XMP “Extensible Metadata Platform”.

What Makes Metadata Amazing

Let’s talk about the good part of metadata. For one unless it’s deliberately removed it’s permanently attached to your image. In terms of this article, which is preventing photographic piracy, this is a digital blessing. Not only does it keep track of your cameras technical data, it also contains your copyright information.
Continuing on the plus side of meta data is the ability to add keywords to your photography. The value that this adds is often overlooked by most photographers. While the debate is out on if metadata is used by search engines, I have found through my experiences that it enhances SEO. I will be covering this with an article in the future.

Adjusting the Copyright Info in Your Camera

Most DSLR camera’s today will allow you to add some metadata directly into your photography via a menu in your camera settings. This ensures that every shot made with your camera is injected into the digital thread of your image. This is something that I HIGHLY recommend that you do.
Typically you can add several lines which include your copyright, name, and URL. While most photographers add this info when they are processing their imagery I prefer to have the data embedded to avoid forgetting to attach it later on.

Never Upload a Full Resolution Photo

If you are planning on uploading imagery to your blog or to your favorite social media site I recommend, more than any other tip on this page, to hold back from uploading the original resolution. For example, if I shoot with my Canon 7D at full res–18 mega-pixels–I will only upload, at the most, a 4 mega-pixel photo to any social site or online gallery. I tend to keep my imagery at about 1200px on the longest side for most of my online portfolio work.
First off, there have been many photographers lately who’ve had their work ripped off of social media only to be used overseas for stock art companies which sell the photos without paying you. Secondly, you can prove that the image is absolutely yours in the case that someone claims that they took the photo. Understandably, you can up-res photos to mimic a higher resolution but pixel peepers will be able to distinguish the fake.
Unless you’re selling your imagery online for digital prints or canvas work I would stay away from larger imagery. It just opens the door for digital thieves to plunder your talent.

Ongoing Photography Vigilance

Google Alerts
This is a gem of a tip. If you are serious about keeping track of your imagery then Google alerts may be one of the best hidden tools you can utilize. Google Alerts allows you to set up keyword triggers that sends you an email based upon the criteria that you enter. In essence it can monitor the Web for the exact content that you want.
This basically turns Google Alerts into your own personal spider bot. You can use it to enter your name, (I would use quotes to surround any specific term–for example, I have one set for my name “Erik Sacino”– this weeds out getting false readings). Also, you can search for specific names of your images. You will want to make sure that you have a good nomenclature established to differentiate between your imagery and others. In the past, I have used a special alphanumeric combo such as “dragon_one_solargravity_3s88z2g3q.jpg. The chances of someone using “3s88z2g3q” is pretty rare and you should have no problem finding your work.

Give All of Your Photos a Unique Name

The interesting thing that I have found is that most digital thieves will not rename the photo. This works in your favor.
Additionally, I have discovered that when people steal your work they often rip the description directly from your image. This is actually a good thing since you can digitally tattoo your own words.

My Example of a Unique Description Trigger

“This photo represents one of the most spectacular evenings I have ever photographed. The cloud to sky ratio, the majestic colors, the open field that I was in, all these variables aligned for me this evening. I knew at the time that this combination would only happen a few times in my life.”
In Google Alerts I have set up an alert to trigger on the phrase (notice the quotes) “cloud to sky ratio, the majestic colors, the open field”. This unique combination of words is as unique as a special 56 digit alphanumeric when used.

In Conclusion

With a few easy steps you can really make a difference in preventing your photography from being uncredited or, even worse, sold online without your knowledge. Remember to watermark your imagery and to embed your copyright info into your metadata. Using a passive search tool like Google alerts will help assist you in your battle to guard your intellectual property.
About the Author:
Erik Sacino