Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Copyrighting Your Work is Work

There was an article in Digital Pro Photo magazine about the steps to follow if you think your copyright has been violated and how to proceed smartly. Basically it said "be reasonable" in your expectations. This not only will help protect your copyright, assuming you filed one correctly, but it will enhance your chances of having a judge find in your favor and not lose the whole judgment because of legal fees, etc.

This is a great article for budding photographers as well as seasoned professionals. And, it got me to thinking about my own copyright...which Margo Pinkerton (from the Barefoot Contessa's Photo Adventures) has helped me correct on my images. I've discovered that I need to do a lot of work on currently available images and that I have to steam line my work flow to make certain it protects my work in the future. A lot of work for certain, but what's the alternative. If, or perhaps when, someone accidentally or deliberately uses one of my images without permission I don't want to be left high and dry.

By the way, let me pass on Margo's advise on how a copyright needs to be written to be correct. There are three ways (without the quotes, of course):

* Copyright 2008 "Your Name"
* Copr. 2008 "Your Name"
* © 2008 "Your Name"

As it turns out Digital Pro Photo's website has a lot of good information, from back issues of the magazine, on the subject of copyright. Anyone interested might want to check it out.

Photography has been part of Tom Dwyer's life since he was a photographer for Airman magazine back in the 60's. Today Tom focuses his creative talents on discovering the beauty in the world around us. You can follow Tom's journey at his nature photography blog and you can also view Tom's growing collection of nature pictures at his online gallery.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Dwyer

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