Copyrighting Images
Is copyright worth the aggro and expense?
Q.
Do you know how to go about copyrighting images. I am doing a small photography "business" on the side and am not sure how to get a copyright for all of my photos that I produce and how that process works. Any information would be great, Thanks.
A.
You don't actually have to do anything. Your images are automatically copyrighted when you take them. It is even better with digital (assuming you shoot digital) as the camera automatically writes all of the "exif" data onto the file. This includes camera, make, model, date and time etc.
If putting them online or sending copies to potential clients, always reduce the quality and add a watermark, see;
If you publish them, add a small copyright symbol, date, time and yourself next to it. However, I wouldn't worry too much. Unfortunately theft, particularly online, does happen but not too often.
Many people who take images and use them on their own website, are many times, unaware of the copyright laws with regards to images. They simply think that because they are online, in the public domain, they are there for the taking.
Adding a watermark will hopefully educate those people in the future!
As a last resort and if you feel it is necessary, batch them up and host them (for a very reasonable fee) at…Copyright Deposit. This is where ATP and its images are stored.