Thursday, December 11, 2008

Who took it?


I mean the title of this post in two ways:
1. Who took (i.e. focused and pressed 'click' on camera) whatever photo you are looking at?
2. Who takes (i.e. copies and pastes elsewhere) whatever photo you are looking at and uses it as "theirs" without giving credit to the photographer?

I love to see an uninterrupted image - i.e. an image without a watermark all over it. I also love to see a large, clear image ... as opposed to a tiny one where you have to strain to see what's in it ... or a grainy low resolution one that looks like poor quality. However, I understand the need for small sizes, low resolution and large watermarks, especially when one has photographs online.

In the past, there are times when I've put my name small in the corner of a shot, but that can still be cropped by someone wanting to use the image elsewhere and not give credit. Usually I don't bother about 'claiming' the photo in that way. I certainly don't put my name in large letters (like what I've done above - and what I've gone back and done on yesterday's post). But that way, cropping out the name becomes difficult.

I don't know if anyone has ever copied photos I have here on my blog and used them elsewhere. Maybe they have. Quite by chance, I saw one once somewhere, but credit had been given.

Recently there was a discussion on TriniGourmet's blog re shameless copyright infringement. The main case in point was the Trinidad Express Newspaper (one of our three daily newspapers - if not the 'top' one?) taking photos from blogsites of local bloggers and using them in the newspaper without as much as even a mention of the person's name in even 8 point font! This is ludicrous. Bad enough having people online 'taking' your photos ... but a major newspaper?

TriniGourmet follows her article with some guidelines:
What to do when someone steals your content?
Protect your blog and counter copyright thefts.

I'll read up on these later.

And recently I got an e-mail from an acquaintance advising me of the following:

it may be a good idea to register your website and photography with the United States Copyright Office here: http://www.copyright.gov/

Take note of these tips, fellow online photographers. It doesn't matter if you think your photos are 'good' or 'not'.

4 comments:

meadysmusings said...

Hey really nice photo by the way I did wonder how you got all that taken on your own and managed to save the bird from the cat (like dont know much about cats and how they react to their owners but wondering if the cat would have still tried to steal the bird away in that shot)It must have felt great to save the bird so close to death...I meant to say yesterday but instead went on about how I feel about cats.

Thanks for the links about copyright etc. I wonder about it but am pretty confused about the laws...been thinking to talk to a lawyer who helped me on a totally different standard thing but have been thinking to ask her to do some copyright stuff for me...dont know if she does that line of work or how much she would charge though.

My photography is pretty on the amateur fun loving side...but I was just yesterday thinking how robbed I'd feel if someone started to copy something I built up on my own slowly over years and they ripped it out from under me...and actually I was wondering if getting TT copyright meant much in a global sense online. Can local people get copyrighted for the international market and how does that work? I guess I'll visit your links and see if they can help.

On an entirely different note I think Im going to officially tank my semi raw efforts as they basically havent been working out mostly cause I'm too busy to get the foods and I then have been missing meals and then just eating food not bad food really...like not junky food but for sure cooked. In the end I've been eating less on the whole though but dont like that it is after big gaps of not eating as to me that cant be healthy. Although on the whole the eating less overall is good for me as I need to lose weight. So think going to go back to cooked but still be as healthy as possible in choices like less fried less cheese/butter/sugar etc. and perhaps smaller portions on the whole. And will try the approach I had on my 3wk stint that went pretty well again in the new yr. I know this may sound unhealthy but perhaps not in an overall mind/body/spirit way necessarily if done in moderation! I'm planning to do an Advent calender series on my blogs instead...will surprise you to see what it is but part of it has to do with chocolates! :) I know it's two wks in but still good enough time to do one a day till christmas. Hopefully it will be fun!

Elspeth said...

Im surprised the photos came out clear considering I was using my big camera, holding it in one hand and the bird in the other. Jasper wouldn't have harmed her if she was with me. When I had Rainbow (pigeon) he was good about it ... if not a bit jealous of a creature other than him getting my attention.

I guess it's not easy or appealing for everyone to be raw ... in the same way that some people can't conceive of not eating meat. Once you feel healthy with what you're eating/making healthy choices - whether raw, vegetarian, vegan, meat or not - that's what matters.

Why not just increase your raw intake but don't give it a numerical value and don't think of it as being 100% or 80% or semi raw. Maybe looking at it that way and labeling it as 'raw' made it feel like you had to stick to a certain way of eating .. rather than just going with the natural flow of just simple 'eating more greens, etc. with my meals'.

meadysmusings said...

Yea good idea...I more eat fruits...so like what I can do is eat fruits for breakfast and lunch but I never liked vege salads as much...is why I had called it 70% raw cause I was warming up the veges a bit etc. But I actually wanted to eat only apples etc back then...the visualization I had bout the taste of the moisture on the apple etc etc...this time I decided to go back to it cause of different reasons to stem unhealthiness etc. So think is why it was different. I am also very busy and rush about much more than normal these days too so harder to be buyign the fruits even or sauteeing the veges etc...as it is difficult to keep up and get enough etc. So will still try to currently but plan to try better when Im more at peace next month. Cuase what I'm saying is I liked eating that way not 100% but mostly so but it did require the discipline of buying fresh stuff all the time and preparing my own things on evenings. But I do think I can live like that cause even the cheese and milk last time I didnt miss much. But think I'd miss it if stopped althogether like the milk in things like tea and cocoa etc. So by and large the real hindrance is overall lifestyle like eating out socilizing and still finding the right things...of course I guess yes true committment would be to do like I do with meat but the only reason I do that is cuase of how I feel bout the life of the animals...so different motivation. But really the things taste lovely that's not much the issue althoguh there would be times you would crave the old but you body does get adjusted eventually. Its why I was saying you should go into raw food catering! I know someone on the Intent community who is a vegan chef who has two restaurants one in Hawaii and one in Colorado. I even chatted with him bout exanding his chain. Of course I dont have the capital though...

Elspeth said...

Some of my friends & acquaintances have said that they would eat raw food if I made it for them. I've thought about it many times ... and tried with two people (one friend and my sister) ... but it would end up being quite expensive if it is to be worthwhile! If I could find a way of doing it that works for me economically and also for the people who want it, I would definitely enjoy doing it on a (very) small scale.