How do you get your photography copyrighted?

Question

I have tons of photos that i want to be copyrighted i just don't know how to go about it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

If you need a detailed explaination I would go to Editorial Photographers:
http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/

The site will give you everything you need to know to copyright your work.

Answer 2

You can do this at the US Copyright Office – see the last 2 links in the source box. The application is fairly simple & the cost is $45 per application.

Despite what others state, a "poor man's" copyright is NOT the same as registering it. Here's what the US Copyright Office has to say:

"The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a 'poor man’s copyright.' There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration."

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 3

I thought it was worldwide, but at least in Europe and most other countries copyright is automatic, as soon as you produce something. Now the ways of protecting that copyright are the ones that vary. Some people confuse this with a patent with which you have to fill in forms.

One easy way of copyrighting your stuff is

Step 1 by going into photoshop (if your photos are film ones you can scan them in regardless if they are prints, negs,slides,etc, just need the right scanner), open your photo, save your photo at the highest quality TIFF which should be either 16 or 32 bit TIFF.
This is trickier if your photo is originally a JPEG as it won't improve the quality and this is key. JPEGs are of lower quality than TIFF and so much lower than your camera's proprietary RAW if you are using digital. With negs/slides, just need to keep those safe.

On step 2 reduce the quality to 8-bit TIFF and convert the TIFF file to a JPEG. To this JPEG you are gonna add a Text layer, in which you will type your name and year and add the "c" mark if you want. Reduce the layer's opacity or fill in the Layer tab to get it semi transparent. Choose a colour to suit too. When you have done this go to Layers and click Flatten Image. Save the file. This file is now ready to be shown anywhere including the web.

From JPEG files it is trickier, because JPEGs are compressed files, even the highest quality ones, which means there is some loss of quality and to put it mildly, JPEGs are the sl*t of digital image files, since anyone can alter them and call them their own. Now if your JPEG was converted from a RAW file from your camera it is a whole different matter since RAW is like holding the negative or slide. You can always prove the photo is yours as long as you have it since it is nearly uneditable.

But there is a way if the photo is JPEG only:

Reduce the size of the photo and the quality when saving, but prior to saving do Step 2 of the TIFF conversion (adding the text layer), so you will be the only one holding the highest quality JPEG meaning all the other ones are copies.


Hope this helps,



Doppelganger

Answer 4

start by putting your name on it
also, in the usa, if you put a (C) symbol on it, it's technically copyrighted, provided you send in some paperwork to the government.
check out the usa gov't website for more info and the forms to download.