Copyright – the law is behind you

What is copyright?

Copyright was invented to protect the creators of artistic works from their work being exploited by others. This is so that you can earn a living (if you wish) from your work. Copyright is there to prevent others from copying or reproducing your photos, displaying them in public or making derived works from them (e.g. using your photo in a collage, or making a painting from them). Most countries recognise copyright under local law in a broadly similar way.

As the original author of the work, you can assign the copyright to someone else, but this must be done in writing.

Copyright exists for 70 years after the death of the author.

It’s worth noting that if you took a photograph as part of your employment for someone else, that your employer holds the copyright to the photograph, not you.

How do I copyright my photos?

Firstly, it’s important to realise that you automatically own the copyright to every photograph you take. You don’t have to use the © symbol or watermark your images in order to have the copyright to an image. The problem comes when you get into a dispute and need to prove that you are the creator of the photo.

How do I prove that I created the photo?

You publish a photo on the internet and someone copies it and uses it for their own means. In this digital world, the copy is exactly the same as the original that you published online. How do you prove that yours is the original?

The answer could be easier than you thought. If you take your photographs using RAW format, and keep the originals, that is. Assuming you published a jpeg of your photograph, and that is what the thief has too, you can show that it could have been created from the RAW photograph (which only you have), but that the RAW photograph could not have been created from the jpeg.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

They provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry.

You will probably have come across Creative Commons if you use photo-sharing web sites like Flickr. The Creative Commons licenses are clearly and simply worded so that anyone should understand if and how they can use your photographs.

The license covers three areas – whether anyone using the photo must give attribution (mention you and link back), commercialization (can your image be used commercially) and derivation (can your image be used in another work). A common combination is Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works i.e. Someone may display your photo if they mention you and link back to the original image or your website, cannot use it for commercial puposes, and cannot base a new work on your photo. You can use the tools on the Creative Commons website to make a badge that summarises this, which for our example would look like this:-

This also automatically links back to the full license with a straightforward explanation.

You can access the Creative Commons licenses and tools at http://creativecommons.org/.

How do I find where my photos have been copied?

It’s very difficult to find your photographs on the internet, but not impossible. If someone has been silly enough to leave the file name the same, you can search for it using Google. Google have also launched a similar images feature in Google Images. If you can find your photograph on there, there may be a ‘Find similar images’ link under it, which will display (you’ve guessed it) similar images. Google images is at http://images.google.com.

Tin Eye is a reverse image search engine. You can upload the image you are looking for (or supply the URL of the web page where it is displayed), and it will look for similar images online. Tin Eye did a good job of identifying a test image I uploaded, but they admit that they only have a small part of the web searched at the moment. Tin Eye can be found at http://www.tineye.com/.

You could feel it in the air that change was coming. I was 20 at the time. Me and two buddies ignored the guards for the first time, jumped on the Wall and started walking backwards and forwards singing old German songs. We jumped down on the other side and I ran straight for my uncle’s house in the Eastern part – I had been there once before, illegally. He wasn’t home so we ran back to the Wall where somebody handed me a hammer and without question I just started pounding away at the Wall. I was so excited that I got exhausted after some time and I gave the hammer to my other mate who started hammering away too. What a night, I will always remember it – so much drinking and singing… It was great to see us as one Germany again.
Felix Heltmann, Berlin, Germany

Berlinermauer

photo credit: Hagens_world

photo credit: Netream

photo credit: Hagens_world

photo credit: abhijeet.rane

photo credit: jonas_k

photo credit: 7ff

photo credit: Brozzi

photo credit: finofilka

photo credit: Iguana Jo

photo credit: flickrjmg

photo credit: ingodesigng5

photo credit: Hagens_world

I drove up to the Queen’s View, Killiecrankie (I love the place just for the name) this weekend, one of the best known places in Scotland for spectacular autumnal views. The colours were just starting to come out, and inspired me to find some of the best Flickr photographs of autumn leaves.

photo credit: photographer padawan *(xava du)

photo credit: Denis Collette…!!!

photo credit: tozofoto

photo credit: ionushi

photo credit: jurvetson

photo credit: jam343

photo credit: digicla

photo credit: Tommy Ellis

photo credit: Jeff Kubina

photo credit: mangloard

photo credit: Indy Kethdy

photo credit: Indy Kethdy

photo credit: oisa

1. Have your camera with you

OK, so you won’t go out to photograph a rainbow without your camera, but what if you see one and you’re not prepared? A digital SLR and lens can be pretty heavy to lug around all the time. Many photographers also have a compact camera, something small enough and light enough to keep in a coat pocket or bag at all times.

2. Find a rainbow

Not as daft as it sounds! To get a rainbow you need light shining in your direction with droplets of water inbetween. You can check the weather forcast to work out your chances, or use a permanent source of water droplets like a waterfall or a fountain to get your rainbow. You could even be sneaky and make your own, using a garden hose or a spray bottle!

3. Can you get a dark background?

Rainbows show up better against a dark background. Can you get some stormy clouds or mountains behind it?

4. Use a polarizing filter

If you have a polarizing filter, use it. It will increase the contrast and cut down on any glare in your scene, allowing the rainbow to stand out. Try rotating it and seeing the effect it has at different angles.

5. Use a tripod

If you have one with you, use your tripod. It’ll help you keep the shot steady, and allow you to use a lower ISO number, for a higher quality shot.

I have a tripod. I keep it in the boot of the car so it’s handy, but I still hardly ever use it as I hate carrying heavy gear around. Did anyone say I have to follow my own tips?

6. Aperture

It’s hard to focus on a rainbow, even if you do it manually. Choose as small an aperture as you can, and make sure you get as much of the scene in focus as you can.

7. Composition

Most photographs of rainbows include the whole thing. Take a look at the points the rainbow meets the ground, and consider a close-up, zooming in on this area.

Check out 10 photos of rainbows.

Dr John Leys, principal research scientist with the New South Wales department of climate change and water, told the Sydney Morning Herald that initial estimates showed the dust plume stretched 373 miles along the state’s coast from Sydney to the Queensland border, dumping up to 75,000 tonnes of dust an hour into the Tasman Sea. “It’s travelled about 1,500km to get to Sydney,” he said.

Sydney Dust Storm, The Day After - by Christopher Chan

Red Dust Bridge - by iansand

Dust Storm, Noosa - by Garry

Dust Storm in Brisbane - by obLiterated

Telstra, dust and sun - by obLiterated

The Apocalypse is Nigh - by Matthew Stewart

Dust day laundry ripple window - by Mezza

Dust Storm - by Paula Bray

Dusty Morning - by Vern Norrgard

Hosing away dust from in front of the Opera Bar - by angusf

When everything we do is guided by the light, how can we fail to be inspired by these images?

Photo by Kansas Poetry (Patrick)

Photo by _Massimo_ (Massimo Strazzeri)

Photo by Nicholas_T

Photo by wili_hybrid (Ville Miettinen)

Photo by J. F. Marrero

Photo by Jose Venegas

Photo by mr. nightshade / Neil Girling

Photo by Proggie / Tym

Photo by Steve Jurvetson

Photo by Gino Carrier

Fancy photographing a rainbow yourself? Check out How to photograph a rainbow.