Since moving to Kansas, I knew that one of my new rules for sharing photos from our sessions online would be that clients would only be able to share photos with my watermark on them. I haven’t required anyone to do it from Texas, thinking it would just be new with clients June 2009 and onwards. But I wanted to let you know why I am adding this new rule, which will be included in our contracts together. It’s to prevent your Christmas card photo or the photo of your child from showing up unauthorized on ads or any other use from locally, nationally, and internationally. Here in Kansas City, one family had posted their Christmas card photo online to share with family and friends and it ended up on an ad for a grocery store in Prague, Czech Republic. The grocer claimed it “came from the internet”, therefore figured it was not copyrighted. Why only uploading watermarked photos to share online is beneficial to both of us:
- It protects my work as the photographer and protects your photo from unauthorized use. Watermarks are not removable without seriously damaging the digital file, making it unusable.
- It protects your children, as not all people who could steal your photo are honest
If you have photos from our previous sessions that you would like watermarked that you don’t see in my galleries, please contact me and I would happy to send you a copy. Please see the link below to read the full story:
