Photoshop Insider

1. ^#1

   Great interview Scott! Glad you took this initiative!

   Erik Bernskiold on July 15th, 2008 at 5:27 am
2. ^#2

   Good informative podcast, but an important aspect of the copyright submission process was left out — submitting published vs unpublished work. Clarification of what constitutes published & unpublished would be quite helpful to your readers.

   Mark Beckelman

   Mark Beckelman on July 15th, 2008 at 7:10 am
3. ^#3

   great information, but one question. many photographers save smaller resolution images with their watermark on them in order to post on blogs and such. would it be acceptable to send those smaller resolution images with the watermark when submitting your photos to the copyright office?

   Amy Nabors on July 15th, 2008 at 8:15 am
4. ^#4

   Followed your advice, but when you try to access the VA short form you are told it has been phased out and recommend the upload process. There is also a link to the “new” long form.

   Thanks for taking the time to keep us all informed.

   jw

   john wren on July 15th, 2008 at 8:18 am
5. ^#5

   Thanks for posting all the copyright material lately.
   As starting out in the professional environment I have all these questions to about my work being protected but no one to turn to (unless I shell out $100/hr for an attorney).

   Nate Benson on July 15th, 2008 at 8:21 am
6. ^#6

   I wasn’t able to watch the video yet, proxy blocks YouTube, but did mention, or maybe you could explain, what the rules are for model releases when it comes to selling a photo as stock somewhere, royalty-free. Is a model release necessary? What about if you can’t see the person’s face, or they wouldn’t be able to identify themselves from the picture?

   I’m very new to the world of photography and making money doing it so I thought I’d dabble a little in stock photography to get my feet wet.

   Thanks again for all the wonderful things you put out to help those in the photography community.

   -Zach LeBar

   Zach LeBar on July 15th, 2008 at 8:22 am
7. ^#7

   Zach,
   I don’t know much about anything (so says my grandmother). But I’ve read in the past that no matter what you’re doing with the photo, you hsould get a model release. Whether it be for your personal portfolio or selling it to a stock photo agency, or producing the image in a massive quantity.

   I remember reading on a blog about a year ago about a model that sued a huge clothing company because they purchased the image for a billboard from a stock photo company and the model never signed off on it. The huge company then in turn sued the stock photo company who then in turn sued the photographer. I never heard results of the suits, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.

   So the moral of the story is spend the :45 seconds and have the model sign off.

   Hope that helped.

   Nate Benson on July 15th, 2008 at 9:12 am
8. ^#8

   Thanks Scott for keeping guys like me up on all the “legal” stuff

   Ken

   Ken on July 15th, 2008 at 9:25 am
9. ^#9

   Could Dave Cross address this issue for the Canadians?

   Linda on July 15th, 2008 at 9:30 am
10. ^#10

    Super neat. This is good stuff. Looking forward to watching the whole thing.

    Gavin Seim

    Seim Effects on July 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am
11. ^#11

    Do the files have to be uniquely named?

    I know I’ll have “name collision” between weddings.

    Mark

    Mark Bortz on July 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am
12. ^#12

    Now, to complicate issues, what about versions of a single images?
    A single image may have been cropped vertical or horizontal. Another version may have boosted color while another may have gone gray scale.

    My gut feeling is that each variation is a new creation/artistic vision (”artistic vision” sounds like bloated ego maniacal BS even when I say it…) and should be included in the registration.

    Thanks

    Ziv on July 15th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
13. ^#13

    Thanks for devoting time to this topic and explaining the basics so clearly. One more reason why this blog has become my first stop of each day.

    Jack Kelley on July 15th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
14. ^#14

    Clicked on play button afternoon of the 15th - got message “we’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”

    Carol Parker on July 15th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
15. ^#15

    The VA and VA-S forms are no longer available as downloads from either the Copyright Defense site or the Government Copyright Office. The Copyright Office will mail out VA and VA-S forms, however, which take 10 to 14 days to reach you.

    Brad

    Brad Vautrinot on July 15th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
16. ^#16

    Sorry - the play link now works again. However after watching the video I went to the website to access the forms, to be told they are being phased out and can’t be downloaded (but can be ordered by mail). Looked at the VA long form and was confused as to how to fill it out. Another interview to walk us through the blanks?

    Carol Parker on July 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
17. ^#17

    Very useful information. Thanks Scott for bringing this interview to us.
    It’s really not that expensive to do and you can protect thousands of pictures at once.

    Now it would be cool to figure out how to grab the name of the pictures from a folder (where the pictures are located) and dump those names into an Excel sheet or text file … Anyone?
    That would save a lot of time (copy/paste or typing are not attractive options when you have so many files).

    Merci,
    Julien

    Julien on July 15th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
18. ^#18

    Scott, The last 2 weeks of Photoshop TV combine to make a great photography copyright resource! Thanks for following up on the topic.

    Roger on July 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
19. ^#19

    With all the talk about bulk registering images through the copyright office, I decided to spend a little time searching the database . I was surprised to see how few of the photographers, we hear so much about, register only their books and some of their more popular published images. coughkelby…coughmcnally.

    Take a couple of minutes and research the copyright database. Enter the name of the most famous photographers you can think of. You will be surprised how little is registered considering how long they have been in the business.

    My search was cursory and there are a number of reasons why they couldn’t be found:
    Bulk upload was within the last 6-9 months
    they are using a pseudonym
    they are using a corporate name/entity

    Ziv on July 15th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
20. ^#20

    OBTW, search Chase Jarvis.
    He has bulk uploaded thousands and thousands and thousands of images after his experience with K2, Inc.

    Ziv on July 15th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
21. ^#21

    After listening to your interview with Jack Reznicki, and the comment that was made regarding “shooting children” I just had to include this email I received a few days ago.

    Keep up the good work on your blog. I look forward to reading each day.
    Matt

    The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said,
    “Well, I’m off now. The man should be here soon.”
    Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale.
    “Good morning, Ma’am”, he said, “I’ve come to…”
    “Oh, no need to explain,” Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, “I’ve been expecting you.”
    “Have you really?” said the photographer. “Well, that’s good. Did you know babies are my specialty?”
    “Well that’s what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat”. After a moment she asked, blushing, “Well, where do we start?”
    “Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.”
    “Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn’t work out for Harry and me!”
    “Well, Ma’am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results.”
    “My, that’s a lot!”, gasped Mrs. Smith.
    “Ma’am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I’d love to be In and out in five minutes, but I’m sure you’d be disappointed with that.”
    “Don’t I know it,” said Mrs. Smith quietly.
    The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. “This was done on the top of a bus,” he said.
    “Oh, my God!” Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.
    “And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.”
    “She was difficult?” asked Mrs. Smith.
    “Yes, I’m afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look”
    “Four and five deep?” said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.
    “Yes”, the photographer replied. “And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.
    ”Mrs. Smith leaned forward. “Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh…equipment?”
    “It’s true, Ma’am, yes.. Well, if you’re ready, I’ll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.”
    “Tripod?”
    “Oh yes, Ma’am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It’s much too big to be held in the hand very long.”
    Mrs. Smith fainted.

    Matthew Dillingham on July 15th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
22. ^#22

    For Canadians, and for many out there around the world, here is what I found on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office FAQs:

    “Is the copyright of a Canadian author valid in foreign countries?

    Yes, as long as the country in question belongs to one or more of the international copyright treaties, conventions, or organizations. These include the Berne Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Rome Convention, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). These international conventions, treaties, and organizations include most countries in the world.” This covers a lot of ground…

    More info here: http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/en/wr00090e.html

    In Canada, you register your copyright with the Copyright office mentioned above along with your $50 fee, but you send copies of your pictures to another place, Library and Archives Canada (only in Canada, eh?)…

    Jacques Babin on July 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
23. ^#23

    Greetings from Melbourne, FL, Scott.

    Thanks for the informative video. After listening, I thought of a couple questions.

    First, in last week’s call, it was mentioned that you have up to 90 days after a copyright violation to get your artwork registered and still be protected and have a case against the offending party. If it takes 3 to 6 months (depending on how busy the copyright office is) to get your work registered, will this have an impact on defending your work?

    Also, what if you find out that your work is being reproduced without your consent, but the violation is outside the US? Would having your work registered with the US Copyright Office provide you with any legal protection from overseas violators?

    Finally, thanks to Matthew Dillingham for his humor.

    Cheers,

    Karl-Franz
    http://karlfranz.com

    Karl-Franz on July 15th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
24. ^#24

    Something I found on the
    http://www.photoattorney.com/
    blog.
    http://www.photoattorney.com/

    Jul 15, 2008
    I Love New York! Photo Permit Rules Improved!
    The New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting
    has revised its rules on public photography. No permit is required
    for still photographers with handheld camera and tripod unless you
    want exclusive use of City property. Background information on my
    July 4, 2007, blog. Great update report by Daryl Lang at PDN. Hooray!

    Terry on July 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
25. ^#25

    Also see http://www.photopermit.org/ for a place to find the PDF file of the new laws.

    Terry on July 15th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
26. ^#26

    Thanks Jacques!

    Linda on July 16th, 2008 at 7:36 am
27. ^#27

    Thanks for another information posting.

    As a followup to a question posted above. It would be great to have some suggestions as to “workflow” for copyrighting images. For instance, should you burn a CD copy of your images right after uploading from a shoot and copyright all of the imported images (or perhaps all images after the first scan to discard the outtakes)? Or should you wait until images have all been post-processed and thus copyright the final versions? Does each snapshot or virtual image need to be copyrighted, or would a processed version be considered derivative of the original and therefore covered by a copyright on the original? How much postprocessing can you do before the image becomes a new image and needs separate copyright registration?

    Neal Lippman on July 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am
28. ^#28

    Good news for any Irish readers of this site:

    “copyright arises automatically on the creation of an original work. You do not need to publish your work, to put a copyright notice on it or do anything else to be covered by copyright - protection is free and automatic”
    - Irish Copyright Licensing Agency

    Neil on July 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
29. ^#29

    The Copyright office doesn’t list their forms for download but you can get them from this site: http://www.bitlaw.com/forms/crforms.html.

    Considering it costs $45 to file a copyright form for what could be thousands of files, what would be a practical time to file, quarterly??

    Dennis on July 17th, 2008 at 6:50 am
30. ^#30

    Sorry Dennis, clicking on the appropriate form only re-directs you to the Copyright Office only to be told the forms are no longer available.

    Brad

    Brad Vautrinot on July 17th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
31. ^#31

    Ooops, my bad. I downloaded one Wed. night thinking it was from that site. You can get one here: http://www.smithsholar.com/pdf/copyright_forms/formvas.pdf . I don’t think that’s where I got mine and I will find the original site and post it but, for now, this one works.

    Dennis on July 18th, 2008 at 7:02 am
32. ^#32

    It was gophotography.net. You can find it here: http://www.gophotography.net/tips/copyright.html

    Dennis

    Dennis on July 19th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

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