New on the course - & straight in with an awkward question...

[gsp100677]

Hi all,

I just joined this week & was getting ready to upload my first 3 pics for the first assignment, and had a question...

When you upload your photos here on PP (whether for assignments or to your blog), do ProudPhotography then own the rights to them?

If any of you took the shots they've got displayed in the gallery for all of us to see, could you tell me if they explicitly asked your permission to display each shot so other member could see?
...or is it implicit in a terms & conditions somewhere?

The privacy policy only talks about the privacy of your info (e.g. email address, etc.) but there's no mention of uploaded photos.

I have emailed customer support - but I guess I'm impatient to get an answer, as I'm excited to get on with the course - but don't want to upload portraits of family/friends who value their anonymity & privacy.

Any useful info would be interesting :)

Thanks all,
Gsp

[jerryph]

When you upload your photos here on PP (whether for assignments or to your blog), do ProudPhotography then own the rights to them?
Nope, you took the pics, you own them for ever and ever and ever. :) They do not make money off of them, they do not paste them nor use them elsewhere.


If any of you took the shots they've got displayed in the gallery for all of us to see, could you tell me if they explicitly asked your permission to display each shot so other member could see?
No, there is no way that can be done anywhere.


...but don't want to upload portraits of family/friends who value their anonymity & privacy.
You can rest easy.

When you upload your pictures as part of the course, no club member other than your tutor sees it. If you upload your pictures to the forum gallery, we can see it, but trust me, we are all here for the same reasons you are, and it would be the surprise of my life to know that anyone here took someone else's property for personal gain. I cannot say that with the same level of confidence anywhere else, though.

If you are concerned:

1 - anything that you do not want made public... do NOT upload anywhere. Period.

2 - anything you think could be stolen, make it smaller (500 pixels on the long side)

3 - anything you think could be stolen, learn to place a watermark on it

4 - anything you think could be stolen, include a copyright in the EXIF

5 - anything you think could be stolen, make it low resolution (72 DPI is adequate for the web, but death if you try to print it, where you would need something like 300 DPI for quality prints)

Now, even having done most of the above is not a guarantee that it will not be stolen (pictures uploaded for your tutor's eyes the exception). In my mind, I do NOT post anything on the web that I feel infringes on the privacy of my friends and/or family.

By the way... welcome to the club! :D

[dkippen]

GSP - welcome to the group and I echo what Jerry says. I belong to a couple of other photo boards and there's always one or two photographers talking about having their pictures taken for other purposes - it can be a real nightmare, especially if you have talent. One women went so far as to create a her own wedding photo site using someone elses pictures and passing them off as her own.

[reval8r]

I agree with Jerry and Debbie. I've posted many images on the web. I do so where it's still a quality image for viewing, but not for making prints quality prints. I don't worry about someone stealing and making money off them.

I all can say about those that steal someone’s images and pass them off as their own, if they can't produce an image of that quality for a client they won't be around long. I know from shooting portraitures, people except you to produce at least the quality image that you use to represent your work. Personally, I feel my printed images are a better selling point than the same images on the web. Larger images are much more impressive and better for marketing and sales than small images. The images I post on the web would make a decent 5x7 print, but I like to show at least an 11x14 high qaulity print to a perspective client. My web site has brought a few referrals and inquiries, but I’ve still have to meet with the client to close a deal.