How to Copywrite a Photograph
Copyright on photos is an automatic right. As soon as you take a photo, it is copyrighted to you automatically, until you sell it or die. However, if one of your photos has been claimed by someone else and used unlawfully, it can be difficult to prove that you took the photo. There are a number of ways to ensure that, if needs be, you can prove the photo was taken by you.
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Instructions
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Place a watermark of some kind and a copyright notice on any photo released into the public domain, such as: "Copyright 2006. Photographer's name/company. All Rights Reserved."
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Store all photos on a hard drive, where the date and time it was loaded will be stored. Since dates and times can be changed on computers, this method will not be 100 percent proof in a court of law.
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Develop or print out the photos you wish to copyright. Put them in an envelope with the front page of that day's newspaper. Go to your post office, get the envelope stamped and dated and have it delivered back to yourself. Keep the envelope in a safe place, unopened; it serves as proof of when the photo was taken.
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Join a website such as Protect My Work and upload your photos to their database; these sites hold your photos along with your name and the time and date of the upload in their database.
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Tips & Warnings
Carry out at least one of these measures when releasing your photography into the public domain. It's better to be safe than sorry.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit camera image by Alexandre from Fotolia.com
