Showing posts with label Microstock photography. Show all posts

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Don’t Put a Target on Your Back!

Technorati Tags: disclaimer,professional,postings,comments,photographs,rights,copyrights,social media,information,ramblings,legal standing,nonsense,photographer,model

It appears that we are entering another apparently annual round of people worrying about their copyrights, and rights to their profiles, postings and comments they post on the internet, especially on various social media sites they may belong to.

In response, they seem to rely on one or both of the following stock “Legal Notices” they find on the internet, to try and guarantee protection against photo, and or profile theft:

Today, (Month, Day, Year) in response to the Facebook (or other social media site) guidelines and under articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal data, drawings, paintings, photos, texts etc... published on my profile. For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.
Those reading this text can copy it and paste it on their Facebook (or other social media site) wall. This will allow them to place themselves under the protection of copyright. By this release, I tell Facebook (or other social media site) that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, broadcast, or to take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents.
The actions mentioned above apply equally to employees, students, agents and/or other staff under the direction of Facebook (or other social media site). The contents of my profile includes private information.

Facebook is now an open capital entity.

All members are invited to post a notice of this kind, or if you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you have not published this statement at least once, you will tacitly allow the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile

I declare that I own full rights to my profile, as well as all information and pictures appearing in conjunction with my site ID and Profile. I will fully prosecute my rights, in relation to anybody misusing those rights, especially students of (particular) University to use any of that information or pictures in their studies or coursework.

…or words similar to these.

Like the vast majority of disclaimers, these and similar legal sounding ramblings are useless with no legal standing, or added protection to your rights.

Note that there are several things which should raise questions about the indiscriminate use of these notices.

It seems that the only country to have a “code of intellectual property” is France, so how would that be relevant to Australia, or America, (where most of the social media sites seem to be located)
What is an ”open capital entity”?
Why are you expressly instructed to not “share” the notice, but specifically “copy and paste it”?
Why do you need to specifically post a dodgy sounding, pseudo legalistic notice to place you under copyright protection, when you are already fully protected under Facebook’s, or any other site’s terms and agreements, and more importantly Australia's ( or any other nation’s) Copyright Law.

It seems to me …and I am not a lawyer, but I do have a decent working knowledge of Copyright…that at best this is just some useless nonsense, made up at some stage by some paranoid “bush lawyer”

Most likely though it seems to scream

“IAM A COMPLETE PRATT!”

“I do not understand copyright, and I have not read or understood the Terms and Conditions of the site I am a member of.”

“So feel free to steal my pictures, my postings, or my complete profile”

But above all, if the poster claims to be a professional photographer, model or in any other arts related field, I would regard their professionalism with the contempt it deserves.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Rights of Various Participants in a Photo-shoot...

Part One: The Model´s Rights

Traditionally a photo-shoot involves two people: the model and the photographer.

Other people are sometimes involved to complete various work necessary to making the shoot a success, the tendency being the more commercial the shoot, the more people involved.

Therefore what rights do these various people on a photo-shoot have, both during the actual shoot, and in the results of that particular shoot.

Also as many models, actors and photographers, makeup artists and really just about anyone, are often keen to get involved in many different roles within their industry, and therefore learn by actually doing, I offer the following summary of their ¨rights¨:

The Model/Actor

The model only has one right available to him/her to exercise; the right to the use of their ¨likeness¨.
They give the photographer permission to use their likeness for any lawful purpose, by merely standing in front of the camera, and allowing photographs to be taken, or by applying/attending to a photo call.

If it is a commercial shoot, or it is envisaged that the resulting pictures may be used for commercial purposes in the future, the model is asked to formalise this permission by signing a written ¨model release¨.

Shoots are often explained to a model verbally prior to a shoot, or at an audition, or in written form in a casting call. These conditions should be understood completely, considered carefully , and the requirements followed. Always ask if anything is in doubt or has not been explained adequately to your satisfaction.

Some shoot conditions often require nudity: and the model should always retain the right to the degree of nudity she is willing to allow.

It is always a good idea to state somewhere in writing, what you are prepared to do, and I (and most other professional photographers) have a question in my model information form which asks if a model is prepared to pose in swimwear, lingerie, topless or nude,
When these questions are asked, make sure that you answer definitely with ¨yes¨ or ¨no¨: if you wish to consider based on your future interaction with the photographer, state clearly that you will decide later, and make certain that you ask to amend the form at a later date.

If later, or during a shoot a photographer tries to ¨convince¨ a model to go past what she has stated is her limit, he is actually violating your right to your likeness.

If however you take part in a shoot which has stipulated beforehand that a degree of nudity is required, you have no right to decline when it is asked for.

Technically also, and this applies to most professional photographers, and most shoots, models do not have the right to review, or veto the use of any of the shots taken during the shoot.
Most photographers will allow or license a selection of the shots to the model for use in his/her portfolio, and for self promotion, although technically this is not required.
If the photographer is shooting for a specific client, that client may not allow the model any photographs at all.

Disturbingly to both professional photographers and models two trends have emerged recently:

Photographers, mainly amateurs, but also those who should know better, have been offering, or promising ¨rights¨ to models that they are not in a position to offer, and that models are not entitled to. This is almost always under the guise of ¨considering the model´s welfare¨, but in reality is confusing to new models, as they go on to demand these ¨rights¨ when dealing with professionals, and as a result are quickly shown the door.

Some models have landed themselves in very expensive trouble by selling prints of themselves which are copyright to others, or leasing their photographs to magazines, and thus breaching the copyright (and damaging the potential income, livelihood, and reputation) of the photographer who generally owns the copyright to all the photos taken during a shoot...one well known stable of magazines actually encourages this practice thus adding confusion to what is a clear cut case of copyright ownership.

Models do not own any copyright in photographs they appear in: and although there has been a great deal of waffle (especially on internet forums) about joint copyright, a professional photographer would rarely if ever consider such a logistical nightmare.

Remember, that all photographs accompanying this blog are Copyright (All Rights Reserved) and may not be used for any purpose whatsoever without written permission from the photographer.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How do I become a photographer ?

Just received the latest email in the never ending succession asking "how do I become a professional freelance photographer?" My initial advice is always the same:- Don't give up your day job!
At least not until you are earning at least twice what your day job pays from your photographs, on a constant or at least regular basis, and you can continu...e to take top quality photographs on a constant, regular, daily basis.

And in these days when anybody with a mobile phone thinks he can make a fortune selling pics from Flickr and the microstock sites, making a liviing as a photographer isn't easy.
Apart from needing at least a quality digital SLR with a couple of interchangeable lenses, so you can at least be versatile and produce varying compositions on the subjects you choose to specialise in, you need plenty of time to create, edit and upload, asndf more importantly, market your best (and only your best) pics.

two points there worth repeating : 1-specialise in a subject or a couple of subjects, and become known as an expert producing quality pics in those areas
and 2-work on ratio of about 60/40 marketting and self promotion/picture taking

And then, maybe you will begin to make inroads on the long track to becoming a successful photographer, and maybe eventually you may also become a professional.