I ran across this valuable information written by Marinda Fowler and decided to share it with my clients. Most of the time when clients violate copyright laws it is purely by not knowing what they can and can’t do with copyrighted image, prints, digital files, and facebook pictures. Please take a moment to read it over.

What is copyright?

The U.S. Constitution and the Federal Copyright Act give “copyright” protection to “authors” for their “original works,” such as photographs.

What does that mean?

Simply that the law protects the original works and gives the exclusive rights to reproduce them to the author.  When the copyright has been violated, the author can pursue legal action and the offender can be held liable and fined.

So, what are the rules regarding the prints I purchased from my professional photographer?

Here are just a few examples of things that you may not do with your professional photos:

·        Scan them – for any reason

·        Copy them

·        Reprint them

·        Crop watermarks out of photos and repost them on the web

·        Edit them – in any way

·        Take pictures of your printed professional photos (especially with your cell phone) and post them on the web.

·        Throw darts at them.  Ok, fine.  Do it if you must! 

Well, why can’t I scan them?  The photos are of me and my family?

While the photos might be of you, they are not yours.  The images belong to your professional photographer; who owns the copyright.  Granted you may have purchased a print of the image, and you are encouraged to display that image and enjoy it.  However, it is not at your disposal to make copies of by scanning or any other means.  It’s actually against the law.

Also, most professional photographers like to maintain quality control over their work.  There is a large quality difference between a scanned photo and one that your photographer creates and sizes for use on the web.  We do not like to see our work all distorted and wonky because it has been scanned.

What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that your professional photographer works extremely hard at creating the beautiful images that you see.  Everything from lighting, posing and post-processing goes into one single image.  In that regard, your photographer will price their work to maintain a profitable business.  When clients start scanning images and reprinting at home or worse, local one-hour labs, they have basically stolen the ability for the photographer to make a profit from that image.  Since selling their artwork is how photographers earn a living, it tends to make us unhappy when clients steal images from us.

Aunt Susie saw my photo and just wants to have one little copy of it.  Now what?

Great!  Your photographer will be thrilled to help you get one little copy of that photo for Aunt Susie.  It’s always a great thing to hear that your family and friends love our work!

I bought the disc with the printing rights.  What can’t I do with these images?

On the print release form, there will be instructions on what you can and cannot do with the images contained on the disc.  However, just for the sake of education, I’ll give you a quickie list of those things.

Things you can do:

·        make prints for personal use

·        make greeting cards for personal use

·        make photo books or photo gifts for personal use

·        upload the images in the WEB folder onto the web to share with your family and friends (however, please do not remove the watermark)

Things you cannot do:

·        enter the photos into contests – nope, not even those “cute baby” contests

·        post full-size non-watermarked images on the web

·        alter the images – part of your photography experience with your professional photographer will include the photographer’s time and talent in editing/processing your images.  If you do not like the style in which your images were processed, it might be time to look for a different photographer.  I’m just sayin’.

What about the images on your blog and facebook?

The images on my blog are meant to be enjoyed and viewed.  If you would like to share the images on my blog, please do so.  All you have to do is share the link (URL) with your family and friends.  Or,  you can simply find share buttons at the bottom of each post (titled “share the love”) and share them anywhere you’d like.

The images on facebook are also meant to be enjoyed and viewed.  I welcome and encourage you to tag yourself in the images on facebook or share the link to the images.  I also welcome and encourage you to use the images on facebook as your profile photo as long as you do not remove the watermark in the cropping process.  To avoid removing the watermark, simply drag the cropping bars all the way to the edge of the photo.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

Okay, I get it.  I might have violated your copyright policy.  Now what?

Hey, don’t sweat it!  We all make mistakes and I’m sure that you did not intend to do so.  I simply ask you to make an attempt at rectifying the situation.  If you’ve scanned images and posted them on the web, please take them down.  If you need a watermarked copy of the images to use on the web, please contact me immediately and we can get that taken care of.

And please, please, please… promise to never do it again!  xoxo

For more information on the issue of copyright, please take a moment to read through this article on photolaw.net: http://www.photolaw.net/faq.html

The Clothes You Choose Can Make Or Break The Portrait!

What you are wearing in a portrait is an important detail that can be overlooked if not discussed. Poorly selected clothing can really take away from an otherwise really great portrait.  

The reason why photographers make suggestions to clients on what to wear is;

• to make the people the main subjects
• to flatter the subjects and help make them look their best

Poorly chosen clothing, can result in just the opposite of all those things; 

• Clothing that stands out so much you hardly even notice the people
• Arms, legs or tummies that look less than flattered and people that are unhappy with the end results
• Clothing that takes so much attention and draws your eye around that it becomes more about the clothes and a fashion photo that it does a portrait of the people in them

So what IS the best thing for people to wear?

• Wear solid colored clothing so that we see all of your faces and no one person stands out. If you wear stripes or flowers, you will stand out from the rest of your group.
• Choose muted tones that are a bit subdued so that you are the subject not your clothes and you don’t stand out from the group. Bright colors project (especially reds, oranges, and yellows), which also makes you look larger.
• Choose similar tones for your top and bottom (both dark or both light) so that one doesn’t look bigger than the other.  White top, dark pants will make your top look bigger.  White pants, dark top will make your butt look bigger.
• Try to stay away from everyone all wearing white shirts.

• Choose 1-3 colors for your group portrait, ones with similar tones that go nicely together and have everyone work within that color palette. For example: dark green, navy, and burgundy – all dark jewel tones.  OR tan, a lighter olive green, and denims – all lighter, softer tones.  So that we see the people first and your portrait looks stunning. Wedding group photos look so good because they’re all wearing the same colors and the people stand out!
• Choose a top with sleeves at least to the elbow  because your arms take up more skin area than your face and will draw attention and it may also make your arms look larger
• Choose long pants for men/ladies or a skirt below the knee for ladies so that your legs don’t take attention from your faces, and you will be able to sit and bend without showing too much leg
• Choose dark socks and footwear (unless it’s a barefoot photo on the beach) because white just sticks out like a sore thumb and that’s all you’ll notice in your portrait
• Keep jewelry simple and minimalistic because too much draws attention from your face
• Do your hair the way you’d normally do it while wearing these clothes – no fancy up dos with jeans, no pony tails with evening gowns, etc. This is common sense, or so you’d think, but I’ve had ladies go to the hair salon and get fancy up dos then show up in jeans and a t-shirt.  It just simply doesn’t make sense cause you wouldn’t normally do that to put on jeans and go to the park for a BBQ or something. So tell them “it is because your portrait will be more timeless and represent more closely who you are, not just what you look like.”
• If getting a haircut or new hairdo, make your appointment at least 2 weeks prior to your portrait session – again this seems like a no brainer but you’d be surprised! Fresh haircuts rarely look their best the same or next day. Ladies need time to practice working it, men need it to grow out just a little. Allow some time to live with your new look before your portrait session.

Following are examples of clothing that really does not and does work well in the photo;

Here is a group portrait from a wedding, not planned so they were wearing what they were wearing. However, it illustrates a wide variety of colors, patterns and styles and is just all over the place. Your attention is more drawn to the clothing than the people’s faces.

Example below has too many colors and patterns and is a real distraction.

In this example the clothing is coordinated and much better. Only suggestion would have been for the woman to have worn 3/4 length sleeves or even short sleeve. Notice how much attention her arms get?  For her that’s fine, but for someone self-conscious about their arms or their weight, this will make their arms look larger.

Here are 2 more examples where the colors of the clothing blend together and are not a distraction.

Pinterest is a great place to get ideas from. I have started a “Pin Board” for suggestions and examples of what would look good for family portrait color schemes. For more information, go to;

http://www.pinterest.com/razal337/family-photography-what-to-wear/ 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Robin