Getting the credit for family photos

[Bianca.Tarleton]

I've struggled with this issue a bit. I'm not anywhere close to being a professional photographer, however I am better than the dime-a-dozen tourist who just bought a DSLR because its trendy. I'm trying to better my art, and as a way of doing so I tend to shoot a lot of family/friend events and will post on facebook, flikr, picasa albums (that I can share with specific people). Some of the pictures are easy shots, others I put a little work into.

Its come to my attention that a specific family member is printing these pictures and giving them away as gifts..and not really crediting me. I'm sure if someone asked who took the shot, they would say who, but is it petty for me to get upset over it? I gave these pictures away freely, but didn't think they'd get re-gifted (doesn't it imply that the gifter is the one who took it, then?). I'm planning to add watermarks to my pictures from now on, but wonder if that seems a little over-the-top for a family setting. Any ideas?

[tday01]

There is nothing wrong with watermarking. It's your image and you deserve the credit. Just keep it simple and tastfully done. More power to you.

Terry, "Mastering Digital Photography Made Easy"

[SusieMet]

I had something similar happen to me. Not a huge issue it was just one photo they took and made prints of without saying anything to me but I was still a little upset about it. After thinking about it for a bit I figure maybe since we are family and since it's a picture of them they think it's not a problem to have a photo of themselves printed without asking. Now I don't think they would have done the same thing if it was a hired pro's pic. Family can be rude sometimes without knowing they are being so. I will make sure any water marks are on the pics from now on.Here's the photo they "stole"....lol

[olgabe]

I don't think you can complain much unless you asked them not to make prints or asked them to always give you credit. When you send out a digital file wilthout restrictions, you must assume that people will use it in any way they please. So you need to either get over it, or have a talk, or watermark stuff... But at this point, I don't think you have anything to be upset about - there is nothing wrong with the way they used your images.. you enabled them to do it and did not put any restrictions - verbal or mechanical..

[promans]

Usually what I do is a two fold approach-

#1 I watermark anything I put out in the public sphere- Flickr or otherwise. And I produce a viewable image no larger than it needs to be for viewing... no sense in uploading anyting bigger than it needs to be.

#2 If I want to share sets of photos with others I put them up on a Flash enabled private site that does not allow for easy download. You can possibly reverse engereer it to directly download the source images but they won't be very good quality. (not worth the effort)


Often I send out a message to friends I have taken photos at an event, saying if you want a copy of something let me know... usually everyone is cool about it. It takes opportunity out of the equation.

There are times I have thought about asking friends if they want photos of their family/kids, I will do it once for free... after that, I am going to ask for money to do it. (or barter for services) It isn't a knock on friends, but this is a learned skill. Would you ask a friend who is a plumber to help just because they are at your house for a party? Probably not... You would ask to make arrangements for a time to have them come over and work on it. They give you a 'friends' discount and you pay them for their services/time.
While it is easy to share images for free very easily... doesn't mean you should all the time. It devalues what you are trying to do!