Copyright questions: How to, what with, etc.

[Felesaerius]

Hey all!

I'm a photographer working on building up my portfolio, and have created a watermark, etc, but noticed one more step towards people stealing my pictures being prevented is a copyright. What does one need to do to make that copyright be official? Also, when your photography is copyrighted, what kind of venues can you shoot in, what do you need to do before shooting somewhere or someone, etc? Can anyone provide some general photography copyright information? That would be muchly appreciated, thank you!

-Matt

[kuvahmagh]

Copyright is granted as soon as you create the image. Making it official just makes it easier to get money but it also costs a lot of money and is on a per image basis.

So far as I know there are no restrictions on where you can shoot or what you can shoot other than things like trademarks. For information on people you should probably read up on model releases and when and what you need them for. As for where, some events/venues have a contract photographer that has exclusive rights to the event/venues in which case you need his/her permission to shoot.

[CanonRebelz]

Copyright is created the moment the work is created. Simple as that. View this site.
US Copyright Office - Frequently Asked Questions
Quote from the site "You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

[dilshad]

I think following URL may be helpful for you:

Photo Rights, Photogaphers' Rights,Copyright Information and Resources

It is providing complete information for the photography copy writing ..hope it will be helpful for u...