I want to say a few words about a topic I feel strongly about - copyrights and rights grabbing. Now, I'm no attorney. I can only pass along information that I've gathered, and I can't guarantee that it is 100% correct. I urge those that are interested to do their own research. I will be posting soon some of the sites I have found useful.
Most of the "every-day" photographers out there, the ones who enjoy taking pictures of their family, their pets or their homes, probably never give a second thought about copyrights. If you aren't planning to make a living from photography, why worry about things like that? But everyone should have a basic understanding of what a copyright is and what it could mean to them.
In this digital age, everyone seems to have a camera, and everyone can take good pictures if they put their mind to it. The internet bombards us with places to share these pictures - websites and contests galore ask for our submissions. Most of the time, it's fine, but there are sites out there whose goal is to steal photos.
In this country, the moment you create a work of art (photos included), you own the copyright. You don't have to do anything - it's yours - although registering it with the copyright office gives you extra protection. Copyright basically means that you have the right to determine how your work of art is used.
Like everything there are exceptions. For instance, if you take a picture of a well-known musician at a show, and post it on your FaceBook page saying "hey, I saw these guys last night - check out the pics," - that's considered an editorial use, and it's fine. But if you use that picture to advertise some product that you are selling or put it on a t-shirt and sell it for profit, that's not OK, and the musician can sue you for it.
Now, turn that scenario around. What if that musician found your picture, liked it, took it without telling you, put it on his CD cover, and that CD sold very well. You would have every right to complain to that musician, and even ask for payment for use of your photo. Although if you didn't register that photo with the copyright office, the damages you can claim are limited, and it probably wouldn't be worth fighting the manager and record label in court. Now, here's the kicker. That musician may say that because he let you into the venue with a camera, any photos you took belong to him so he can do what he wants with them. Not true! As long as you didn't break the venue's or the band's camera policy when you took those photos, or sign anything to the contrary when you entered the venue, you don't owe that musician anything.
So, finally, I just want to mention rights grabbing. It means just what you would think - someone takes all your rights to your art. You may think this would never happen to you or that it wouldn't matter if it did, but I'll give you some examples to make you think otherwise.
1) You enter a photo contest because you think you have the best shot ever of your dog or kid, or whatever. All you want is to show off the photo and maybe win some prizes, but you don't read the rules. You don't realize that by entering the contest, you gave the company the right to use you photo any way they want for all eternity. Your picture ends up on bags of dog food, or on cereal boxes, selling millions of products for the company, and you don't get a dime for it. Then, say that picture wins the contest. Awesome! You get the prizes! But, the rules said the company gets your copyright. They now own that photo, so you can't even legally display it on your FaceBook page, or anywhere else. That is how some contests operate, so make sure you read the rules and are OK with them before you submit that picture. Here is a recent example: http://www.musicphotographers.net/rights-grabbing-taylor-guitars-photo-contest
1) This applies to the more serious photographers out there who may decide to try and get photo passes to shoot their favorite bands. Be sure to read any contract you are given when you pick up your pass. Many bands, even less famous ones, will try to get you to sign over some or all of your rights to them in order to get that pass. Based on the language in the contract, you may not be able to post any of those photos online, or use them in your portfolio, or even put them in your scrapbook. As with the contests, that band can use your photos any way they want - can make money off them - and you don't get a dime. They aren't even obliged to give you credit for the photo. So, again, just know what you are agreeing to, and make sure you are OK with it before signing anything.
Photography isn't the career it once was. A cover shot on a major magazine used to get the photographer upwards of a few grand. Now, the magazine can go to flickr and pay someone $30 for a cover shot. A band can ask for fan photos from their latest tour, put them in a book and then sell it back to those fans. They used to pay a photographer for those photos. Now they get yours for free, they make money off of them and you still have to pay for the book. Think about that.
Ultimately, we all have to make our own decisions in life, and hopefully, we will make good decisions based on the information we have available. I hope I've been able to give you some of that good information.
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