A modest proposal
Let pretend, for a moment, that you’re a member of a fundamentalist religious order which, as one of its core tenets, is stridently opposed to displaying credits for artwork, but at the same time, you really hate having to hit the Delete key so frequently…
Don’t delete them; hide them.
- Click the title of your blog at the top of the screen after logging in to your Tumblr.com account, and then click “Customize Appearance” on the right.
- Click the “Edit HTML” button near the top of the left menu bar to display the source code for your theme. You may wish to copy the source code to a text file in Notepad or another text editing application before continuing; if you decide to reverse the changes that you make to your Tumblr theme, paste the code back into this field to revert your blog to its original state.
- Press “Ctrl” and “F” (“⌘-F” on a Mac), and type “caption” in the “Find” dialog to locate the following code: {block:Photo} <div class=”media”>{LinkOpenTag}<img src=”{PhotoURL-500}” alt=”{PhotoAlt}” />{LinkCloseTag}</div> {block:Caption}<div class=”copy”>{Caption}</div>{/block:Caption} {/block:Photo} {block:Video} <div class=”media”>{Video-500}</div> {block:Caption}<div class=”copy”>{Caption}</div>{/block:Caption} {/block:Video}
- Remove both instances of the code “{Caption}.”
- Click the “Appearance” button at the top of the left menu bar, and then click “Save” and “Close.” Tumblr no longer displays captions that you enter when posting photos or videos.
Reconcile your fervent hatred of credit and save the Delete keys: hide your caption block, instead.
Why all the hubub about credits, copyrights and watermarks?
Because “Dan Smith” ranks, perhaps, amongst the top 10 most un-SEO-friendly names imaginable (my parents had threatened to name me Olaf; I begged my wife to let me take her surname) and ‘photosmith’ wasn’t so clever and unique as I thought.
Because, the moment a shutter button is pushed by anyone standing on U.S. soil, or by a U.S. citizen standing anywhere (even the Moon, unless you’re on-the-clock), that photograph is protected by copyright, owned wholly by the person whose finger pushed the button. (I take the extra step of registering my photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office, which affords me additional protections.)
Because, since September 1, 1997, photography has earned me a grand total of $22.37, before taxes and expenses.
Because if potential collaborators can’t find me (or the model in the photo), new photos won’t happen.
Because people are digitally removing my watermarks and attempting to sell my photos for their own profit — meanwhile, I can’t afford to pay models for new photoshoots.
Because most IP lawyers won’t even consider taking a case, unless there’s a slam-dunk guarantee of, at minimum, a high-five-figure payout and just getting to court can run in excess of $5,000-8,000 in legal fees. (Just because the law is clearly on your side doesn’t mean you get your day in court.)
Because I’d rather my photos appear nowhere than in some of the places I’ve found them — and if I’m spending time looking for my old photos, I’m not spending my time making new ones.
I try to follow up on reblogs from sites that are new to my dashboard, either to say thanks or ask that they restore the models’ credits.
Sometimes it actually gets someone to stop and think about the impact of removing the credit from a piece of art – both, on the people who make it and their ability to continue making art.
Anyway… I’m starting to feel reasonably human-like again and will post something new, soon.
Someone spent a lot of time removing the most obvious of my watermarks from this photograph. (There’s a second one, that’s very subtle…)
Wouldn’t have just been easier to credit me and Bree?
real casual-like (2011)
Bree Addams (MM#1668548 | tumblr)
(via morenaslindas)
Yup.
—-
I don’t make photographs for a living; I make photographs as a creative outlet.
I share my photographs because I want to contribute a little bit of beauty — as I perceive it — to the world.
If people can’t respect that a) it’s my work and b) as the photographer, I’m entitled to publish the work in a format and treatment of my choosing, then it’s no skin off my teeth to only show my work in actual art galleries.
Besides, the people in my photographs are important to me - whether they are “just” collaborators, creative partners, friends, or very close friends - and I care about how and where they are presented.
➜ What if the masters of photography used horrendous watermarks?
yaistillusefilm:
camdamage:
syntheticpubes:
Fucking stop it, people.
(via)
…then maybe people should stop stealing other artists work and should retain credits when reposting. i agree that the big gaudy ones using terrible font suck, but sometimes small discreet ones are necessary to the photographers.
don’t hate the player, hate the game
What if the Internet was a place where people that used it had integrity and respected the source of the Art?
Then I’ll stop using watermarks.
I hate watermarks.
I use watermarks.
Work that hangs on a wall doesn’t get watermarked.
Work that gets ripped off my website and used to misogynistically attack the model in the photo, or promote some Brazilian gambling site (all, of course, without permission)? That gets watermarked, until, at least such time as I can afford to keep an IP attorney on retainer.
I care about my reputation and where my work ends-up. A subtle, but clear watermark makes it much easier to ask a content host to pull down an infringing photo from a site which I feel harms my reputation or the reputation of the photograph’s subject.
It’s a lesson I’ve learned the hard way.
That said, I always register my work with the U.S. Copyright Office; it’s inexpensive and relatively easy, though it does nothing to deter theft.
(Read the ironic comment by Glenford Nunez, whose stolen work was used to legitimize the ModelMayhem ‘photographer’ profile of a sexual predator.)
Ready to Copy?
I’m going to take some time off from posting… I don’t know how long.
Want to know why? Read this.
…
If you like my image so much that you want to show it off to the world, take a few seconds to ask me first, or at the least, link back to me and copy the credits of all the other people involved in making the photograph.
The reason that credits are important is this: if no one knows who was involved in making the photograph, no one’s going to be able to search me (or the model) out. If someone wants to work with me, but has no idea who made the photo, well, I’m S-O-L.
…
It’s disheartening and discouraging when people steal my work. And I’m not alone in that opinion.
Vimeo Model Mayhem Zivity Etsy thePhotosmith.com