You may notice that I have included a water-mark on this weeks image. Some early readers of Mike Hardisty Photography will remember that I have adopted this option before and later rejected it.
So why bring it back now? I embed copyright information in the EXIF data of all my images but that can easily be stripped out. Post an image to Facebook and the data is stripped. similarly with Twitter. More on that later.
Here in the UK a new law has been passed called The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act.
If you read all the hype around this act, and believe me there’s plenty, what it amounts to is that I no longer own the copyright of any of my images. If this act really is as unfair as everyone says then no matter where you live in the world, your photographs are in effect, no longer copyrighted, as far as the UK Government and businesses are concerned.
Scare-mongering, probably. Before someone can use one of my images they must perform a due diligence search to prove that the work is an “orphan”.
Step back to paragraph two and what happens to the EXIF information. One of the easiest ways of finding an image on the web is to use Google’s Image Search but somehow I can’t see the big corporates who want to use an image doing this. They’ll look for the EXIF see it’s blank and there you go they have an image they can use.
In reality I think that the chances of one of my images, or one of yours, being used without permission is very slim. But as an added bit of security for me I am now going to be water-marking every image that I post to the web. The alternative is that I don’t post any and where would this blog be then without photographs.
I nearly forgot. I’m on the Miners Path at the top of the Llanberis Path looking towards Snowdon. Weather’s not great, shame really…
Say It With A Camera 
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
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Mike, first – gorgeous photo. May not be lovely hiking weather but its great sky/photography! Secondly, here in the US I was told (not sure if its true) that for a copyright to be enforced it must show the copyright symbol, followed by the year, followed by the name. OY!
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I think that’s the same the world over. In my EXIF data the copyright is like that. The watermark isn’t for copyright as such, just establishing that I am the owner in case the EXIF is stripped.
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What a phenomenal shot!!
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Thank you…
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Great picture! Most of the time I prefer bad weather for my photos. More dramatic skies 🙂
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Me too. Dark brooding skies, great interest. Blue skies, so what…
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Dramatic and beautiful. But on to the copyrights which it appears does not really apply anymore unless one can go to great lengths to implement the best security possible. I can’t wrap my brain around what the British government has done. Everything government wise is how to crook the little people. It seems to be this way in all countries. Is it not enough that companies large and small are making money from the the average an poor people? This is so unfair. I can hardly believe what I just read.
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There is a growing tide of unrest amongst photographers in the UK over this. An e-petition has been started and if it gets enough signatures it must be looked at by government. I suspect that the real impact of this act will come when a high profile copyright case hits the courts. Personally I don’t think it will have much impact on me. There are millions of photographs on the web. It would be just unlucky if one was used..
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Thanks for the reply. I hope the petition is a good beginning to put pressure on the government to do what is right.
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In all probability the answer is no. Supposedly this was driven by the corporates who wanted to make things easier for themselves.
I can just imagine how it’s going to work. Corporate finds image, they check the EXIF see who the copyright holder is. Corporate lackey posts image to one of the lesser know social network sites which strips the EXIF, not that they would admit doing it. Corporate then checks image again, no EXIF and voila they have an image they need. When asked they say we checked the EXIF and there was no copyright information so it must be an orphan which means we can use it.
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I think you have described the theft to a “tee.” It is all very disturbing to me. What happens in Great Britian will most likely make it across the pond. I feel for any pro or serious amateur photographer.
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It’s usually the other way round. I remember a conversation I had with an American serviceman a long time ago about ambulance chasers. At the time we didn’t have the compensation culture. He said we would, eventually and boy was he right.
I’m sure I read somewhere that they had tried to pass a similar “orphans” bill in the USA but it got defeated, maybe I’m wrong.
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Now that is interesting. I should have known that the government here is always up to no good. 🙂
I’ll try to remember to ask Steve Gingold. I’ll ask the question on his site in the comment box.
I have added you to the Photographers of Birds, Nature, and Landscapes with links to my favorite blogs. I keep adding bloggers as I think of them. I am dim witted and don’t think of some things initially . it is after going back and looking that I see things that I’ve omitted or where I’ve made a mistake. 🙂
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Great Photo I love the Dark brooding skies just adds something different
Mike
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Beautiful photo Mike. Decades ago my late brother worked at the Pen Y Gwyrd as member of the mountain rescue team. I am still digesting the copyright issue – it is getting huge attention. I don’t watermark my images but maybe I should.
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The more I think about it, the more I think is it all being stirred up. There are millions of photographs on the web. What are the chances one of mine is going to be used. Further reading says there is a contingency for compensation if one is used. I suppose it will take a while and maybe a high profile copyright case before we see the full impact of this new law. Meanwhile I am going to reconsider my decision to watermark my images. I don’t really like watermarks, they’re just too distracting.
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Stunning image, Mike. I’ll be embedding copyright info in the EXIF data in future, but still reluctant to use a watermark. Something to ponder. Thanks.
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I’m still not sure about using a watermark…
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Vicky told me you had raised the old copyright issue again. I have strong views on this and linked back to your previous post when I last wrote about it:
http://wp.me/22GQH
The point is not about whether or not your photo is likely to be used, it is about a point of principle. So that’s why I do it.
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I do hate using watermarks for my own photographs and even now I’m torn whether or not to use them…
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