Copyright considerations #photography
This is a bridge over an arm of the Walsall canal at Wednesbury. Will this exist in 50 years time? I have put a copyright notice at the bottom showing who took the photo and when.This helps preserve my rights as photographer.
50 years
The copyright will run for 70 years after my death, but how will people know when it started and who it belonged to? That is why I put my name and the year after the copyright symbol.
Copyright ownership
[breakout title="Mike Maynard" align="right"]Mike is a photographer and blogger, and key contributor to the Express & Star's Star Witness section! He runs two blogs of his own Mike10613 and A Zillion Ideas.[/breakout]
You dont have to put that information on the photo to still claim to be the copyright owner. If the photo is used by someone without your authorisation it might be difficult to prove you own the copyright. The ownership could even be disputed and prevent you using your own photo. I was in this situation with photos of the new hospital. I photographed it when it first opened and obviously the trees outside were saplings and the building was at its best. It was too late for anyone to get similar photos so they tended to use mine without permission. How could I prove they were mine without the copyright notice? I did have enough evidence to show they were mine because I had the rest of the set. For example, the shots of the entrance showed the same people in different positions on different photos. That showed they were from the same shoot. Only someone with the full set of photos could have taken them. Adding the copyright information to each photo makes proving ownership so much easier.
[figure title="WEDNESBURY-CUT-13" align="center" url="/wpmvc/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/WEDNESBURY-CUT-13.jpg" id="1276497" size="100"]
PhotoScape
Ive used PhotoScape to add the copyright information to these images. I usually use yellow or black on a lighter background. The copyright symbol isnt on your keyboard, it is part of the alternate character set. You can type it by holding down the alt key and pressing 0169 and you get this symbol ©. Take your finger off the alt key to see the symbol.
[figure title="WEDNESBURY-CUT-17" align="center" url="/wpmvc/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/WEDNESBURY-CUT-17.jpg" id="1276501" size="100"]
Walsall Canal
This is the Willingsworth Hall Bridge on the Walsall canal at Wednesbury. You can easily remove the graffiti from your photo with PhotoScape but I wanted to show this political vandalism. They have no pride in Britain or they wouldnt deface our heritage. I know this is a modern bridge but it is named after a historic hall and is now part of a historic canal.
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