Attached Link: Some Of My Better Photos

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed in these forums many a time, Basically re-garding Copyright Is there any way of truly copyrighting photo's , apart from sticking a big ugly sample message across anything ? Doe's anybody make a living out of it ? Photography & Design are my main goals Sorry for being vague but d*iscussion would be appreciated Thanking all on Renderosity & I hope to particapate a lot more Tc Peace!

Pete

Some of my better photos below:

Pete, you do not have to "copyright" a photo in any way, as you own the copyright to any piece of art the moment you create said piece of art. It's not like a trademark or patent that has to be registered to come into force. All a watermark or other copyright notice does is allert people to the fact that you hold the rights to it. Now, as for protecting your rights to any image you take: A big fat ugly watermark may really be your best choice to protect your images from being stolen and passed off as someone else's work. IIRC there are programs that will encode invisible copyright information in the image, but that only helps you prove that it is yours. There are a few ways to prevent someone from simply doing a "right mouse click" on your images and downloading them to their computer, but given enough time and effort some a***hole will figure out how to get his grubby little paws on your images. And once he does, the best copyright notice/protection may be useless as you probably won't have the time or resources to fight a court battle against someone who could be living at the other end of the world. The problem is not "creating" a copyright, it is enforcing it, and even if you can afford the best lawyer in the world it will do little to keep a stolen image from spreading on the net, once the deed is done. If you really want to go professional and need to put some images on your homepage I would strongly suggest you (i) make it as difficult as possible for anyone to download your images, and (ii) use a big ugly watermark. If you intend to go professional you can always stick a "inquire for higher-quality sample images" notice on your page if you are worried about image theft. Not sure if that may drive some potential customers away, but it would allow you the 'feel out' anyone you send your images to and keep track of where those images go.

Sorry, been ripped off too many times....sadly, a BIG UGLY watermark is the ONLY way to go....or don't post anywhere on the web.
I've had several complaints since I've started with the BIG UGLY watermark....but, that's too bad.   I think that once folks have been ripped off themselves they will quickly understand.
For those who think the small indiscrete copyright notice or watermark works.....it doesn't.....been there, done that!
Sure a determined thief could work over even the BIG UGLY watermark....but, that takes time, patience and a bit of skill....three ingredients that most rippers lack!  
Most rippers will just go grab another image that they don't need to do anything with....

BTW, good points by ABodensohn....

Also...just do a search in the forums here ( photography or copyright forums) on watermark....you'll find some interesting discussions...

Ok thanks for the answers guy's & gals , I'll just go ahead & upload my photo's to my gallery & take more :) just when your proud of a picture you don't want it dissapearing as somebodys calendar piece of Artwork etc. & sold for commerccial , but what the hell it's there to be enjoyed , My WebSite is currently under construction anyways.
Thanks again to you all
Hope you enjoy
Peace!

Right click prevention is just a waste of time. In Firefox I can just view the page info and there's a tab that lists all media in that page.

And that big fat watermark in gradients images is the reason I stopped viewing them unfortunately. While I fully understand his reasons it just fucks up the images so much that I don't enjoy looking at them.

There are also programs such as HyperSnap DX-5 that allows anyone to capture the picture and bypass the no right click if it is display on your screen.

Regarding this subject , Don't know why I didn't thnk of before but am sure easiest solution is lowering resolution or file size for a preview :)

Having looked at Gradients gallery I cannot see a big ugly copyright notice. My pics have a bigger notice !

Really?
Bigger than this?
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1561257&member

I cannot blame Gradient , But as he said
"sadly, a BIG UGLY watermark is the ONLY way to go....or don't post anywhere on the web."
Hummmm & like I said there there to be enjoyed , Shame people go to the lengths of ripping others work , I have given up on this convo , Like I say Just lowering the resolution , Turning greyscale or something should be sufficent enough , Meh each to there own:

Couldnt resist :|