Expert: Don Wood - 7/24/2007

Question
My daughter has been taking senior pictures for friends and she has rec'd many new orders.  How does she protect her photos from being "stolen" and printed by someone else.  Right now she allows her "clients" to view them via photobucket or some such website.  It's all done on the honor system.
In order to make this a more formal business, what steps does she need to take to protect her photos?  Thank you.

Answer
When uploading the pictures to the website, I'd use a small file. She should then have two sets of pictures on the hard drive, one is a small JPG file which would be uploaded, the other would be the file she'd use to supply the pictures for her orders. I never allowed a website to have pictures which could be reprinted at 200-300 DPI. I used to keep a website on Geocities/Yahoo which had pages on it that were not shown in the menu bar.
Her photos are automatically protected by copyright but she would have to have the pictures copyrighted by the government to protect them fully. I hope that she is getting a decent price for her pictures. Many newbie photogs think that getting the paper, processing, paid for is enough. She also must factor in the equipment she is using, the transportation which she uses to get to the site (unless it is in the house), the clothes she would wear to show a professional profile, if she leaves home for her own apartment, she should also include the expenses of rent, living expenses, etc.
I provided my clients with a url which took them directly to the website and did not put the address on a menu which otherwise would show the rest of the site.
I wish your daughter well, photography is a career which is based on history. Every picture she makes is capturing a particular point in the person's life. She should not make her prices too low, as there are some people who will ask you to print everything as long as it's free or very low-priced.
Good luck to your daughter. Please keep me informed.
Thanks, Don