Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Why You Need to Watermark Online Images

You would think this is common sense.

However, there are still people out there giving away their work and their rights to anyone who knows how to right click or screen capture. Some of it has stemmed from blogs who love publishing work from photographers, but insist on only publishing your images if you're willing to submit them without any logo, branding, or even copyright info on them. They promise crediting your work in the text and with a link, but that doesn't protect your work once it leaves the blog with the click of a reader who loved the photo and wants to store it elsewhere.

Please don't screw yourself over.

You deserve credit for your work! Anytime it appears online in an easy to grab format (flickr, smugmug, blogs, etc.) it really needs, at the very minimum, a reference name for the original creator somewhere on the image. If people go out of their way to crop your info out without your permission, than you have the ability to take action and charge them for the use of your work (especially if you've uploaded and linked to your image on flickr where it states the permission for use as a creative commons or copyright license.) However, if you never attach your name to a photo, than you are unintentionally giving up your online rights to claim that work. You could still take action against someone, however, it would be much more difficult for them to claim they KNOWINGLY did anything wrong if they didn't have a way to get in touch with you to credit the work properly.

- If putting your name into the "I'm feeling lucky" search on Google turns up your website on the first try, than you can totally get away with just your name on your images
- If you have a commmon name, use your website instead, for example © anneruthmann.com
- If you have a common website or business name, use your logo/branding to avoid confusion with other brands or similar website names

There are ways to include copyrights and logos without interrupting a visual aesthetic- it's really not that difficult to find a solution that works for the blogger and for the photographer. It's also GREAT marketing if people love your images so much that they are downloading them to their hard drives or using them on other websites! I'm all about making it easy to share my work, as long as I get credit for the work I've created!! After-all, it's some of the best free marketing available! So, fly free pretty photos, but make sure people have a way to find your creator no matter where you end up.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Black Friday Sales for Photographers

Who doesn't love Black Friday deals??? I know that I do! When I was looking for the deals I was hoping to nab I thought I'd list some of the items that photogs may want to snag on Black Friday as well. I didn't list computers etc. because that would take up PAGES! If there's a store or a deal you're hoping to nab, let me know and I'll see if I can find it!

I will update this if any more stores release their ads with something pertinent to photogs!

Best Buy

Canon Rebel T2i Digital SLR Kit (incl 55-250 lens, 8 GB SD Card, bag) - $999.96 *Doorbuster
Nikon D3000DX Digital SLR Kit (incl 18-55 VR lens, camera bag, gadget bag, manual) - $629.95
PNY 8GB SDHC Card - $19.99 *Doorbuster
Sandisk 4GB SDHC - $7.99
Sandisk 8GB Ultra SDHC - $19.99 *Doorbuster
Seagate 2TB Free Agent Go Flex External Hard Drive - $89.99 *Doorbuster
Western Digital 1TB Internal 7200 RPM SARA Hard Drive - $59.99 *Doorbuster

Costco

Western Digital My Book Elite 1 TB External Hard Drive - $84.99

Meijer

Memorex 100 Pack CD-Rs - $9.99 *Doorbuster
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $6.99 *Doorbuster
Western Digital 2TB MyBook Essential External Hard Drive - $99.99 *Doorbuster

Office Depot

APC Back up UPS XS Series 1500va Battery Backup - $99.99
CD-R 100 Pack - $5.99
DVD +/- R 50 Pack - $5.99
DVD +/- R 100 Pack - $16.99
Memorex Black 50 Pack CD-R - $6.99
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99
Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $12.99
Seagate 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive - $49.99
Seagate 500GB Expansion External Hard Drive - $59.99
Seagate 2TB Expansion External Hard Drive - $89.99
Seagate 750GB Expansion External Portable Hard Drive - $59.99
Seagate 1TB FreeAgent GoFlex Home Network Storage System - $129.99
Verbatim 640 GB Leather Wallet Portable Hard Drive - $89.99
Verbatim 1TB Acclaim External Hard Drive - $99.99

Office Max

Hitachi 1TB X-Series Desktop Hard Drive - $49.99
Hitachi 1TB LifeStudio Desk Plus External Hard Drive - $99.99
Hitachi 500GB X-Series Portable Hard Drive - $49.99
Magnavox 100 CD-R Pack - $9.99
Magnavox 100 DVD +/-R Pack - $14.99
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99
Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99
Seagate 640GB Expansion Portable Hard Drive - $59.99
Seagate 1TB FreeAgent External Hard Drive - $59.99
Seagate 500GB Momentus XT Internal Hybrid Drive - $139.99

Radio Shack

Gigaware 50 Pack 52x CDs - $4.99
Gigaware 50 Pack 16x DVDs - $6.99
Iomega 500 GB Portable Hard Drive - $49.99
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $8.99
Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $16.99

Sears

Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Kit (includes 18-55 & 75-300 lenses) - $579.98
PNY 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $6.99 *Doorbuster
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99

Staples

HP 500G Simple Save Portable Hard Drive - $49.99
PNY 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $17.99
Sandisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card - $7.99
Sandisk 4GB Ultra SDHC Memory Card - $12.99
Sandisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99
Sandisk 8GB Ultra SDHC Memory Card - $19.99
Sandisk 8GB Ultra Compact Flash Memory Card - $24.99
Seagate 1TB Expansion External Hard Drive - $49.99
Seagate 1TB FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive - $89.99
Sony CD-R 50 Pack - $1.99
Sony CD-R 100 Pack - $16.99
Sony DVD +/-R 50 Pack - $16.99
Sony DVD +/-R 100 Pack - $24.99
Staples DVD +/-R 100 Pack - $9.99
Western Digital 750GB My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive - $69.99
Western Digital 2TB My Book Essential External Hard Drive - $99.99

Target

Lexar 8GB SDHC Memory Card - $14.99
Western Digital Elements 2 TB External Hard Drive or 1 TB Portable Hard Drive - $69 *Doorbuster

Wal Mart

Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Kit (includes 18-55 lens, 2GB SD Card, instructional DVD and bag) - $479 *Doorbuster
Seagate Free Agent 1.5TB Desktop Hard Drive - $70 *Doorbuster
Western Digital Essential 500GB Portable Hard Drive - $39 *Doorbuster



Corey Ann is a wedding & lifestyle photographer from North Canton, OH. She is a mix of everything - fashionista (runs Clothes for Pros, clothing suggestions for photographers), travel guru, deal hound and geek rolled into one. She's had a website online since 1997 and a blog since 1999. When not plotting world domination or her next trip, she can be found reading one of the 100+ books she reads a year. Follow her on Twitter.