For photographers there are a few different ways that you can copyright you work and protect your work from infringers.
As we all know the ownership of your work starts from the point of creation. As soon as you create that peice of work it is yours, but you do need to back it up.
The easiest way to make a simple copyright is to put it into the metadata. For example, on one of my photographs I will include the text "Copyright Rachel Louise Carter 2011. " I would be able to put "Copyright Rachel Louise Photography," if that business name is registered and I have a legitimit business license. If you do not, then your name will suffice.
Another way to copyright your work, is something I really never thought of but discovered is to write about how you created the work. You can see on all of my posted images that I described how I created the photograph. Whether it is the settings I used, or how I incorporated the lighting in different settings, is does verify that I knew exactly how to create that photograph. A description for your photographs will be very helpful in identifying who created the work.
When you want to get really fancy, you can actually register your work to be copyrighted. Now, you may not want to actually copyright every single photograph you take because it does cost money. But you certainly would want to copyright those images that are your star images. If it is something you know people would want to steal because it is an amazing peice of work, then I would definitely get it copyrighted.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Week 5 BOC: Competitive Analysis Project
When I started my initial search for photography companies, I decided to search, "Las Vegas Wedding Photographers," because those would be the people who are my competitors. Of course I came across a lot of web sites that were somewhat decent but I came across one that was particularly interesting. the website is http://www.altf.com/. This wedding company is based out of Las Vegas and do some amazing wedding photography that are very hip, and stylish for this day and age. When I finally got to see the images I really fell in love with the work. However, it was really dificult to make the actual website work. There were several categories across the top of the page that I clicked on that never worked or didnt appear to be working. Unfortunately that is a total turn off for a client. The sections of the page that did work were really nice and showed a lot of the photographers work. It just needs a little bit of tweaking. They did have a contact page that did work, so they are definitely not a glamour site, but a real working busines.
The second website that I looked at was http://www.blrphoto.com/. This website had a separate wedding section and a separate portrait site which I thought was a pretty good idea. However I went straight to the wedding site, and instantly it started playing a video and I noticed a section that said "cinema," which I was confused by. Do they do photo or video? Or both? This is clearly a large company because they are based out of Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Napa Valley. They also have about 6 different sets of photographers that work in all parts of the country. They are definitely a real business because they have all sorts of information all over their site. I am not sure I really like how there are so many different categories to choose from. Seems a little confusing.
Another website I checked out was http://www.redrockstudioslv.com/. My first impression of this website is that it is really cheesy. The wedding shots are very typical and really are not anything quite special to look at. Of course a lot of them are out at red rock (not somewhere I would choose to take a bride and groom) so I already don't like the feel. However I do have to admit that the site is very straight forward, and offers a lot of great information. It's laid out really simple: The images take up the entire screen except across the bottom there is a small bar that says gallery images, and our pricing. I think it really works out well.
Overall I think there was a lot of great information and especially a lot of great ideas with this research project.
The second website that I looked at was http://www.blrphoto.com/. This website had a separate wedding section and a separate portrait site which I thought was a pretty good idea. However I went straight to the wedding site, and instantly it started playing a video and I noticed a section that said "cinema," which I was confused by. Do they do photo or video? Or both? This is clearly a large company because they are based out of Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Napa Valley. They also have about 6 different sets of photographers that work in all parts of the country. They are definitely a real business because they have all sorts of information all over their site. I am not sure I really like how there are so many different categories to choose from. Seems a little confusing.
Another website I checked out was http://www.redrockstudioslv.com/. My first impression of this website is that it is really cheesy. The wedding shots are very typical and really are not anything quite special to look at. Of course a lot of them are out at red rock (not somewhere I would choose to take a bride and groom) so I already don't like the feel. However I do have to admit that the site is very straight forward, and offers a lot of great information. It's laid out really simple: The images take up the entire screen except across the bottom there is a small bar that says gallery images, and our pricing. I think it really works out well.
Overall I think there was a lot of great information and especially a lot of great ideas with this research project.
Week 5 BOC: Wedding
For the wedding photo challenge I wanted to do something a little different because all I do is shoot weddings every single day of the week. Often I feel like when you look through a wedding magazine you don't really see the typical wedding photograph that a real wedding would have. You get a more posed, model type shot. So instead of the typical wedding dress, I put together an outfit that was of course all white, but was just a dress-slip and a white lace top. I went for a more grundgy, vintage style. I decided to not use any additional lighting, just ambient light. I also used my 50mm 1.8 lens, which also sort of gave it a fuzzier look which felt more vintage as well. I cross prossessed the image as well to give it a different look. I think overall it came our pretty well.Friday, February 4, 2011
Week 4 EOC: Writing a Contract
A client for less than 500$ what should be in contract?
To me, contracts are very intense things that should have a lot of specific important words. For something as simple as a birthday party that will only be costing around five hundred dollars, it can be much more simple than that.
The contract should definitely include what exactly the photographer will be held liable to photograph. So if he or she needs to be there for specific shots. For example, if he/she needs to be there when the birthday kid opens their gifts, or when the birthday cake is brought out. The photographer can be held liable for those shots if they are not taken properly, and the client is expecting to see them.
They also need to of course be specific on the length of time that they are supposed to be photographing the party. If they are not quite specific sure enough it will get drug out for a longer amount of time than expected. You will hear the client say, "Oh, can you stay just a little longer please? We haven't gotten to opening the gifts yet?" And if it is not stated in the contract how long you are supposed to be there, then they can ask you to stay to finish the job.
One of the most important parts to the contract will also need to be stated how much the photographer is charging for exactly what the client will be receiving. If the photographer is charging five hundred dollars, for what exactly? Is it for the photographer showing up for 2 hours? Or is for the photographer to show up for two hours, and provide the client with a CD of images? It needs to be specific.
And last but not least there needs to be a signature. It needs to be legitimate. Get your client to sign!
To me, contracts are very intense things that should have a lot of specific important words. For something as simple as a birthday party that will only be costing around five hundred dollars, it can be much more simple than that.
The contract should definitely include what exactly the photographer will be held liable to photograph. So if he or she needs to be there for specific shots. For example, if he/she needs to be there when the birthday kid opens their gifts, or when the birthday cake is brought out. The photographer can be held liable for those shots if they are not taken properly, and the client is expecting to see them.
They also need to of course be specific on the length of time that they are supposed to be photographing the party. If they are not quite specific sure enough it will get drug out for a longer amount of time than expected. You will hear the client say, "Oh, can you stay just a little longer please? We haven't gotten to opening the gifts yet?" And if it is not stated in the contract how long you are supposed to be there, then they can ask you to stay to finish the job.
One of the most important parts to the contract will also need to be stated how much the photographer is charging for exactly what the client will be receiving. If the photographer is charging five hundred dollars, for what exactly? Is it for the photographer showing up for 2 hours? Or is for the photographer to show up for two hours, and provide the client with a CD of images? It needs to be specific.
And last but not least there needs to be a signature. It needs to be legitimate. Get your client to sign!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Week 4 BOC: Sports Photography
For my sports photography challenge I went to a gymnastics competition in San Diego. Sports photography is really tough because lots of sports don't allow you to use flash photography indoors while athletes are working out because it can be dangerous and distracting. Therefor you have to rely solely on there being enough ambiant light inside whatever room you are working in. If there is not much ambiant light and you boost your ISO all the way up you may not be able to keep your shutter speed quick enough which will result in motion blur. You generally want to keep your shutter speed above 1/250th of a second. Luckily in this facility there was quite a bit of extra ambiant light, however I could of used a little bit more. I shot at ISO 1600 which is not something I really like to do, but I had no other choice. Overall they came out pretty well, I just would of liked to have boosted up my shutter speed a little more.
EOC Week 3: Where are you now and where are you going?
I am 22 years old now, and I feel like I have a good start to my life. I am about to graduate with my bachelors degree and move on to working on my masters degree.
I have always financially supported myself and that has always been something I have taken pride in. I find it really difficult to borrow money from other people, therefore I manage on my own and if it is not something I can handle, I don't do it.
I think I am headed for big things in my future. I know my capabilities and I know that I am ready full exceed them. When I start fully working in the industry on my own I think I am going to just take off with success.
Wedding photography is something I really enjoy doing and I know that once I start doing a lot of weddings on my own time rather than for a company I will start making a ton of money. It will be a great thing to be able to do!
I have always financially supported myself and that has always been something I have taken pride in. I find it really difficult to borrow money from other people, therefore I manage on my own and if it is not something I can handle, I don't do it.
I think I am headed for big things in my future. I know my capabilities and I know that I am ready full exceed them. When I start fully working in the industry on my own I think I am going to just take off with success.
Wedding photography is something I really enjoy doing and I know that once I start doing a lot of weddings on my own time rather than for a company I will start making a ton of money. It will be a great thing to be able to do!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Week 2: EOC Sacrifices
For my photography career there are some things that I am willing to sacrifice and there are also some major things that I am not willing to sacrifice. I have went back and forth on whether or not to sacrifice my choice on where to live for my career. But I have decided that I can do my career wherever I choose to live. So no matter what, I don't feel like I will be sacrificing where I live.
I am not willing to sacrifice family though. Family is something that will always be very important to me. I will never let my career take the spot before my family. Of course I will discuss with my family any huge career opportunities before I give up something that could be amazing. However, if it something that will in a way hurt my family I will have to think twice about whether or not it is really even worth it.
My morals and values are also something one has to consider when deciding what to sacrifice. I don't see myself ever having to sacrifice my own morals for my career. Living my life the way I should and the way I want is what I am going to do.
I am not willing to sacrifice family though. Family is something that will always be very important to me. I will never let my career take the spot before my family. Of course I will discuss with my family any huge career opportunities before I give up something that could be amazing. However, if it something that will in a way hurt my family I will have to think twice about whether or not it is really even worth it.
My morals and values are also something one has to consider when deciding what to sacrifice. I don't see myself ever having to sacrifice my own morals for my career. Living my life the way I should and the way I want is what I am going to do.
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