I have to admit I never thought about cropping off the Copyright information! Often I crop out a lot of the background on the computer when I scan a photo I bought to make the photo "fit" on the web site or an Ad and get it down to just the dog.......and if the Copyright info is off to the side.....it is cropped off. I just never thought of it. It would be better if the information was right on the 'sign' that is included that say's W.D.or whatever......then it will remain in all photos for sure. Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.Marhaven.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Terry Cochran Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: SITTING FEES/Photographers Hi Birgit, I have taken a few pictures over the years and given those pictures to Ruth Scheubler for her Rightdog.com website to sell or just to share. You are right about the photo credit. It should always be left on the pictures. I think we as photographers are always trying to improve on what we create. When we take that great shot we want the folks to know what they are looking at is a piece of art we created. When the credit is removed or not acknowledged then are work is for not. It would be the same as someone claiming they had bred a dog when they had not. Terry Birgit Rhoads <wdlnd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Copyrights are becoming a bone of contention amongst photographers and website owners. As an amateur photographer, I have taken a few show pics/portraits and even managed to sell some of my shots, be it of dogs or nature pics. I've also purchased a truck load of show pics from show photographers. Most of these pictures are abysmal. Back to copyrights. If you purchase a picture from me, it is your picture. However, should you publish the picture to your website or show dog mag, you *should always* give a credit to the photographer and you should not remove the photographer's copyright name from the picture if it is there. It is not copyright legal to download pics from one website, use it in your own website without permission from the web master. You may be asked to remove it. Personally, I would like for people to ask permission, but at the very least,leave my copyright on the photo and give credit to me as the photographer under/ by the picture. A website has the same copyright rules as magazines. To me, my photography is my artwork, same as my websites. Now that everyone has scanners and printers, there is no way a photographer can stop people from reproducing copyrighted pics they have sold, but the hope is that people will be honorable enough to give photo credits. It has gotten so bad that disreputable *breeders* put pictures of top show dogs they do not own, on their own puppy mill websites and claim that these stolen pics are those of their dogs. Geeze! Such is what happens with our new technology. Even though the pictures say "all rights reserved" some people must not understand that term. That is one of the reasons that photographers put copyright watermarks all over their pictures for sale. Not everyone is honest, unfortunately. If you google German Shepherd Dogs, google will bring you to their site of downloaded GSDs from website pics (they do the downloading). The pics are small, but when you click on them it takes you back to the original picture. There is a small disclaimer on top of the website saying that this picture you clicked on might be copyrighted. Yeah right! So much for my rant. Birgit Rhoads, GSDCNO Webmaster WOODLAND woodlandpwc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.woodlandpwc.com/photography.html ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================