Best way to be nice and make sure your pictures aren’t stolen

Wm

7DMKII
Jun 11, 2018
85
9
LA
So 1st of all I have to start by saying, I’m new at this and not sure what to do.... And it’s certainly not that I think my pictures are worth stealing...... But - I’ve now had multiple classes with 3 different professional photographers. The very 1st one out of the box copied all my pictures to her desktop and kept them. I was kinda shocked and didn’t know what to do, so I left it. Our 2nd class she said she was just working on them in memory and they weren’t being saved to her drive. Who knows..... The next time with a different person, he did ask to see what I’ve been shooting and wanted to take a look. Before I knew it, he too copied my whole usb. And finally with the last teacher, they dropped all my pics on the PS program and also told me that they were just in memory but when I went back for another class and inserted the usb to get my new pics up, I noticed a picture from the previous week on their computer. When I said, hey, what was that, I was ignored and they quickly changed screens.....

What gives?

It’s not like my pictures are so great, but, hey - there mine! I guess I could have been more forceful, but I didn’t want to make a big deal or am I???

I’m not too familiar with PS, but what to do. If the teacher is moving so fast, it’s hard for me to tell exactly what they are doing wit the files in the final saving, etc. I guess be more direct and say no keeping the photos.

Thoughts on this please? Tks.
 

unfocused

Photos/Photo Book Reviews: www.thecuriouseye.com
Jul 20, 2010
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Nope. If you took a photo and it wasn't under terms of a contract that assigned the rights to someone else, you own the copyright to that image...

Thanks. Your comment led me to do a bit of research and you are correct. Things have changed since my college course in media and the law and it appears that it is true that original works are now protected by copyright from the moment of creation. Also correct that without registration, you can't get more than actual damages, which would be hard to prove in most cases.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,441
22,878
Thanks. Your comment led me to do a bit of research and you are correct. Things have changed since my college course in media and the law and it appears that it is true that original works are now protected by copyright from the moment of creation. Also correct that without registration, you can't get more than actual damages, which would be hard to prove in most cases.
You must have been in college some years ago as the US copyright law dates to 1976.
 
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unfocused

Photos/Photo Book Reviews: www.thecuriouseye.com
Jul 20, 2010
7,184
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Springfield, IL
www.thecuriouseye.com
You must have been in college some years ago as the US copyright law dates to 1976.
Graduated college 1975. But also:
U.S. Copyright Office Circular 1 Copyright Basics said:
Applying a copyright notice to a work has not been required since March 1, 1989...
Which is the provision that I was unaware of.
 
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