More photo "thievery"

[Kmot]

Someone from Myrtle Beach, SC is selling a Donzi on ebay. They are using one of my photos I posted in the Hansen thread, that shows a picture of Matt's (u163665) Donzi in black and white.

Item number: 220169878444

It would be nice if people at least gave 'credits' to the photographer.... :rolleyes:

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Go through e-bay security and fill out the proper forms.
If you have done that at once, you only have to report any new auction to have it discontinued, and the picture removed.

[Kmot]

Thanks Umi, I will look into that. Otherwise, I may have to make my photos have a watermark that cannot be missed. :p

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

You need to also add this branding...

:p

[Stu :)]

Digital water mark you guys... grief, some people.

But seriously that does suck though.

Stu :)

[pusar]

And also a small note:

YOUR BOAT WILL NEVER LOOK THIS GOOD!

Marty

:D

He posts on rcuniverse Donzi thread.

[LtDoc]

Place bid for boat. When you "win" and are asked to send payment, substitute bill for use of photograph. :)
- 'Doc

[would I really recommend that? No, but it's a thought. Sometimes, my 'thoughts' are more vindictive than smart.]

[gpzy]

Request payment through PayPal, minimum $500 for use of your image on the internet.

[Michael Heer]

I ask permission to post other people's pictures. In the King's Ransom Review I showed what some others have done with their ships and got their permission and gave them credit. It is the only way to go.

[smart_racer]

I would take it as a compliment wanting my photo used...but, permission should be obtained first...(plus fair exchange...LOL)

[Kmot]

smart racer: Compliment or no, the facts are that someone is going to make money using a photgraph they 'borrowed' and the photographer will get nothing for their work which includes travelling to a site, taking the picture, uploading the picture, cropping, editing, and publishing not to mention the photgraphic equipment.

[Huntsman]

I agree; however there was someone on here asking for some Glyn Guest plans and folk were tumbling over themselves to help.
Where did his copyright earnings go?
!!

[Kmot]

That is Glynn Guest problem it would seem............ :rolleyes:

[Kmot]

Request payment through PayPal, minimum $500 for use of your image on the internet.

He posts on rcuniverse Donzi thread.

I just PM'd him and asked for $250 payment. I am a reasonable man. :p

[Huntsman]

Hmmmmm

Crying foul just for one team?

[Kmot]

Let Glynn Guest fight his own battles. ;)

[Huntsman]

I'll remember that the next time you ask for help tracing web servers ownership

old Pal
:rolleyes:

[smart_racer]

...again, "fair exchange is no robbery"

[Kmot]

I'll remember that the next time you ask for help tracing web servers ownership

old Pal
:rolleyes:
Huntsman, I started this thread to discuss an issue I have. This same type of issue has been going on for far too long and for far too many times that you have no clue about. I take exception to you attempting to hijack this thread and divert attention away from my issue to your issue.

If you wish to fight a battle for "Glynn Guest Plans Copyright" please start another thread.

And my wife wonders why I get grumpy sometimes......... :rolleyes:

[Huntsman]

I am sorry if you are offended....

I appreciate how strongly you feel about people taking liberties with the work of others.

I was trying to draw attention to the whole issue of copyright.

I have sympathy with you and hope for a more united outlook within this forum.

I too get grumpy

:rolleyes:

[Ghost 2501]

Kmot, lets hope that the bill for 250 dollars makes him realise not to do swipe pics or at least seek permission first!

[Kmot]

Huntsman, thank you. I too prefer harmony over disharmony. Cheers!

Ghost, I don't expect him to pay a nickel but I do want to get his attention and talk to him about proper netiquette.

[u163665]

Software, DVD's, CD's, Knock-off Rolex watches, Kmot's Expert RC Photos...

All are way too easy to copy and use without proper payment or credit to the creator. This is a great subject as there is a similarity with what is going on with the Writer's Guild.

I certainly am not innocent when it comes to IPR - I have bought enough knock-off junk from China to make any harsh stand I take against pirating seem hypocritical. Yet, I do know that all of it is very wrong.

Tom, I understand where you are coming from. This is a matter of principle and character - not money. I know without question that if this ebayer asked your permission for the photo, you would have gladly granted it (without charge) and you would probably have been flattered and even offer potentially better photos.

Good topic. One I wish should not be debated or controversial - - as the right answer is so obvious.

[u163665]

I just checked that ebay auction. The picture has been removed.

[Boatfox]

Funny thing is absolutely no one blinks an eye if someone pops out a dozen resin copies of some armor piece, gun mount, etc.....but they complain if a plan is copied once.... :eek: Anyhow Kmot you're right. You should get asked, but reasonably how much would you charge for a picture used for 7 days on flea-bay?
let's see :rolleyes:
7 days = 168 hrs.
168 hrs X $1.50 = 252.00 so....close enough.
you earn 1.50 an hour for that picture if he/she pays you. Not much to retire on.....but

30 sec. to take pic
5 min to transfer to CPU
10 min to crop/clean adjust pic (any more then that and it was a bad picture :D )
5 min to publish and upload.
travel??? goes with the job if you want the picture, but 1 hr travel.
equipment...again goes with the job. Its your new chosen profession but say $400.00. (which given a 4 year life span and a 10 hr work day makes it cost roughly $.03 an hour to use)

SO.....
1 hour 15 min and 30 sec to take, clean and publish the picture with reasonable equipment and not having to walk or ride the bus.. :cool:

Now ....what is 1 hour 15 minutes and 30 seconds of your life really worth? You are cruising to go play boats (don't even think about breaking the cost of these down). You are BSing with your buddies, and you are utilizing the latest technology to capture a moment in time that you enjoy. Now no, you don't have to share with the ether world, but think of the pleasure you receive in posting a great moment in time that you happened to capture. Yes it does suck that a scum bag came and ripped a picture from a web site, but remember....that looser is praying on the simple folks who don't realize what it takes to have a class A vessel to run. Said scumbag also doesn't have a vessel of his own to use with his buddies at the lake, while BSing about whatever the topic of the day is. Scumbag probably kicks his dog and other such evil things, but really.....Does your blood pressure need to go up over $1.50 and hour?? :p Please take the following with tongue in cheek, jestor mood in which the devils advocate has written it. :D We are all of us gonna get screwed one time or another. Don't believe me? See how I get when my car gets a door ding in the farthest reaches of a parking lot because some bozo doesn't know how to open their door like a civilized person.....I think my fever is back....ramble....ramble ramble....grumble moan... :(

[Kmot]

The seller and I have communicated and come to a reconcilement. I have granted him permission to use the photo in his auction and he has given me proper credit.

Boatfox: My wife would be thrilled if I were earning $1.50 an hour instead of spending it! :p

[lowdive]

i'd be happy with spending $1.50/hr... my expenses seem to be much higher than that, though!

glad you and the seller worked it out kmot! communication is a good thing.

[smart_racer]

...it all works out in the end

[pusar]

If I buy the boat can I make it look that good? ;)

It is a great photo.

Good to hear it turned out OK

Marty

[Kmot]

i'd be happy with spending $1.50/hr...

Yeah, but at 24/7 do you realize that is $36 bucks a day. Or $252 a week. Or $1008 a month. Or $12096 a year! :D

[james carey]

kmot , Have you authorised anyone to use any of your photo's?

Saw one of a Venice 90 with your water mark on it on a commercial Web site the other day.



James

[Kmot]

No, James. I have not.

You must be referring to RC Hobby UK?

[james carey]

kmot ,

www.perthrc.com.au

Stern photo on their Venice 90 page .

Don't get too Grumpy Mate ;)

James

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

At least they link back to RCu... :o

[Stu :)]

Linking back is just as bad...

Also the note needs to read: "B&W photo courtesy of Tom Keliher © 2007"
or "B&W photo courtesy of Tom Keliher (c) 2007"

In a highly technical mood today, just splashed out on a new über-cool digital camera.

Stu :)

[Kmot]

I just checked them out. Those Venice pictures are mine, yes. One taken at Lake Balboa and one in my shop. Well, the Monaco 100 is my photo also. That happens to be Steve Ciambrones boat and the photo was shot at Hansen Dam.

Like I posted earlier, this has been going on for far too long and far too many times and I am not even aware of how many other websites may have taken my work for their own monetary gain.

Maybe I should just stop posting pictures that aren't completely obscured with bright white watermarks. :rolleyes:

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

You should edit the post that it links back to and show some of the mold....

:P

[waboats]

Not wanting to get into a debate on Copyright Infringements and such, other than to say I support what Kmot feels.

I do have concerns with where an Infringement has occurred. I too have had many Photos pilfered and used by others for commercial gain. In a past life I have engaged in commercial photography (working for monetary reward) and found many of these being used by others, some by larger US Conglomerates.

Reasons given were "FAIR USE" & "Transfer of Ownership". Argument was that publishing on a Public Domain Forum in itself provided for the Free Access & Use by any party, as ownership passed on uploading to the Forum and not the original photographer. & me being the Owner hadn't even published Photos on the web. :mad: Supposedly The forum owns the photos on their site or some such :censored:

Under US Law from what I can remember it comes down to whether the item is "Protected" From here the only real means of enforcement is through Civil Action which can be quite costly.

Personally I do not post many photos for this reason and only those that I do not have a problem being reproduced. :o

If only the world was an Honourable place. :rolleyes:

[Kmot]

You should edit the post that it links back to and show some of the mold....

:P
That would be funny!! But, the link back only goes to the whole thread, not a particular photo.

[Kmot]

waboats: I spent the equivalent of a couple of good boat motors on trying to get RC Hobby UK (http://www.rchobby.co.uk/venice_90__classic_speed_boat.html) to remove my photos or pay for a license. The slippery, slimy, sleazy, scumbag, criminal, dirtbag, piece of filthy garbage, crooked basta*d that runs that rip-off business was able to weasel out of everything I tried, to get him to be "honourable".

Including the legal documents sent "registered, proof of signer" for which he did sign for but then returned to me saying "sorry I signed for these by mistake I am not really this person". It's difficult if not impossible to enforce any action when the perpetrator is on another continent. And it would cost a huge sum of money to engage the legal system over there on my behalf which probably would not accomplish much anyway since it seems even the locals being ripped off (lhttp://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4273.0) by this azz klown can't do anything about the slime wad.

[Boatfox]

See...now there goes your blood pressure thingy again.

I say post pics in the spirit of sharing.I'm sure all of us are glad this forum exists. Keep it wonderful.

[toesup]

Just out of interest...

How do people on here 'watermark' their pictures?...

Perhaps if we learn how its done we may be able to do more about those that use our pics without our permission

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Ghost posted a how to...


He said to open the image in photoshop.
Create a new layer and place your text on the image.
Then Select all, and add the holes inside the lettering, then
inverse your selection so you have just the lettering.

Click on the image as your active layer, then
Select your Eraser tool. Set the eraser to 35-50 percent, then
run it over the lettered area... It will fade the area of lettering.

Then you can delete the lettered layer, and save the image as a copy...

[pops52]

When I post a photo on the internet, I have to assume it could be used almost anywhere. If it makes it to LIFE magazine, all the better.

If you feel that strongly about your photos, why not copyright and water mark them?

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

When I post a photo on the internet, I have to assume it could be used almost anywhere. If it makes it to LIFE magazine, all the better.

If you feel that strongly about your photos, why not copyright and water mark them?


Kmot did that, and the Shop in England used them anyway... :(

http://www.rchobby.co.uk/venice_90__classic_speed_boat.html

[pops52]

As Kmot said, it is hard to litigate in a foreign country. It is too bad the "gentleman" on the other side seems to be less than honest.

[Kmot]

I take, and post photos, for the benefit and enjoyment of my online friends. I do not post them for the benefit of commercial establishments to take them and use them to sell product and make money for themselves. I would imagine most other people who post pictures feel the same way.

[Ghost 2501]

A "how to" on adding watermarks to photos that you want to discourage people hosting and using for their own means

[Ghost 2501]

that was for fancy "negative" image watermark umi, the one I posted just was a simple type and slap watermark.

[Ghost 2501]

negative watermark,

step 1, select stype layer as in the previous method, pick the most lurid contrasting color you can, type what you want and rasterize.

step 2 select the rasterized type layer and erase the lot, this will leave the masking still in place.

step 3 copy + paste the layer, you wont be able to see the layer yet.
click "image" - "Adjustments " then "invert", the layer will now jump out. lock the layer and save "boat1.jpg" as "boatwm.jpg" or "boatmod.jpg" and upload

[Kmot]

Brilliant tutorial ghost, thank you! :)

[Ghost 2501]

no problem Tom.

have a try it with it to see if there is anything I have missed :)

[toesup]

A "how to" on adding watermarks to photos that you want to discourage people hosting and using for their own means

Thanks Ghost
A wonderfull 'how to'...
Perhaps all those that post pics on here (and elsewhere) should do this from now on...
It may not stop the 'thievery'.. but it may discourage those that think about it.. and.. who knows, if the image is used without permission, someone might have the courage to chase down the offender and be able to do something about it...

[Ron Olson]

I right-clicked on the photo's of your boat on that site and it said that they were copyrited by that site. I remember when you first posted those on RCU as we talked about it in there.
It seems that people must really like your photos and videos as your World's Fastest Hydro video has been swpied by a few others and had your credits deleted also.
In the future with your pix, make a simple piece of paper with your name on it that says that those pictures are yours and copywrited and place in it the pictures where they can't be edited out.

[Ghost 2501]

Thanks Ghost
A wonderfull 'how to'...
Perhaps all those that post pics on here (and elsewhere) should do this from now on...
It may not stop the 'thievery'.. but it may discourage those that think about it.. and.. who knows, if the image is used without permission, someone might have the courage to chase down the offender and be able to do something about it...

not a problem Ralph :)

[Kmot]

no problem Tom.

have a try it with it to see if there is anything I have missed :)
Bugger! :(

I have Adobe Photoshop Elements. It does not have "rasterize" and the other components.

[tugs]

Tom,

Try one of these tutorials for Elements:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshopelements/ht/psewatermark.htm

or

http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/elements/watermarking.html

or if you're flush
http://www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/default.asp $79/1000 to $499/5000 for covert digital watermarks and unlimited visual watermarks.
This is the ultimate watermark. Any reputable company will spot it immediately and can contact you or reject it for publication.

Tugs

[Kmot]

tugs, thanks! I will look at those links on the tutorials. FWIW, I can already watermark my photos as long as they are on my host, Fototime. But that is their own software doing it. I like the idea of being able to do it on my own. I have written text on pictures many times but getting it to fade out is the trick it seems.

[Kmot]

I just went through both tutorials and could not do what they say to do. Turns out my bare bones version of Photoshop Elements is just that, Bare Bones! I got it with my Canon scanner. So it does not have all those cool features everyone else knows how to use.

I will have to upgrade to a "real" PS if I want to take advantage of the extra super duper options.

[D Anderson]

Tom,
I've got Elements 2.0 and it worked pretty simply for me. After adding the text I grabbed the eraser tool set at about 30 percent and went over the text a couple times to lighten it up.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

The problem is that there are people that really just don't care...
And it is difficult to or impossible to get them to comply... :(

Even I am guilty of moving images around the internet.
Although where I can, I try to give credit to the original poster, or owner
by linking back to their site or post when possible.
Unfortunately, even that doesn't seem to be enough in some cases. :(

[Kmot]

Umi, and others: I don't think most people would object to their photos being moved around the internet to other discussion groups. I do it myself. My issue, and I think possibly the issue as well for others, is when someone takes a photo and uses it to try to sell something which means they benefit with money from your work where the creator gets zip-nada-zero-nothing.

I just finished playing around with my bare bones PS Elements and have figured out how to make a watermark that is very light in its intensity. This is good if you want to have your ID on the pic and still not obscure the image. But the money making commercial thieves would not be discouraged by such a light treatment.

[Kmot]

This is the only kind that would discourage theft, at least I would hope. :p

[waboats]

Kmot

Now that's the way to deter the Thievery... Totally destroys any artistic value though.. :o

No matter what you do, there will always be somebody out there willing to exploit somebody else's work.

I suggest taking it as a compliment and perhaps encouraging others to not Bid or Buy from a Site that uses Pilfered Images.

Perhaps Requesting a Sticky and Shame the Buggers... :o

If not... Sue One... and see how it turns out.. You're Right but I think you'll be the one sorry in the end. :confused:

Personally I wouldn't waste the Aggravation or the Emotional Baggage that it's likely to leave. Get :mad: & :censored: but don't let the Blood Pressure Boil...

Take it as a compliment, Shame the Bugger and Report to Ebay & hope it goes away slowly.

[tugs]

Tom, etal

Newsflash, save your pennies, an online version of photoshop will be released soon, read the article below. Timing is everything...

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9813680-39.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Tugs

[Ghost 2501]

tom I did that in Adobe CS, only last year did i upgrade to CS from adobe 4, a computer show will probably have CS1 or CS2 on sale.

[Kmot]

I'm really not sweating it too much. It's just the principal of the issue. I am a principaled man, and I have a "pie in the sky" expectation that others are principaled as well. Of course, I realize that is a foolish expectation...

[woodybob]

ummm...PIE

[Kmot]

Thanks for the help, Pat!! :D

[Aerominded]

ummm...PIE

Pie.... :)


Dane, is that a Continental you're building?

[woodybob]

My pleasure...:) Thanks for the help, Pat!! :D

[D Anderson]

Pie.... :)


Dane, is that a Continental you're building?

Yes it is. Once I've completed my Fall chores at the cabin, I'll get busy on it again. I like to do the wood work during winter weekends watching college hockey on TV and feeding firewood into the wood stove. :)

I've got some ideas for improvements which I'll share when the time comes.

[Aerominded]

Sounds good! I look forward to hearing about your improvements to the kit! :)