Action Sports Cartel

I know this has been covered before, but what's the lowdown on giving the riders their pics?

I usually give them a set of low res for showing off, plus one or two high res with instructions that they are for personal use (screensavers etc) only. They can show their sponsors the low res and if the companies want to use them, they contact me directly.

What about giving them hi res with watermarks?

It probably has to do with how well you know your rider.

The dudes I skate with on the regular know the drill, so I send them whatever they want. If they want a high-res for printing for their house, no problem. They also regularly send their team managers photos just showing what they've been up to. These are usually 750px jpegs, quality 10 or so in photoshop. They aren't watermarked but they make it clear that the photo can't be used without contacting me.

I haven't had any issues yet.

i've been getting less and less comfortable with doing it. i recently had uploaded a watermarked 640 px. jpeg to facebook (which kills photo quality as you may have noticed) and tagged a rider i knew through the grapevine, in which an all-female themed online snowboard magazine took it from her facebook and threw it up on their website, never having contacted me in the process. i only found out it was being used somewhere after the rider emailed me asking if it was ok to use. i got in touch with the web zine and they tried saying it was the riders responsibility, not theirs, etc etc.

long story short, i have learned that unless the watermark is huge and runs across the middle of the photo, it can be used somewhere somehow. i've even had a very popular newschool skiing website literally crop my name off of watermarked photos never having asked me if they could use them. at this point i only send hi res and/or un-watermarked shots to my close bro's who i know won't do anything with them because they know the drill and understand how things work with photo use.

This might help you out :

'' Some camera manufacturers allow you to put information
into a metadata field called “Owners Name”. By placing the
proper copyright information into this field, you are
embedding your name and copyright into all files coming files
created by that camera. ''

That's why I don't spend any time putting watermarks in photoshop!

Alex Paradis wrote:
This might help you out :

'' Some camera manufacturers allow you to put information
into a metadata field called “Owners Name”. By placing the
proper copyright information into this field, you are
embedding your name and copyright into all files coming files
created by that camera. ''

That's why I don't spend any time putting watermarks in photoshop!

thanks for the info alex! i actually already implement doing just that with all of my photo's, but it doesn't really stop people from snatching the photo off of facebook even then. ha.

bottom line is, it was my bad choice putting the watermarked photo up on facebook in the first place. i now share photo's with athletes only when they have a large opaque watermark right across the middle of the image for the most part. alex don't you feel like not putting a watermark on your images is a missed opportunity to advertise your name?!

I only send the riders photos if they ask otherwise they get to check them if they are around my house/computer. Most of my edited photos end up on my iphone automatically anyway so I can show anyone anywhere. (also helps sell to random photo editors when you see em at the bar

Stick to low res and watermarked if you are not sure, go with your gut. For hi res I make it very clear in the body of the email and add something like this to my signature:

*** The contents of this email and all photos attached to this email or photos referenced to at [ www.tomzittelphotography.com ] are copyrighted 2000-2009 – Tom Zittel, all rights are reserved. The use of this content for any purpose without expressed written permission is in violation of international copyright law and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Any unauthorized use will result in an additional fee. ***


Only problems I have had have been when I was not clear about the rules.

I know what you mean
But I feel this way I still have the copyright of my photo without a ugly watermark..

Haha I don't know, it's the way I see a watermark, not much advertising of my name in my point of view.

yeah i never watermark either.. i barely even copyright. if they end up on some website that sucks.

i just re-iterate (i also mostly just shoot with my buddies) that the photos are for them to see only, once they get rejected or used by a mag or their sponsors, then after pub they can put them wherever they want.

Just found one of my photos posted on the website of an up and coming pro DH racer. It wasn't on her pictures page and I was going to send her the pic with my watermark in the bottom left corner.

I was in the process of sending her the low res image with all of the usual info, do not send to sponsors, for your use only, do not remove my watermark. Going through her site I noticed that on her blog there was the same photo but conveniently cropped so that my watermark was gone. I sent it to her anyways with the above info and expressed my anger with her stealing a copyrighted image from my personal site.

Waiting to hear back from her now.

It is pretty annoying and frustrating when you bust your ass for 3 straight days shooting only to have your image stolen and then when questioned they say it is free and that they are not paying for a picture, blah, blah, blah. Everyone here knows the story.

I don't put my watermark across the front of the image because it just ruins the photo and people will still take it and post it on their facebook, etc.

It is up to you as to what you want to do with your photos. They will be stolen and there are very few that will pay for it. All you did was sit there and push a button.

Make sure to put everything up front, discuss prices and get them in writing, cover your own ass and have fun.

so did you hear back from her?