I find it odd that someone else can have the copyright to your face?…

… to that particular rendering of your face – but remember someone will already have patented your DNA and the royalty demand is in the post…

http://www.copyright4clients.com/faqs

the above info is for commercial/advertising/editorial photography but it outlines the basic principles of copyright and image rights.

Hooray – you get it I've never said it should be the lowest price – just a fair one that rewards the time and effort gone into capturing and processing the images. One that also reflects the fact that the user may want to print or manipulate the images later however they may choose.

I think we come full circle. I suspect that that price would be pretty big, and hence a lower price for a lesser service is offered.

lifted from Seb Rogers' blog…..
based around the life of a commercial 'tog and 100% NSFW…. but very funny…

FWIW – my approach is that wedding clients have paid me pretty well for my services so, whilst there is a price on my 'JPEG's on disk' option they may well get it as pat of the deal – either a a 'thank-you' when the job is done or, if needs be a sweetener to swing the booking – only if needs be and only if they appreciate the value of that offer…
My POV being – a. the shots are there, i'd rather they were out there on facebook etc, being used, advertising my services eve, that sat on a collection of disks and drives gathering dust…. I find after sales are minimal as most guests snap away on camera phones etc and are happy with what they get….

Portraits – again it's a cost option and as in the example above – all costs are quoted up-front….. if they don't like it, they walk, if not you (appear to*) have a client who values what you do….

In either case – copyright is only released on a 'personal use basis' – lets be honest here – what can I / we do to control subsequent use – not much – but, you never know when someone might get famous / infamous…. – hence i do keep hold of copyright – and yes – I laughingly refer to this 'hope' as my pension fund…. 😀

*unlike one earlier this year – came to the studio 'loved my work', knew the prices, commented on how favourable they were compared to their previous shoot – with V****re…. had a stunning shoot at their place – then came back after the viewing and then got all arsey when we started to add up costs….. 🙄

re: getting Asda to print professional pics…they stopped my order…I ordered some prints from jpegs I sent online selecting the option of picking the prints up in store…a couple of hours before I was to pick them up I had a phone call saying that as the images looked like professional photos I would need to bring proof that I held copyright for the images…I was pretty stunned to be honest (and wondered how I would prove ownership). I can only imaging that Asda had a part-time photographer working in-store that day!

mastiles, to sate your curiosity, I immediately download the raw files onto C drive. All files are then burnt onto a DVD.

Once I've edited them, and processed them, they're backed up onto two seperate external hard drives.
So is that a foolproof way of protecting the original images?

So is that a foolproof way of protecting the original images?

Obviously not, but it's good enough for me. Why do you ask?

I do know photographers who keep two external hard drives at friends houses, backing them up once a month, in case of theft or fire…

Obviously not, but it's good enough for me. Why do you ask?

Curious as to see how you handle such valuable files. I would be very disappointed to find that, in the event of having to go back to the photographer to get a reprint or an additional image printed, to be told they had lost the original .raw files.

Personally, in the case of digital files we keep on behalf of clients, we do something similar to the other photographers you mention – dual raid server + daily, weekly and monthly backups kept off-site and archive to one set of DVDs kept on-site and a further set kept off-site. Digital files are very valuable and, as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, a valuable source of additional revenue.

Just another point – there is also the question of how the photographer sees themselves, and how they want to work. I can imagine that a photographer sees himself as providing the best print he can, that that is his "product", and that is what he takes a pride in, not just showing up and pressing the button. In that case, I can see that he would not want to delegate part of his artistic process to Asda, or to have his work used in a product that does not meet his standards. Of course that may cost him money, but photographers don't generally go into it with the idea of getting rich.

Cheers all. Very helpful – and sorry I haven't said this sooner, things here have been a bit manic!

doc_blues, would you please email me? Address given by clicking on name above post!

Thanks STW!

Obviously not, but it's good enough for me. Why do you ask?

I do know photographers who keep two external hard drives at friends houses, backing them up once a month, in case of theft or fire…

Sounds pretty amateur. But i guess costs restrict a professional back up system.