The Do’s and Don’ts of Stealing Images from your Photographer
I personally love it when my clients post their Boudoir pictures on their blogs, Facebook, Myspace, twitter, instagram, live journal… etc. It shows me and any other photographer, that they truly love their images and enjoyed their session! I want to encourage my clients to “steal” their pictures from my blog/Facebook to use on the internet. However, here are a few do’s and don’ts that you should think about when reposting your images:
1) DO ask your photographer what their specific policy is on taking pictures off of their blogs/Facebook/twitter. Some photographers encourage it and some do not allow it. Personally, I don’t mind it like I said above, but I do enjoy a “heads up” beforehand though. If this is important to you, to share your images, then it is something to inquire about BEFORE you hire your photographer!
2) DO include your photographer’s name and website under the images (a link would be super nice!). That’s just the polite thing to do. I mean, if you were the photographer or creative mind behind what someone posted wouldn’t you want your work linked or credited in some shape or form?
3) DON’T crop out the logo. Most photographers use their logos on their images for their blogs/Facebook/Myspace to advertise their work and do so as a courtesy to give their clients a sneak peek on the social web. If a client crops out the logo then how will other people know who took the picture or how to search for them if you don’t link the images back to the photographer?
4) DON’T edit or change the picture in any way. Taking the pictures is only half of a photographers job. The other half is the final creation of the image, the editing. If you think you can do a better job or want to edit out some of your wrinkles or use selective coloring please don’t show and/or tell your photographer. That is just super insulting. If you don’t like your photographers editing to the point where you want to edit it yourself, then maybe you need to find another photographer next year. However, unless you have paid for the digital negatives, or what is known as a copyright, which most photographer’s like myself will not sell, do not alter the files in anyway and this includes but is not limited too filters or editing apps from instagram, switch pic, photo bucket, or any phone apps; etc.
5) DON’T try to print from the files on the blog/Facebook/twitter, etc. For me specifically, I know that the files I upload to my blog/Facebook/twitter are and will be too small to be printed in a 4×6 size. It’s not cool to invest in a Boudoir session and then print the images off of the advertisement sites and not pay for prints. Make sure you know how much the prints cost before your session to avoid sticker shock. Same goes for scanning prints that you already bought. Not cool!
