Hi gang, and welcome to “Copyright your photos, Tuesday” where we stop for a moment from all the other stuff we’re doing, and make sure our photos are protected by registering them with the U.S. Copyright Office (of course, this is for folks in the US — if you’re in another country, this is when you look up what the process is in your country to make sure your images are protected).
It’s never been easier to copyright and protect your images than it is today — you just go to the US Copyright Website; create an account; upload your images (yes, you can upload thousands at a time); pay the $55 registration fee, and in a while (usually somewhere between two to six months) they’ll get back to you with a registration certificate that says, ‘Yup, We got ’em. You’re set,” or something along those lines (it sounds a bit more formal than that when they say it).
Here’s where you go to start the simple process: https://www.copyright.gov/registration/photographs/index.html
Also, check out this article from PDN magazine about a plug-in that lets you send your images for copyright directly from Lightroom (thanks to our friend and Lightroom guru Rob Sylvan for that one).
If you’re not sure why you should copyright your images, or what the benefits are (and how it protects you), check out our online course called “Copyright Essentials for Today’s Photographers” from attorney Ed Greenberg and photographer’s rights advocate Jack Reznicki (hosted by Mia McCormick). Not only will you learn a lot in a short amount of time, you’ll be thoroughly entertained along the way (Jack and Ed are so much fun). Here’s the official trailer:
This is something you know you’ve been putting off, but today’s the day — now let’s get to it!
Hope you have a kick-butt Tuesday!
-Scott
P.S. We are about 24-days from the big Photoshop World Conference in Orlando, Florida – if you want to come and totally immerse yourself in getting better at Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography and Flash, this is the place to do it. It’s not too late to get your ticket. You’ve always wanted to go — now’s your chance. :)
I was wondering if I can go back a few years and copyright some that I missed (like maybe as far back as 10 or more years)?
@kentoney Yes, you can register images at any time. Just remember, you can’t mix published and unpublished images. Also, you are allowed to have multiple years on a registration, but Ed and I advise to try and keep your registration orderly by registering images grouped by the year if possible.
Thanks Jack