copyright stamp

I am an amatuer that is now starting to charge for my services.

 

What is the best way to copyright protect my photos. Some of my work

will be printed on an Epson 2200. If I purchase a stamp to stamp the

back of the photo, I'm afraid it will bleed through, especially on

matte or fine art papers.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Is stating "Copyright Protected and the name of my studio enough?

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

 

Sue

If you use good paper you should not have a problem with a stamp. I use them without any problems.

Go here:

 

http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/index.html

The correct format is: Copyright: Year Name

So for example it would look like: "� 2004 Sue Taylor"

Whoops, looks like the copyright symbol didn't come through.<br>

If you hold down the alt key and type 0169, the symbol will come up and you'll see what I mean.

Provide some possible means of contacting you. Most stamps omit the city; state; phone number; email address; fax number. Any possible way helps with reprints; getting more work; allowing others to contact you. it is really bizzare how many folks stress the legal/copyright stuff; and omit any form of contacting the photographer. Better studios and Photographers use stamps as a form of reprints; getting more work; cheap advertising. Dont hide from the public; they may want to use your image legally; and pay you for it; or have you do work for them; of a similar nature.

Interesting. Should she be concerned about the type and amount of ink, because I would think slow-drying ink might transfer to other photos in a stack, etc.?

When RC paper came common over 3 decades ago; super fast drying inks came available. A place in Iowa is where I bought mine; they advertised in the PPofA magazine; Rangefinder; and Camera 35. This ink dried in short order; on the "new" plastic coated RC papers. Here we used another brand in the 1960's; marketed thru Graphic Arts Photo dealers; used to mark the back of Kodak Super-K Professional papers; that were used in engineering blowbacks. The old Kodak Super-K was like an RC paper; it required low long wash to clear the hypo; and was available about a decade before RC papers were "invented" Old Super K was like a grade 3 to 5 paper; depending on how it was developed. <BR><BR>The inks used on plastic based papers should be the correct type of ink; to allow quick drying. The wrong type of ink will either "never" dry" or take days.<BR><BR>

The old Kodak Super-K was like an RC paper; it required <b>NO</b> long wash to clear the hypo;

Here is a method I have used and no one else has suggested. Type (preferred) or write the info you need to impress on the photo on an unlined (blank white} 3x5 index card or even a piece of plain paper. Place the master of your text on an ordinary Zerox type copy machine and hand feed the photos through one at a time so the data on the card is copied to the back of the photos. I use a Zerox 5309 type copier that has a nearly straight through paper path from the hand feed side and does not turn the paper more than 30 degrees up or down as it goes through.

 

The toner in these machines is heat set and thermal bonds to the paper (even to plastic coated backings used on some photo paper) and it will be nearly impossible to remove the markings without an obvious indication that something drastic was done to the back of the photo. The quick pass through the copy machine at temperature does not seem to injure any photo paper, or any image on that paper, that I have tried this on. The heated / melted toner will not bleed through the photo from back to front. Cheep enough, though, to just test some of your preferred photo paper in advance.

 

Unlike a simple stamp and ink you can include with this method some artwork and change the text or artwork as you wish and as often as you need to for the cost of the index card (or even a piece of plain paper)