SANParks.org Forums

Love the picture Nico, was clearly taken when I was still in good shape...

Have a cupper Obelix, that may help.

Probably in the same time when you had some fun with the Romans.

You see Oom, this is what I have in mind for you (and BB perhaps )

Let me just say Hi.
I am a professional with a passion for wildlife.
I cannot aim a camera, I am shortsighted and have really bad astigmatism.
Non the less, let me thank you guys.
When I look at your pictures, I am transported back into the park.
I love what you do and I just want to say, there are some of us who appreciate your gift.

This is likely a very dumb question, but I'm wondering how one adds the copyright line that many put onto their pix. Do you need some sort of sophisiticated (and expensive) software like Photoshop to do this? Also, what is the "process" called? And is there a simple (and inexpensive) way to add this to images?

Copyrighting your photo's ©?

I think there have been other discussions also about this.

Almost any 'paint' program can be used to add text to your photos - some are available for free. There are also some programs which just do what you want to batches of photos.

There are also ways of marking your photo 'invisibly' but which cannot be removed and can be used to prove ownership - but I don't think thats what you are after.

Richard

There is no such thing as dumb questions, only dumb answers!

I use a program called Picture it. It is a free download and a has great picture edit functions. You can add text to your pic.

Thanks, Richard and Eric, for the not-dumb answers. I will have to try out some of these programs when I have enough time — and apologies for not searching first for the link Richard provides. GoofyPest asks an interesting question about copyright laws in the last post in that thread. Does anyone know the answer?

arks - I don't know the answer and would be interested in an answer from a 'legal expert'. But this is why programs such as digimarc exist which can prove the 'owner' even after the photo has been edited.

Using RAW photo files, and only ever releasing jpg or tiff for printing, or relatively low resolution jpgs for publishing on the net, should also be fairly secure if a dispute occurred. Constructing the RAW file, even from a full resolution tiff file, would be all but impossible - and unlikely to be the same as your original RAW as you will probably have modified the photo when producing the tiff.

Notwithstanding these issues, as I understand it, the copyright remains yours unless you specifically give it away to someone else.

Richard

Interesting, Richard. I don't shoot RAW, only JPEG fine, but the pix I've posted on the forum are all reduced to 25% of the original ... (and because they're reduced, I think also they don't have the full EXIF data?) Anyway, I'm not so worried about anyone nicking them (I don't think mine are that worth stealing), but I just think that the copyright overlay looks cool

Up until very recently I just used to sling a jacket over my window and put camera and lens on top in the car. I now have a beanbag which I bought from Hedrus. It is a large one and I bought bags full of dry beans from the supermarket and filled the beanbag and WOW is it heavy. Before my upcoming trip to Kruger I want to lighten it cnsiderably but still supply strong support. Should I use rice??? ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE as I can hardly lift it in its current filling.

I would have thought rice would have been as heavy. I use rice and my bag takes 2Kg. I buy it at a supermarket before entering; since its mostly used in the car (though also very good in bird hides) weight is not a great issue.

Richard

My big beanbag for the car window takes more than 10Kgs of samp but is still manageable and I have a small one that takes about 2Kgs that I use when going into hides. Samp is nice because its size means it is less likely to leak than rice.