Posted by Mojo Mike on November 01, 2004 at 01:14:12:
I have noticed that many photographs here and on other boards. Are water marked as copyrighted material. I am curious if these photographs are registered as copyrighted materials and if so how much does it cost?
With film photography the photographer owns the photo as soon as the shutter clicks. He/She does not need to register the photo as copyrighted to prove ownership.
Now with digital photography, there is no negative, no original photo, just millions of pixels. So it would appear to me. For a photographer to prove ownership. They would have to register a copyright for each digital photo. Now there is computer software to water mark photographs. I imagine there is computer software to remove the copyright watermarks.
A photographer that happens to take a really great photo. Should go to the hassle of copyright. Most photographers take hundred and thousands of photographs and copyrighting them is not feasible nor realistic. It may be my wishful thinking, but I see digital photographs on the internet more as public domain. Any opinions on this?