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In The Field of Editorial Photography…
Is Thievery a Problem?

Advance Notes: When we hear of photo thievery on the Internet, in almost all cases it concerns the area of commercial stock photography. Very rarely does it happen in the realm of editorial photography.

A photobuyer calls a photographer and says, "We like the photos you sent us and have scanned two dozen of them into our database."

"You what...?" is the photographer’s response.

The photobuyer responds, "You have a lot of pictures that we feel we could use in the future. We're building an in-house reference file. Any problems with that?"

The photographer should push apprehensions aside and consider the scanning a compliment. Scanning of photos by a photobuyer needn't be a threatening experience. Twenty-five years ago, when photocopy machines were new, a buyer copying a photo "for the files" seemed tantamount to copyright infringement to stock photographers. Gradually, however, stock photographers saw they were getting sales from the photocopied reference photos on file with photobuyers.

The same is happening today with scanning. The photobuyer scans photos to obtain low resolution (i.e. not reproduction-quality) "thumbnail-size" images to put into their reference "view-only" database. A software keywording program cross-references them.

In the near future, scanning photographer’s selections will be commonplace. No need for a fear of thievery to limit the sending of photos to editorial markets. This is a photobuying community where photographers know their buyers and they know the photographers. It’s important to remember that to work with the editorial photobuying community makes all the difference in the world when it comes to the issue of thievery. In this arena it’s rare to hear of larceny.

In the editorial stock photo field, I’ve never heard of a photobuyer intentionally "stealing" a photo. There’d be no sense to it. The photo editor has a budget to work with; there’s no material profit to him or her to “borrow” a photo on the sly. Besides, the photo will be seen by hundreds, thousands of viewers. Most gangsters say this is not a profitable way to get away with something illegal.

BEWARE THE AD AGENCIES

In commercial stock photography, however, there can be a different attitude and circumstances. The commercial field can brew more reasons and opportunity to "borrow" someone’s photo, especially for a local or regional brochure or promotion.

If you’re involved strictly in editorial stock photography, the above kind of information might be news to you. If you’re familiar with the inner workings of commercial stock photography, it’s not a surprise.

Scanned images come in a variety of forms. The 72 dpi-scanned image is an excellent reference image. However, the image can be “decompressed” and in some cases be used as a 300-dpi image.

A graver problem regard digital images is that it's possible to easily pass them on to others (swapping). If an ad agency goes out of business (check consecutive years of the Yellow Pages and you’ll see how often this happens from year to year), or photobuyers begin trading images – photographers might find their images, or parts of them, involved in the action.

BUYERS/PHOTOGRAPHERS KNOW EACH OTHER

Again, however, working as a specialist a photographer will usually be dealing with repeat buyers in the editorial field, and know their buyers. Some photographers are encouraging potential repeat buyers to scan their photos for the buyers’ reference files.

I should say that I am in the minority in advocating that photographers allow photobuyers to scan their photos. But most of those with the opposite view are in the commercial field, or are editorial stock photographers who spend a portion of their time on commercial work.

My own thirty-five years of involvement in and observing stock photography, tell me that for the editorial stock photographer, thievery has never been a problem. But if a photographer wants to deal in both the editorial and commercial divisions of the stock industry, it is an important issue to consider. With this in mind, here’s one photographer’s negative experience.

Ann Purcell is an author and nationally-known travel photographer. She relates this adventure with a commercial client who scanned some of her images:

Want to read more of this article? Go to: http://www.photosource.com/researcher/7.html

Derek Fell