Should You Copyright Your Images?

Note: Thanks to my student John Baiata for suggesting this article.

Should You Copyright Your Images?

by William Lulow

Here’s my take on how and whether you should go to the trouble of copyrighting your images. First, you probably need an image that you think will be very popular. Maybe it is of some very important event, or maybe it is an extremely unique view of something or someone. Second, you need to assess the probability that someone might try to copy or steal your image. An image of your family in your backyard, well-lit with everyone in focus and the lighting “just right,” is probably of little interest to anyone else but your family. The chances of someone trying to steal it is absolutely minimal. On the other hand, if you happened to be present when the former president tripped and fell on his face while descending the steps to Air Force One, that image might be worth something to a lot of people. So, it definitely should be copyrighted! So, it kind of boils down to how important your image is to the world at large, or how many people might see it in some publication or other. Obviously, the more it is published, the more valuable it becomes. The more valuable it is, the more it should have your copyright attached to it.

Copyrighting an image costs around $40 or $50 per image. You can do it on line, but you also need to forward a copy of the image file to the Copyright Office. You can have a lawyer do it for you which would increase the cost by a couple of hundred dollars.

Copyright registration PROTECTS YOUR IMAGES! That is the bottom line. It would be crazy to try to copyright every single image you have, so it should be reserved for your most recognizable and important images.

There are several alternatives to the copyright process and their effectiveness in preventing someone from stealing your images is also somewhat limited. I do the following:

1. When I download a group of images from my camera or from my SD or Compact Flash card, I bring them into Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Bridge.
2. I then select all of the images from any given take and attach my METADATA INFORMATION to them. This imprints each and every file with my information which also includes a (c) copyright notice.
3. Whenever I publish any image to my website, I use Lightroom to imprint a watermark in the lower right-hand corner that says “(c)2021 (year) William Lulow.” This puts a date on the image whether or not I go through with the actual copyrighting process and pay the fees. If nothing else, it shows an “intent to copyright,” which may mean nothing in a court of law, but it does lay down a certain statement of ownership.
4. Many photographers used to take the images they wanted to protect, make prints of them and photograph them on the studio floor. THAT image, would then be copyrighted, paying the fees and filling out the forms. Then, every image in that photo would be covered by the copyright.

This was an image I made for American Express when my career was just beginning in New York. It involved going up in a helicopter and making the shot with a view camera attached to the aircraft’s window frame on a gyroscope to keep it steady. It was actually only used once by the company for a huge 5′ x 5′ poster that they hung in their corporate lobby to commemorate the fact that they donated money to refurbish the statue in the mid- 1970s. I thought some people might want to use it for something else, so I copyrighted it back then.

So, if you constantly photograph famous people or people in important, recognizable situations like at the White House or other special events, those images should definitely be registered at the Copyright Office. Most photographers don’t make those kinds of pictures unless they are working for a publication of some sort who assigns them to cover newsworthy events. My shots for PEOPLE MAGAZINE were all copyrighted by the magazine with my name on them, so they took care of the copyrighting.

Otherwise, I always go through the steps above, so at least I can prove that I originated the image and when. Only certain images get sent to Washington to be officially copyrighted. That is really the only thing that can stand up in court if someone tries to steal your image.