Have you ever been just a bit nervous about putting an image online, not sure who’s going to copy it and claim it for their own? You can head over to Google and search for the file name to find out if anyone has duplicated it. But what about finding an exact match for your images?

Enter reverse image searches. Upload your image into the search tools, and it will scour the web looking for matches without worrying about keywords, copy, or file names.

TinEye is a new entry into the world of reverse image searches, and is by far coming out as the leader in this category.

TinEye allows you to submit an image and find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or find higher resolution versions. The technology is pretty cool. When you submit an image, it creates a “fingerprint” and then compares that fingerprint to every other image it retrieves through searches. It won’t find similar images – only things that are an exact match, even if its been cropped, resized or adjusted.

TinEye offers a free account, which allows you to run 100 searches per day. Or upgrade for large volume  – 1000 searches for $70, 5000 searches for $300, or 30,000 searches for $1500. 

TinEye is by far the best tool that I could find for reverse images, yet there are numerous tools that allow you to search for similarities.

GazoPa

BYO Image Search

Tiltomo

What am I missing?

The digital era has made copyright protection more difficult. And as more applications and opportunities to place images online grows, the opportunity to lose out on revenue may seem to go along with it. But it doesn’t have to. It’s all about knowing and understanding your rights, and putting the proper photographs into the proper places.

Clients Images

If your client comes in for a session, sell to your client BEFORE you put them online. Or make them a part of your package deal.

For example, if you photograph a high school senior, they should come in and purchase their images and packages. After the order, you can place a few online to show off to family and friends. Don’t place all of their images online; just the images them purchased. This gives them more incentive to purchase more images.

Images for Stock/Commercial

One time rights – your photos can be used one time and in one location. Any additional publication must be paid for.

First rights – similar to one time rights, only the purchaser is also being guaranteed they are the first to use your image in publication.

Exclusive rights – the company buys the rights to the photograph for a particular use in a particular industry for a particular amount of time. Photographer still should remain in control of the image, and have the right to sell it in other formats at a future date.

Electronic rights – this gives the buyer the right to use your photograph in digital formats, including websites.

Promotion rights – the buyer has the right to use the photograph to promote his product/service.

In all cases, make sure you have a contract and a thorough understanding of how the images will be used.

For more info on copyright issues:

American Society of Media Photographers

U.S. Copyright Office

Editorial Photographers

image source nattu