…in external competitions, on the web, on YouTube and social media
Information for Oldham PS Members from the webmaster – updated July 2024
Pictures used in External Competitions
We may, from time to time, use your images for external club competitions, for example: battles with other clubs, Federation and PAGB competitions and the FIAP World Cup. The society does not ask individual permission for this – it is implied as a part of membership unless you opt out.
Images are taken from the quarterlies, annual and other competitions, but not usually from appraisals. The Competition secretary chooses which images to use in local battles etc. For other external competitions, such as federation events, PAGB and FIAP competitions, we have two selectors, currently our most senior judges, Mike and Christine.
We have an external competition bank on the competition upload portal and it helps us out enormously if you can upload your most successful competition images there and keep it up to date with the newest versions, deleting old versions.
opting out
If you are a member of another club, you need to let the Competition Secretary know which club you are supporting with your images. Sometimes there will be no conflict at all, but other times you need to be sure that both/all your clubs know who can use your images.
If you do not wish to allow us to use your images at all for external competitions, please contact the competition secretary.
Pictures used on the OPS web site
We will publish images from the competitions in results galleries from time to time. We also publish some images from challenges and studio nights.
You retain copyright of all pictures that we post to the website. This is regardless of whether they are watermarked with a copyright statement. It is recommended that you embed your copyright symbol in the EXIF data on all of your pictures. This can be done in camera, or from your software editing programme, e.g. Photoshop/Lightroom. The easiest way for me is to automatically have my copyright as part of the data that is applied to every photograph as I import it from my memory card to Lightroom.
However, be aware that EXIF data can be stripped off or edited by unscrupulous persons. It is always possible to steal a picture from a web site, even when “right click/save as” is disabled. If it is displayed on a computer, it can be extracted.
What size do we post at?
We will usually post your images at 800 pixels on the longest side on web galleries. We ask you to supply them to the webmaster at that size and watermarked, if you wish, with your own copyright. For images used direct from the competitions, the output size is 800×600 pixels and the software adds the copyright information as a watermark. For competitions not uploaded to the portal (e.g. some club battles, a generic watermarked is sometimes used “Copyright Oldham PS member”).
Who can post your images on the website?
- The webmaster
- Any other member with full admin rights (currently the competition secretary)
How long do pictures stay on the web site?
As long as you want while you are still a member! If you ask to have pictures removed, the webmaster will remove them. Sometimes older pictures are removed when the web site is updated. If you leave the society, your pictures will be removed from galleries, but may remain in archived articles and the media library (unless you request otherwise). Also see our Data Protection Policy.
How else will we post your images?
Sometimes we post pictures to our OPS Facebook page.
Can images be stolen and re-used?
Yes, it is possible for someone who steals your image to use it. Be aware that with increasing use of AI generation, stolen images can also be used as a source for the generation of new derivatives based on your original.
We all have to decide if we are so precious about our pictures that we don’t want to share them at all. That, I think, would be a shame.
Submitting images for the header area
The header area contains panoramic images at an exact size for the template that is currently in use. If you want to submit pictures to possibly be used in the header, please send them to the webmaster for consideration and she will give you a submission size.
Who owns copyright of the pictures that we post to facebook?
You do. In the UK, copyright remains with the photographer unless you sign it away to somebody else.
However, it isn’t quite as simple as that on social media. In uploading your pictures to social media, you have granted a license for that organisation to use and display that content however they like. That license expires when you delete the picture from their web site. However, if the picture has already been shared elsewhere, it may still be in use.
If you want images that OPS have posted to Facebook to be removed, please request the webmaster to remove it and that will be done as soon as possible.
YouTube
In 2021 we began to use YouTube to show some Exhibitions of our work. Members who object to this should contact the Council to ensure that your wishes are carried out.
How can you find out if your image is used elsewhere on the web?
Right click on the image on the web page. Select “Search Google for this image” (Chrome browser).
Or…
- Find the image that you want to search with.
- You can use Google to search by image instead of text.
- Visit images.google.com in your browser.
- Click the Camera button on the right side of the search field.
- Add your image that you want to search with.
- Click “Search by image.”
Both these processes work if Google has already found and catalogued the image, so images that have recently been posted may not yet show up.
a MEMBER’S Experience of image theft
Christine Widdall says:
- I have had an image stolen from my website and re-used to advertise a product. I contacted the webmaster concerned and the image was speedily removed.
- I sometimes find my some of my images re-posted in blogs, but if they are linked back to my site, I generally don’t worry about it…otherwise I ask for them to be removed.
- I have also had two tutorial videos stolen and used on an eastern European web site and re-posted on YouTube. In that case, it was more difficult. I had to fill in forms for YouTube and they investigated and removed the stolen versions. They could tell that mine were the original versions and the others were poor quality copies. But it may not be as easy as that with other organisations!
- I have had images stolen and then re-generated with very slight changes in AI programmes. It is impossible to guard against this.
- There is no easy way to prevent theft. If your image is out there, it is vulnerable.
Taking action when your image is stolen from a web page
The following advice is from Digital Camera World:
- Contact the webmaster of the web site that is displaying your image.
- Contact the web hosting company of the website concerned.
- Contact the advertisers and let them know the web site they are advertising on is displaying stolen material.
- Take legal action (expensive)