Thou Shall Not Steal ---PHOTOS!?

I will let you guys know why we should not steal photos or put a watermarks at  the images that we do not own. There are few people who need to be educated on this matter. I’ve seen great photos posted at facebook, twitter, tumblr and whatnot, and it bothers me that some just carelessly put watermarks as if they own the photos. Internet is a fascinating world; everything is spoon-fed, available or just a few clicks away. Internet is designed to make everything accessible, we are being spoiled with all the information we can get and if you happened to encounter someone who is as curious as me, well chances are, you might end up being busted, hehe .

I know a lot of people who are really amazing in taking stills with their camera and I commend them, with all praises. So, aside from what I have stated above, this also aims to educate or to give tiny bits of information to some photo enthusiast by being careful in sharing their craft and how to research (just in case they don't know this yet). Unfortunately, I also fail on this (I'm very amateur in photography though), as I carelessly post my photos without even marking or sealing it, with that I risk the chance of my photos being stolen by someone.

So to cut it all short, I want to introduce GOOGLE IMAGE. Google Image is a service provide by Goggle. Yes Google, if you see the image icon or word located at the upper part of your Google screen, then that’s what I’m talking about. Check out the image (or better yet, go to Goggle and click the "Image"):

Google Image can help you search for images in the web. It will give you the sites where that image was used or taken.  Just drag the photo that you wish to locate and let Google do the searching for you. Just like so:

And the result! Tadah!

As you can see in the Image above, the photo that I dragged from my Facebook account is the same photo I've use here in Blogspot and Tumblr. I used it as a header therefore Google has identified that image and matched it with both of my accounts. You can also try and search for more popular or less popular photos and see where it takes you, because I tried using it and so far it hasn't failed me. One thing I noticed though, your original photos posted in Facebook or Twitter will not be recognized, unless you copied or posted it in your Facebook from another source. And so, If you have photos and you wish to know if those are being used in a website or a blog or if you want to know if that photo is originally from someone, then that’s the best tool that you can use. But if you wish to search thoroughly or you want a more advance tool, then you can also try TinEye.

TinyEye is an Image Search Engine developed for that special need, it can give you details of an image or a page containing an image. It will search for the other usage of the image, the time of their appearance including modified image based on the original image posted and so on.

I’m not really sure if there’s a violation for the people who steal photos in the internet. as far as I’m concern the internet culture doesn’t stop anyone from reposting images found in the web, but there are some ethical internet users who are good in giving credits, they link back the photos to the site of the owner or they mention the name or at least note that the photo is not theirs. What I do know is, ethically speaking, we should not put watermarks or claim photos under our name if it is not our original. If we find a photo amazing or good then maybe we can repost it even without giving credits,(if we really don’t have time to search for it or whatever reasons we have) just don’t steal recognition from someone. On the other hand, if you are an aspiring photographer aiming to earn from what you are doing, it is important to make the necessary protection for your craft. alrighty!?

So that’s it, that’s all I have for today I hope we can all be careful or at least let’s not make a fool out of ourselves by being stupid, hehehe. Don’t watermark the photos that are not yours, don’t claim something that others work hard on. Live an honest life by exploring your talent, we are all gifted. We just need to put more passion in what we are doing!

Live a great life everyone ^^