Question for photographers on facebook?

[Chentelle]

I believe that social networking is a great way for photographers to gain exposure and get our work out there. I just opened my business facebook page recently, but my question is this; What is to keep our clients from simply right clicking on the image and saving it, then doing whatever they want with it? Even if the size is reduced and it is watermarked, they can untag themselves in the photograph after they save it and have no further link to our pages. I have also found that younger people now days do not really want actual prints as much as they want the image, so if the image that they like is posted on facebook and they can take it and put it on their phone or ipod to show their friends then why order prints?

Has anyone else had similar issues or any ways around these?

[Gopan M]

I think one of the ways you can think of is to open a istockphoto account and sell the pictures there. On your facebook, put thumbnails and have it linked to the istockphoto account. So if they really want the images, they are at least paying for it (and you get some piece of the action too). Unfortunately, if you land up puttitng all the images in full or even higher res, there's little chance that they ever get attributed to you.

[Forlorn Hope]

there are many reasons for not using Facebook:
1) Facebook is currently unsecure - their security is substandard...
2) Facebook accounts are being hacked...
3) Facebook claim copyright of any pictures posted on their website...

better to advertise your website on Facebook/Flickr/Twitter... that way, you know things are safer...

and make sure you put a copyright/embossed watermark on your photos to stop people abusing them...

[φως (fos)]

facebook, busines page, getting photos out there, .........

no none of the above worries me that much, im selective about what i put on the net, i watermark and stuff, but end of the day commercially theres no value in 200kb or there abouts files really

[joedlh]

What are you losing if a kid puts one of your images on her iPhone? Do you think it would ever occur to her to buy them if they weren't freely available? The way I look at it, it's free advertising.

There's no way to prevent someone from right clicking an image on ANY web site. Facebook is not an exception. If you want to get your stuff out there, you need the web. People are going to take your images without permission. The best way to deal with this is to post low resolution images that could not be used for any money-making enterprises that would cheat you out of just recompense.

I am not a big fan of slapping a watermark on my images. The goal is to have someone admire one's work. Defacing it with an ugly copyright notice seems to go against that goal.

[♫ Mad Luv ♫]

That's why to make it as a photographer you have to sell the experience not the photos...
The set up to saying hi to taking photos making your clients relaxed.. yes it's simple to steal from the internet. water marks can be photoshopped out. Case in point my friend got married and they listed her images on the interenet she can't afford all of them but would like to be able to view them.
Good ol me got them all for her. takes time. and it was all done on a flash site (harder then heck) but it can still happen.

Most people don't want prints unless it's a wedding.. i mean what douchbag is going to have a framed print of them selves. maybe some family photo's but it's all about your clients.
If your fear ful of theif then find the lower class people who don't facebook.

or just make them pay for the experience , them learning and wanting to relax. that experience alone will increase print sales