Stan Rose
EF5
A word of advice from someone who owns a successful photography business:
I just was perusing some of the chase report threads from the target forum over the last few weeks. I noticed several posters from members who posted large (1600-2000 pixel or larger!) photos of their chase, and there were several that were really quite nice--I can almost guarantee that they have already been saved off this website and are now gracing someone's wall or desktop. This website, nice as it is, makes no effort to protect your images from downloading, and all I have to do to save your finely-crafted image is right click on it and hit 'Save'.
I could easily print a pretty decent 16X20 from some of these posts.
A watermark might help, but really the best way to protect your images (take it from one who has been there) is to simply post a low resolution shot. Sure, you will lose a few 'likes' and a few will complain that you are not quenching their appetite for weather-porn, but at least you won't have your hard work stolen from you. If you are ok with giving your photos away, that is ultimately your prerogative, but be aware that: 1) You are literally throwing away potential income, which could compensate you for all the work you put into your photo. If you market your photos properly, they will produce sales for you, maybe not a huge amount, but enough to justify taking care that your images aren't grabbed for free. 2) Even if you are fine with giving away your photos, be aware that as a result you are driving down the price of prints and image sales for the rest of us who spend a lot of time and money trying to market our work.
End of Rant.
I just was perusing some of the chase report threads from the target forum over the last few weeks. I noticed several posters from members who posted large (1600-2000 pixel or larger!) photos of their chase, and there were several that were really quite nice--I can almost guarantee that they have already been saved off this website and are now gracing someone's wall or desktop. This website, nice as it is, makes no effort to protect your images from downloading, and all I have to do to save your finely-crafted image is right click on it and hit 'Save'.
I could easily print a pretty decent 16X20 from some of these posts.
A watermark might help, but really the best way to protect your images (take it from one who has been there) is to simply post a low resolution shot. Sure, you will lose a few 'likes' and a few will complain that you are not quenching their appetite for weather-porn, but at least you won't have your hard work stolen from you. If you are ok with giving your photos away, that is ultimately your prerogative, but be aware that: 1) You are literally throwing away potential income, which could compensate you for all the work you put into your photo. If you market your photos properly, they will produce sales for you, maybe not a huge amount, but enough to justify taking care that your images aren't grabbed for free. 2) Even if you are fine with giving away your photos, be aware that as a result you are driving down the price of prints and image sales for the rest of us who spend a lot of time and money trying to market our work.
End of Rant.
