Photo Smarts for Designers and Bloggers

My latest on Williams-Sonoma Designer Marketplace is on photo usage and rights for interior designers. It's a complicated subject that gets emotional when it's our own work, or homes, that are the subject in the image.

Protecting our photos and how they are disseminated through the internet could be a full time job and most of us don't have the time or patience. I recently learned a great trick, however. Using Google Images, you can search images, or even pieces of images. I'm a member of a LinkedIn group run by Gail Doby of Design Success University. Gail recently posted that a group member had been banned from the group because they were using photos of other designers on their website. This is wrong, of course, for so many reasons. Amazingly, I think there are people who don't realize just how wrong this is, or they are lazy. I had a colleague who used stock images on her website - and advised other's to do so as well - if you're new in business and have a thin portfolio. She wasn't a bad or inherently dishonest person, just very, very naive. She looked at it as showing her design style and what she could do for clients. I don't think she understood that by putting those images on her website (even though she paid for the image and wasn't infringing on copyright law) she was misrepresenting her experience - she was implying that the work in the photos was her own. Simply put: don't do it. This is what a blog or Pinterest are for - showcasing one's taste and style.

One of the LinkedIn group member's, Ken Lewis, wrote a post on how to search photos using Google images and what can be found. Google is amazing - and also a bit frightening.

I ran this process on some of my images.  What I found was amazing.

 I found the image above, from my Boston So. End project, in a few surprising places. The first was a blog who included this photo along with others - some with credit, some without. She specifically stated she didn't know the credits for some (this was taken before I watermarked all my images) and would add them as the information came available. I simply emailed her and asked her to add my name and that of my photographer Michael J. Lee. She readily complied.  The image was also being used by an online lamp company, along with two other images, showing the use of crystal lamps in interiors. Again, I emailed them and asked for a full credit, with links, or that it needed to be removed. They added the credits and I've gotten some hits to my website because of it. The third notable mis-use of my image was the worst! A window treatment "maker" used it as the background image on her website. The site was basically a single page contact info page - nothing more. The image was blown out and very poor quality. I had no expectation of hearing from the owner and was going to go to GoDaddy - the web host - if I didn't hear anything. However, amazingly, that owner replied fairly quickly to let me know she'd removed it. She also said she'd found it while doing a search for free stock photos. So - there's a frightening notion. I'm sure there are websites who collect images and either sell them or give them away as a way to draw traffic. Too much to wrap my head around. Meanwhile, I wanted to point out to her that she shouldn't be using someone elses workmanship as if it's her own. Oy. But with little effort on my part - all three were resolved quickly.

I also researched this image - the other view of the same room. Well, what I found was that it had been "appropriated" by an online gaming company. It's a "find the object" in the room kind of game. Oh, and there's Emily Blunt as "Young Victoria". It's a Victorian era building - so they got that right!

Kind of crazy - but also pretty funny. I emailed it to my client - asking her if she'd been entertaining royalty - or movie stars - recently. She got a kick of out it. In this case - I doubt it's worth my time trying to get it removed. It's all over the place and I'd never get to the "owner". Plus, I don't think it materially harms me. Sure, they should have paid my photographer for the image. It's also important to note that my discreet watermarking wouldn't have made a difference in this case. Pick your battles.

This has become a hot topic recently on FB as well. Some designers get very upset by the mis-use of their images and immediately go the route of threatening legal action, calling their lawyer, heading to small claims court and feeling very much like their "brand" has been materially damaged. My personal view is to pick your battles and try to deal with what you can with a stern, yet polite, email and ignoring the rest. With all the gazillions of images on the internet - does Emily Blunt sitting in a living room I designed harm me in any way? Does it harm her or the movie company? No. It doesn't.  I haven't found another designer using my images as their own - but even then, does it actually harm the "real" designer? It's wrong and the images need to be removed, but I'm not convinced it's directly harmful to my credentials and brand. What do you think?


So, going back to Google Images - it's a great tool for upright bloggers who wish to properly credit the images they use. Spending the time to research a photo is the right thing to do. AND you can even crop out an item from a pic and search on that small detail for more information! It's crazy.


For instance:

 

This is a screen grab I took from "Something's Gotta Give". The art in the movie has always been very popular and people are always asking who its by. Well...

I cropped out just the painting on the mantle - Swim Party by Kenton Nelson - and dragged it to Google Images. Et voila. This could have so many uses for designers as well - see a table you like, a painting, a wallpaper - just crop and Google!




If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks! Subscribe to ::Surroundings::