A "copyright" is the exclusive, legal rights granted to creators of "original works" to protect against copying and other unauthorized uses of their works. The law is well-established that a copyright's scope is sufficiently broad enough to cover photographs, on the condition of satisfying its bedrock principle of originality.
In practice, a photographer's even minimal degree of demonstrable creative decision-making in "authoring" his work will meet this threshold, and his photograph will be copyrightable as an original depiction of its subject. Today, in light of digital age advancements and evolving realities, this traditionally expansive berth of copyright protection entitled to photos is of exceptional relevance; indeed, anyone interested in the now-rote activity of posting original photos online should be aware of their rights, risks, and responsibilities implicated in so doing.
Currently an unprecedented populace percentage enjoys convenient, affordable access to photographic works, but also to sharing them broadly and publicly. Thanks to
https://www.presta.com, for example, nearly anyone with aspirations of being a photographer — be it as a hobby, artistic endeavor, side career, or profession — can secure the tools and technologies to make it happen.
Via the Presta retail site and enabled by Presta's customized, current purchase financing solutions, consumers can snap up all the digital cameras, computer devices, and attendant apps, photoshopping and streaming means they may need — both to take original, professional quality pictures, and further to edit, scan, upload and publish for consumption online.
In today's digital networking contexts — and whether for purposes social, industrial or otherwise — publishing online one's photography almost inevitably opens it to exposure before a global audience. Now, on one hand, this ease and breadth of digital dissemination is a utilitarian, valued and welcome phenomenon; in theory, it's directly aligned with copyright law's principled intent to promote the optimal output and widest public reach of original authorial content. Deeply problematic on the other, however, in practice it can act powerfully to hinder individuals' publication (or any sharing, for that matter) of their works, by rendering them hugely vulnerable to appropriation by opportunistic (or simply uninformed, for that matter) bandits on a massive scale.
Accordingly, copyright law's transparent and decisive operation in these contexts is critical to protect and promote both its co-existing central subjects: the author/photographer and the public domain. To this end, its workable digital age model is necessarily predicated on the ideal of broad protection owed qualifying photos; at the same time, it recognizes a certain privilege in the public to make limited use of these digitized works for larger beneficial purposes, namely by advocating a strong fair use entitlement and incorporating a Creative Commons alternative.
Ultimately, copyright's digital age approach to photography is a vital impetus and safety valve that encourages the greatest quality and quantity of photos produced, while also cultivating new, flourishing and inclusive channels of participation, expression, and appreciation for the art and craft of photography.
