Image gift published by "friend"

So it all started when I gave one my turtle prints, in 5x7, to a friend of my wife's in return for a favor. She had seen the turtle image on my wife's screen saver at work. A few months later, I was advised that the collage this "friend" made with my turtle image did not place in a contest! She scanned it in and made it into "art". She has placed in other contests with Photoshop and does have talent.

My image never placed in any contests but it would have been nice to be asked for copyright permission, which I would have granted, free. Nothing I can or would do about it at this time. How shoud one handle these gifts? I never dreamed she would use it without permission, an "artist" should know better.

wow, shocking....

Let her know you are thinking of taking a picture of one of her pieces of art and entering it in a few contests... see what her reaction is

Then i would definitely give her a piece of your mind and explain copyright.

Get a rubber stamp that says "For personal use only--All rights reserved" and stamp the back of every gift image you hand out.

It can be a subtle way of making sure your gifts stay as gifts.

You will know the gift was not being received as such, if you get and reaction about the stamp, which should open up a dialogue for you about the final intended use of the image.

Hope this helps.

Cool! That rubber stamp idea is a pretty good one. Its subtle, professional, and to the point.

If you want to take it outside of a stern talk, contact the contest organizations and notify them of copyright violation...

Yeah, copyright extends to "reuse or adaptation" of the original image. Many people aren't aware of that.

Jack