03 February 2012

Bildertube - massive infringements

BilderTube http://www.bildertube.com is a Portuguese based website (but the text is German) who is massively infringing the work of photographers worldwide by allowing free downloads of thousands of images that they have stolen from websites around the world. Many of my images on this site were taken from my Fred Miranda Gallery plus my PBase site.  The English text at the top of their webpage states "Picture [Bildertube] tube is the new free image database. Can be found in our database royalty free images and photos that you can use for free on your website, whether private or commercial (but be sure to check our terms of use when you want to use an image without a license. Have fun!" Images are uploaded from anyone, anywhere and are then downloaded for use in websites and blogs without payment or reference and certainly without accreditation. In fact, I found one of mine with ©BilderTube on a blog and after my request, the blogger removed the reference and corrected the accreditation. I have contacted GoDaddy in Germany with a request to remove my images and hopefully pull the site down. The email I sent to BilderTube bounced.

UPDATE:  Good news.  I wrote to the ISP and received the usual "We will request them to remove the images etc etc" but I felt that that was not good enough so I wrote them the following:


With respect, this whole site is infringing copyright and I am sure that the EC would be interested in having this site removed entirely.  Germany is a signatory to the Berne Convention and this site is contravening Article 1 (amongst others) of said convention.  There are possibly many other images of mine which are on the site which I have yet to find along with hundreds, if not thousands, of other images of professional photographers whose intellectual property rights are being abused.  The text “Picture tube is the new free image database. Can be found in our database royalty free images and photos that you can use for free on your website, whether private or commercial (but be sure to check our terms of use when you want to use an image without a license . Have fun” is in contravention of Article 1.  They are inviting contributors to upload images to their site without any reference to the copyright holders and they are then being downloaded by websites and blogs illegally.  On one occasion, I found one of my images with attribution ©BilderTube so they were also passing off one of my images. 

As their email address is false, I believe that your “request” rather than “demand” will be ignored


 (and today the site has disappeared).  One for the good guys but just the start of a long process of bringing these sites down.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Checking more infringements today, they would appear to have taken down several other "freebie" sites, all possibly linked to BilderTube but under other names as the websites were almost identical in nature with same images being published illegally.

Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

After Topaz

Using Topaz Spicify, the image has been enhanced in both colour and "pop". This may be a tad OTT but when printed out, it looks rather good (even if I say so myself!!).

Elderly gents

Image enhancing filters

I have recently been experimenting with different filters for post processing images. Topaz has been one of them. Using the adjust filter, one can change rather dramatically an image which may (or may not) need enhancing. Purists argue that one should not enhance or change an image but in this era, we are bombarded with enhanced movies so it seems a natural progression to enhance still images. The pic directly above is the original image (shot RAW and converted using Adobe Camera RAW).

Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

I am going to show how a somewhat boring shot of Sydney Harbour (if there ever could be one!) can be turned into something a little more spectacular. Below is the original shot (shot in RAW format with my Canon 5D) and taken off the back of the Manly ferry.

Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour
Rather boring shot of Sydney Harbour

Conversion

Using Adobe Camera Raw ("ACR"), I converted the raw image with parameters: Blacks 7, brightness +31, Contrast +61, Clarity +77, Vibrance +7, Saturation 72 and a bit of Curves which brought me to the below image.

Harbour

Harbour

Flood filter conversion

I then produced a "reflection" using Flaming Pear flood filter. For those unfamiliar with this filter, it gives the image a perception of a reflection (poetical!) and I see it often in publications and I find myself examining ALL images with reflections to see if the photographer had used this very handy filter. I have details of the conversion if anyone is interested but to post it would be a tad boring. Flaming pair flood filters can be found here

Reflection

Reflection
Sydney Harbour reflection using flood filter

Sea of Hats

Sea of Hats
I was on my lunch hour when I was strolling around The Rocks area of Sydney when I saw a group of private schoolgirls on an excursion. As soon as I saw their hats, I knew that there was a good opportunity to get a good snap. As luck would have it, they started to cross the street to where I was standing. I knew in my head the image I was looking for and I had to be above them. With an enormous amount of good fortune, a ramp up to a shop in this old area of Sydney was a few metres away. I raced up the ramp and shot this image. It was taken with my Canon 70-200 f/4L at f/5.6 which gave me a shallow depth of field leaving the centre hat in sharp focus and the rest of the hats out of focus. I submitted this image in late 2005 to the Black and White Spider Awards and it won Outstanding Achievement - People and also won me the Photographer of the Year 2005 - amateur. It really is nice to get recognition of one's work and even though I am now a professional, it still gives me a warm feeling when I look at my certificate!

Sulphur crested cockatoo in flight

Sulphur crested cockatoo in flight
This is an image on which I have added a "flood" filter. It is quite effective and quite a nice shot in any event. Flood filters can be found here and they are worth every cent. There is always a debate regarding "Photoshopping" images but as long as one is honest about the origin and digital changes to the image, I think its legimate. The original image, taken in our garden, of the cockatoo actually landing on the lawn, had a piece of its left hand side wing missing so I "replaced" it in Photoshop CS4. Cockatoos actually dislike water and when they start attacking the timber balustrades on our verandah, all I have to do is get out the spray bottle and walk towards them. They are endearing creatures, very intelligent but are enormously destructive. They are very long lived (up to 80 years) so don't even think of buying one unless you plan to outlive it and put up with the high decibels of squawking! I really hate seeing them in cages and they must long to be free when they see a large flock passing by.

Surfing the storm

Surfing the storm
Late one afternoon, I was snapping at Avalon Beach, Sydney, when a storm approached. This did not stop a late surfer. This image is available as a print via my RedBubble site. Click on image which will take you to the print site.

Sydney Opera House abstract

Sydney Opera House abstract
An abstract look at the famous icon. It is very difficult to take any pics of the Opera House as everyone and their brother has done it before. For this particular image, I used Optikvervlabs filter.

Leopard seal

Leopard seal
I took this shot of a leopard seal exhaling bubbles at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. This is, apparently, one of the few leopard seals in captivity. Apparently it was found injured awhile back and is happy in its huge enclosure at the Zoo along with its mate. Through a stock library, this image is to appear as a full page in a textbook.



Alice

Alice
A portrait of an elderly lady
This is one of my favourite images of Alice, an elderly aboriginal lady who sadly is now deceased. I would occasionally see her at Circular Quay in Sydney and she would often smile at me. I used a Dragan filter to bring out more texture to the image. I am often asked if I have ever been challenged when photographing candid subjects. Only on one occasion, I was asked not to take a photograph of a female street performer which was odd as that is where they often make their money. So, of course, I acceded to her wishes. Many buskers or street performers expect payment for taking their photograph and its something I always do as its their living, as taking photographs is mine. One of my most popular galleries on my website is one of Sydney Aborigines and I have many kind comments on my work. I did have one person, a Sydney academic, who actually called me a thief as she was under the erroneous impression that I was selling images of these colourful folk without payment which in fact is not true. I have model releases from many and I have made subsequent payments to them.




The smoker

The smoker
An elderly man puffs on a cigarette

Mudda Mudda

Mudda Mudda
My favourite subject
Mudda Mudda (aka Cedric) is an aboriginal busker who is often found at Circular Quay, in Sydney, accompanying other aboriginal buskers. He has such a great face and this image won me a UK award last year for traditional portraiture here