It's the weekend - time for more Bonaire pictures! All u/w shots taken on Bari Reef (I'm starting to think I don't dive any other site....!!)
Dix.

I cant take it anymore.....I want to be you!! I love my photos until I see yours, then I'm so disappointed in mine. I'll keep trying as long as you keep posting!!

Thanks Dixie.

Might be good to put a copywrite on your pic's.

Wonderful, Dixie!

ok. Now I really am jealous. The flounder is amazing. I have been trying to get a picture like that for years and here it is in your photo shots. I think you are part fish and these guys just pose for you and they run away from the rest of us. We will have to start calling you the Fish Whisperer. I can't believe these. They are beyond great. You can open up a gallery at our Condo at any time, the only cost is FREE lessons. What the hell is your secret to capturing such fantastic photos?

Sandy
owner Sanddollar A-11

Just an added note. You really don't have to dive anywhere else. Bari Reef is the greatest.

I love Bari Reef - there's so much to see there and I can sit in one spot for 5-10 minutes to get pictures (need a patient buddy to do that though!).

No big secret Sandy! I take 70-80 photos per dive to get maybe 5-10 that I like (gotta love digital!!)

Good point Jerry - consider them copyrighted, personal use only!

Dixie

Excellent as usual, Dixie. Thanks!!

I think what Jerry meant was that you should put your name on the pictures before you post them, in a corner or somewhere so people can't reuse them without your name on them. I know people that have found their pictures for sale on ebay because they didn't physically put a copyright name on them.

Dixie -- you continue to amaze !! Thanks again and again and again for sharing !!

Thanks Becky - I did understand Jerry but I really didn't want to repost all the ones already on here with my name on them. That could be next week's project though!

Seeing these pictures, it's hard to believe I was JUST THERE. It's like watching a movie with a famous place versus seeing it with your own eyes. There's a certain magic in your photos, Dixie.

The fact that you took the picture constitutes a copyright.
That said,you are much more protected with a copyright/water mark on your pics.
Bad folks can, and will if they want to, remove your copyright and steal your work.
As an example my profile pic is/was being used by a local rental agency on their web site.
Your pics are consistently the best I've seen of late.
Well done.
Thanks you

Who wants to rent my villa?

Thanks Grunt! You're definitely right about copyrighting. We can only do so much to protect our work but with software like Photoshop, etc. people can do almost anything with a photo these days.
Thanks so much everyone for looking after me!!

Dixie

Don't tempt me Jerry....!!

Please put a (C) on pic's that you don't want to be used by others.

Dixie, your pic's are special, protect them.

Thanks Jerry - I'll repost them all properly marked ASAP.

Hi Dixie,

As a new underwater photographer could I ask you what lens you used for each of those pictures? Camera? Housing manufacturer? Thanks!

Dave - Here's what Dixie posted in another thread when I asked a similar question:

My system is a Nikon D70s in a Subal Housing with a single Sea&Sea YS110 strobe. Most (95%+) of my photos are taken with the 60mm macro lens. I shoot all manual (more fun experimenting with different settings).

I tried out a couple new lenses in May and got a lot of bad shots. A good excuse to go back in November to practice some more!

Grunt is right. The mere action of writing something or taking the picture constitutes a copyright. I've written scripts for movies and while I archive them with a company for proof that it is my intellectual property, it is not actually necessary. Just makes suing a thought thief a lot easier.

And Dixie, your photography is just splendid. I'm beating a dead horse here but it is a lovely many-colored dead horse with rich clarity and spot on depth of field.

e.

To add to Eric, anything you do is along the lines of discouragement. Nothing will deter someone who actually willfully decides to use your photos without permission. Hopefully you can catch them, but you certainly can't do much to deter them without ruining your images with a giant name stuck in the middle. On the other hand, putting a small copyright and name in the corner will help deter those who simply don't think about it or would use it no additional steps are needed (cropping the image, etc.) Dixie - I noticed you reposted some images yesterday to thread #2. Just wanted to let you know those all came up as "Your Image Here" for me. I think something got messed up in the process.

Okay, I know this is getting long, but I just thought I'd point you in the direction of something that could be useful to you. Flickr has created a no-hassle kind of way to license your images for commercial use by Getty Images.

http://www.flickr.com/help/gettyimages/

Your photos are high enough quality that I could see you making some money off this. Of course, it's a serious decision, though the worst case scenario is that they get exclusive license for two years to sell the photos you submit. But it might be an easy way to make a little change! That link above has a pretty thorough set of FAQs.

If you don't go that route, you could put them under a Creative Commons license instead. You can allow all manner of commercial or non-commercial use. Flickr has a little explanation of each kind here:
http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

BTW, you don't have to use Flickr to put things under a CC license. They just make it easy for their users.

Hope this helps.

agreed... these pics are the kind that get 'stolen' or 'borrowed'