Seriously? You Just Don't Know What People Are Out There Doing.
Business By howsweet Updated 9 Oct 2013 , 10:29pm by Daisyblue002
This lady knew what she was doing - no one would create an entire website using all pictures of someone else and think that was ok. And it wasn't random pics from here and there, they were all mine - at least there were whole pages with just pics of my cakes. This is how she jump started her business and apparently it worked pretty well for her. Some people will do what ever is necessary to get ahead.
I know if I'm not going to watermark my pics, I'm going to have to be dealing with this. I did discover a reason to go ahead and use a watermark at the bottom of the pic because that will make it easier for anyone to identify who the photo belongs to if they do a photo search. Because other photos of the same pic will come up and some of those will have the watermark (like cakechooser and Pinterest).
AZ, I know my way around photoshop pretty well and have been digitally embedding watermarks in the data of my pics in order to track them.
On a side note, I've noticed something interesting about the types of names these photo nabbers use. So far about half of them have names having to do with something religious or that would make them sound more trustworthy. You know, like instead of Susies Cakes, it's Grandma's Angelic Delights (which is a completely fictitious name I just made up).
Good news, you're not the only one. This happens every day, everywhere.
Bad news, You had the bad luck of finding it out. You guys here don't know how many people out there have been recreating your cakes everyday. They don't do it with the intention of hurting you or something like that, they just look it up and try it like many of you have looked up other stuff in Google. I know it's shocking and makes anyone angry, but internet access is no limited unfortunately. 
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This lady knew what she was doing - no one would create an entire website using all pictures of someone else and think that was ok. And it wasn't random pics from here and there, they were all mine - at least there were whole pages with just pics of my cakes. This is how she jump started her business and apparently it worked pretty well for her. Some people will do what ever is necessary to get ahead.
I know if I'm not going to watermark my pics, I'm going to have to be dealing with this. I did discover a reason to go ahead and use a watermark at the bottom of the pic because that will make it easier for anyone to identify who the photo belongs to if they do a photo search. Because other photos of the same pic will come up and some of those will have the watermark (like cakechooser and Pinterest).
AZ, I know my way around photoshop pretty well and have been digitally embedding watermarks in the data of my pics in order to track them.
On a side note, I've noticed something interesting about the types of names these photo nabbers use. So far about half of them have names having to do with something religious or that would make them sound more trustworthy. You know, like instead of Susies Cakes, it's Grandma's Angelic Delights (which is a completely fictitious name I just made up).
omg. That is just TOO MUCH!
I would find the links on her page that were mine and send them to her to save her the trouble of taking time out of her busy schedule to track them down. Otherwise I'd just leave it alone. Especially if we did not live in the same geographical area.
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Good news, you're not the only one. This happens every day, everywhere.
Bad news, You had the bad luck of finding it out. You guys here don't know how many people out there have been recreating your cakes everyday. They don't do it with the intention of hurting you or something like that, they just look it up and try it like many of you have looked up other stuff in Google. I know it's shocking and makes anyone angry, but internet access is no limited unfortunately.
The problem isn't recreating the OP's cakes, it is taking the OP's pics and leading people to believe she made them.
Oh I would be furious! but I would be tempted to write her the following:
"How flattering to me that you used MY photos of MY hard work to build your business. You must be quite talented to copy them exactly, otherwise you would not have return customers!
However, don't you think it would be in your own best interest to take photos of YOUR cakes once you have them finished so that those would be the ones representing your work and not mine? I have no problem with someone copying my design. I do take issue with someone representing MY work as theirs and making money off of photos that I took!
Like my cakes? Copy away! But given the scope to which you built your website with pilfered photos (that you are still using) without my express permission, I can not excuse your actions no matter how busy your life is.
Either take all my photos down immediately or I will take legal action--which will not only include you having to remove my photos--but more than likely include any payments you received as a result of money that you made off of the photos of my cakes that are represented on your site. (I will have to consult my Attorney brother-in-law to see if that's feasible...regardless, he owes me a favor!)
Don't know which ones are mine? Just remove ANY and ALL photos you posted without the designer's knowledge and you won't have to wonder! It's the right thing to do...plus, you will be saving yourself the headache of having to go through this again with someone else.
I thank you for your prompt action. I'm happy to do anything it will take to help keep you compliant!"
....or something like that! ;D
Just read this whole thread. That's terrible. Can't believe people do that and are not even ashamed of what they've done. carmijok your response was perfect! "I thank you for your prompt action. I'm happy to do anything it will take to help keep you compliant!" Perfect! Cracked me up!
My favorite part is the fact that her daughter is a photographer. Damn, help a mother out.
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Oh I would be furious! but I would be tempted to write her the following:
"How flattering to me that you used MY photos of MY hard work to build your business. You must be quite talented to copy them exactly, otherwise you would not have return customers!
However, don't you think it would be in your own best interest to take photos of YOUR cakes once you have them finished so that those would be the ones representing your work and not mine? I have no problem with someone copying my design. I do take issue with someone representing MY work as theirs and making money off of photos that I took!
Like my cakes? Copy away! But given the scope to which you built your website with pilfered photos (that you are still using) without my express permission, I can not excuse your actions no matter how busy your life is.
Either take all my photos down immediately or I will take legal action--which will not only include you having to remove my photos--but more than likely include any payments you received as a result of money that you made off of the photos of my cakes that are represented on your site. (I will have to consult my Attorney brother-in-law to see if that's feasible...regardless, he owes me a favor!)
Don't know which ones are mine? Just remove ANY and ALL photos you posted without the designer's knowledge and you won't have to wonder! It's the right thing to do...plus, you will be saving yourself the headache of having to go through this again with someone else.
I thank you for your prompt action. I'm happy to do anything it will take to help keep you compliant!"
....or something like that! ;D
You sound almost as mad as I was. 
You can't tell people like this anything - it's like pouring water on a duck. Or teaching your cat to read. Talking to a tree. You get the idea 
And it just makes them mad. Like pulling on a tiger's tail or waking up a bear. And you don't know what's going to happen, like opening Pandora's box.
I swear I have not been drinking.
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Just read this whole thread. That's terrible. Can't believe people do that and are not even ashamed of what they've done. carmijok your response was perfect! "I thank you for your prompt action. I'm happy to do anything it will take to help keep you compliant!" Perfect! Cracked me up!
That's partly why I posted it (that and venting). Sometimes people don't know what it's like "out there" in the business world. Some of your competitors will stop at nothing to get ahead. I admit this particular problem could mostly be avoided by watermarking, but if i don't want to, that doesn't give them the right to use the photos.
No it doesn't. You're right. It does not give them the RIGHT to. Can I ask what watermarking is? I just opened legally a few months ago. Before then did it for family and friends. And do you have your pics photographed professionally or do you do it yourself? My photos need a lot of help. The backgrounds are horrid and distracting.
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No it doesn't. You're right. It does not give them the RIGHT to. Can I ask what watermarking is? I just opened legally a few months ago. Before then did it for family and friends. And do you have your pics photographed professionally or do you do it yourself? My photos need a lot of help. The backgrounds are horrid and distracting.
When you watermark a picture, it bears your name or logo on the picture so people know who made it and where it originated from. In the era of Pinterest, facebook, twitter etc where there are a thousand cakes out there by a thousand different cake designers, people know where to come if they want to see more of your work or purchase your cake. There's some free software out there to watermark your pictures - I've used the free picture editor at picmonkey.com. Just upload your picture by clicking Edit a Photo and on the left hand side choose the Text button and from there you can select a number of different writing styles (not sure about adding your logo). The size of the text can be adjusted and you can also fade it as not to take away from your masterpiece. Hope this helps :)
P.S - when photographing your cakes, you can use a neutral background like an ironed white sheet or some wrapping paper. It's best to use lots of natural light, so place your cake next to a nice big window and turn the flash off on your camera. The flash can make things too bright and you'll loose the details. Somtimes I've taken about 50 pictures + and only 1 has been any good (my husband thinks I'm mental having so many cake pictures!) Best of luck with your new business too :)
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