How can I copyright photographs that I took?

(I assume you are talking about a digital photo (taken with a digital camera). If you are taking photos with a film camera let me know.)

Whenever you take a photo, it is automatically protected by copyright. You don't need to do anything special to retain that right. You can add a copyright statement on the photo to help alert others to the fact that you know you have copyright and will take steps to protect your copyright if the photo is used without permission but this is NOT necessary to maintain your copyright for the image. There are several ways to do this:

1) Use any image editing program that has a "text" mode, and type your copyright statement (e.g. : Copyright © 2008 Pat Doe ) in a corner of the image, so that it can be seen but doesn't detract from the impact of the photo. Be sure to save your image with a new filename and keep the old image untouched - never (ever) overwrite your original image as this degrades the quality of the image and you can also accidentally overwrite it with a lower quality image - in effect destroying your high quality digital negative.

If you are using Windows, you can use the Paint program that comes with Windows. Make sure to save your photo in the same file format (but with a NEW name).

I also recommend Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) for Windows users. This is a great freeware image editing program that has many more features and is easier to use than Paint.

2) Advanced image editing programs have an option to edit the "metadata" or IPTC data. This is data stored in the image file but not normally displayed. There is a copyright field and you can enter your copyright statement there. You can also fill in fields for the name of the creator (you), the location where the photo was taken, etc.

3) You can overlay your photo with a watermark. This is usually done in a way that it ruins the photo for others to use, but allows people to get the sense of what the photo will look like when someone orders a print or product with the photo on it. You can do this with Irfanview. Play with the opacity settings to produce a watermark that is visible but not too damaging - I usually use 20-25%.

4) You can use a program to embed a hidden watermark. This watermark is hidden in the "image data" part of your file and is next-to-impossible for a thief to find or remove. You would need to pay for special software to embed this type of watermark - this type of thing is only done when you suspect someone will use your image without your permission and you expect to catch them, and then sue them for your loss. It is rarely used by most photographers.

Finally, if you are in the US you can also register your copyright with the Library of Congress. See: U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/)