Quote Originally Posted by hoax View Post
The reason we are so intense about watermarks is because there is so much scamming reptiles on the internet.
Scamming may be part of it but if you look at the inquiry thread on BallPythonZone.com at

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=86844

you can clearly see that the focus is on "stealing" the photos but I do understand your point.

Photographers protect their work for a different reason than reptile breeders. Reptile breeders should focus on the reptile. If I photograph a house, no one cares whether I own it and I don't get permission from the homeowner before shooting.

What happens if I go to a big snake breeder and photograph all of the snakes and put those photos on my snake based website as part of the overall design - not in the collection or available sections. The photos are mine but the snakes are not. I can put my watermark on the photos and no one can claim that I stole them. What then?