Parents in Finland turn to AI tools to remove watermarks from school photo previews, in a practice that photographers say allows families to obtain usable pictures without paying for them. So far, the Finnish School Photography Association says it is aware only of isolated cases.
The issue has emerged during the autumn school photography season, as families have discussed online how artificial intelligence can be used to alter the preview images sent out after children have their portraits taken.
According to Yle, the Finnish School Photography Association (Suomen koulukuvausliitto) has received reports of photographs being used without permission after copyright markings were removed.
AI makes copying school photos easier
Removing watermarks from photographs is not new. Mikko Säteri, executive director of Finnfoto, the umbrella organisation for Finnish photography associations, told Yle that people have been using software and other tools to do so for around a decade.
AI has made the process considerably easier and can also increase the resolution of small preview files enough to produce printable versions.
Photographers are therefore looking at new technical methods to protect preview images and trace photographs that have been taken without permission.
The practice also raises a copyright issue. Under Finland’s Copyright Act, photographers have the exclusive right to reproduce photographs and make them available to the public, including when the images have been altered.
Ordinary photographs are protected by related rights for 50 years from the end of the year in which they were taken. Photographs that qualify as copyright-protected works can receive longer protection.
School photographers are paid when families buy
The dispute is particularly significant because of the way Finnish school photography is financed.
Schools and day-care centres do not normally pay photographers to photograph children. Photographers instead bear the costs of organising the shoot, using professional equipment and preparing the images, and then earn money when families decide to order photographs.
Outi Simström, vice-chair of the Finnish School Photography Association, told Yle that this model is not always understood by parents.
“The entrepreneur’s income comes from families voluntarily buying the pictures they want.”
Most Finnish school photographers are small business owners, according to the association, meaning that obtaining the finished image without purchasing it directly removes the photographer’s expected source of payment.
Uploading children’s photos to AI services brings another risk
The photographers’ organisations have also raised concerns that go beyond copyright.
Using an AI service to remove a watermark generally requires uploading the image to an external platform. In the case of school photographs, that means transferring an identifiable image of a child.
Simström said parents should therefore consider carefully which services receive those pictures and what happens to the files afterwards. Säteri also noted that some digital services operate outside the European Union, where different rules and terms may apply.
The concern is particularly relevant when photographs of minors are involved, as users may have limited control over how an uploaded image is stored or subsequently processed.
A 160-year-old Finnish tradition faces a new technology
School photography has a particularly long history in Finland. According to the Finnish School Photography Association, the first known Finnish school photographs date from the 1860s, making the practice around 160 years old.
Portraits and class photographs later became a familiar part of school life across the country, documenting successive generations of pupils.
For now, the association describes the unauthorised use of AI-edited previews as isolated rather than widespread. But the technology changes how easily a low-resolution preview can be turned into a usable photograph, forcing a long-established industry to reconsider how it protects the product on which its business model depends.
