A simple right-click is now all it takes to pilfer an image in the digital age and photographers are finding out the hard way that not everyone wants to pay to use a great shot.

Steve Bourne's image of a Bent-wing bat was used in publications worldwide. (Supplied: Steve Bourne)

Imagine Naracoorte photographer Steve Bourne's surprise when he saw one of his unique nature photographs appearing on a stamp in the small European country of Slovenia, without his permission and nearly a decade after he took it.

As manager of the Naracoorte Caves for eight years, Mr Bourne had ample opportunity to shoot thousands of images of the cave's unique interiors which are a key breeding spot for thousands of a particular sub-species of southern bent-wing bats that are notoriously hard to photograph.

After countless sessions using infra-red trip sensors, the photographer's hard work was rewarded: his unique bat images appeared in specialist nature publications and books worldwide.

But it was a chance email last week by an avid German stamp collector and biologist that first brought Mr Bourne's attention to the random act of copyright theft by a person more than 14,000 kilometres away.

Spotting the new stamp on a collector's website, the European biologist did a simple Google search and quickly discovered the true owner of the image and emailed Mr Bourne seeking information on the unique photograph.

Mr Bourne said he was more than a little surprised to see his picture appear in a country on the other side of the world.

"It's quite bizarre. I thought 'why would my photos be used in Slovenia'?" he said.

"It's really frustrating."

Mr Bourne said the simple fact of the matter is the photo's copyright belongs to him and he believes he deserves a little credit for his hard-earned work.

"It's not about the money - it's about attribution," he said.

'You can't stop people taking stuff off the web'

It's not the first time photographers have lost control of their own images, a fact long-time fellow South East snapper Ralph Meznar can attest to.

The Mount Gambier photographer has spotted his images being used without his permission quite a number of times in the last five years, saying 'you can't stop people taking stuff off the web'.

Last year, he found one of his images had been pilfered from his Facebook page and entered in an ABC South East competition, but under another woman's name.

Photographing the walls of the old Mount Gambier Hospital coming crashing down during the building's demolition in December 2013, he uploaded several photographs to his website and Facebook account with a watermark, but the identifying mark was cropped off by the woman.

Fortunately, some of his eagle-eyed friends spotted the photographer's distinctive image on the ABC South East Facebook page and brought the post to his attention.

The affable photographer said he didn't mind if people shared his images on social media, but he's learned the hard way not to share his best work on his Facebook page after the incident.

"That was pretty blatant and a bit shocking," he said.

"I was surprised they actually entered into a competition thinking they could get away with it."

Mr Meznar now has warnings pop up on his website and images that he shares on social media are prominently watermarked and low-resolution, although he said it didn't stop some from trying the old right-click routine.

"I actually caught someone trying to take a debutante ball image off there and trying to print it out," he said.

Luckily the photo lab, which could have incurred a $10,000 fine for printing the image without the photographer's permission, rang to let him know.

'It's my intellectual property and my equipment, my time and my profession'

Mr Meznar said people want professional images, but don't want to pay the price it costs to employ a professional photographer.

"It is stealing," he said.

"It's my intellectual property and my equipment, my time and my profession."

Mr Meznar said it's not worth the time to send a legal letter to the average Joe Blow, but beware if he spots one of his images being used for monetary gain or for a purpose he doesn't agree with, such as the furore faced by Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie last week.

Photographer Lana Slezic said she was shocked and appalled that the photo she took of slain Afghani policewoman Lt Col Kakar in Afghanistan was used out of context and without permission to illustrate Lambie's 'ban the burka' stance.

Incidents such as this are becoming more common as professional photographers face an uphill battle to protect their images in the digital age.

But what can you do if you think someone's has taken away your copyright by posting your image on their website or in print?

The Australian Copyright Council has some interesting and lengthy online reading for those who are a step away from calling their lawyer.

The council said copyright theft is often due to 'ignorance or carelessness' on behalf of the infringer and often a simple letter can resolve the problem.

"In such cases, people may be willing to settle the matter in a friendly way."

But if worst comes to worst and the matter ends up in court, the copyright owner may be able to seek damages and compensation for the infringement, depending on circumstances.

As for Steve Bourne, he won't be mounting a legal battle against the Slovenian Government for his copyright fees anytime soon.

"I'd be happy with a trip to Slovenia," he joked.

"They've got great caves over there."