protecting images from being copied...photoshop

[gw84]

I have lots of photos that I would love to post on the net, but I don't like the idea of someone else taking credit for them. I know that the best way to prevent this would be to simply keep the photos off the net, but I don't want to do that, so my question is this...what are some good ways of protecting photos online?? I've seen many pictures that have lines across them to keep the image from being "reused" but I think that looks tacky. I have been inserting my initials over the image (in a place where it can't just be cropped out). I have photoshop, and I would really like to be able to get my name/initials over the image but in a less visible way. Anyone have a recommendation? I've seen some photos with text that appears somewhat transparent...how do I do that? thanks!

[drunken monkey]

There are several ways to add your own logo, name, whatever.
First point of call: google photoshop watermark

[Damien]

Watermarking is easy and the simpliest way of protecting your photos. It's best to place it somewhere that doesn't make it easy to erase but at the same time, it won't technically stop someone from trying.

Be on a photography forum, tons and tons of pics are posted and well, sme have watermarks nd some don't. Guess it depends on your community and what not. On my MySpace, I only watermark my concert pics since that's the only real thing peopl can sell. Besides, i have the original with the exif data and most are registered to my name anyhow which takes very little time.

[gw84]

Originally Posted by Damien

On my MySpace, I only watermark my concert pics since that's the only real thing peopl can sell. Besides, i have the original with the exif data and most are registered to my name anyhow which takes very little time.

thanks for the replies guys. I too post concert photos on my myspace. I have also seen similar photos for sale on ebay...and I have sold some of mine on ebay as well. Speaking of selling photos, what should I do to ensure that my sold images are not reproduced?

I'm checking out google for my photoshop answer...thank you!


P.S. before I learned about watermarks, I used to protect my images on myspace by altering the size/quailty of the image. I'm not 100% positive that this will keep someone from stealing/borrowing my images, but it would slow me down if I was trying to do as such. I just make the image small enough that when it's enlarged/zoomed the quailty is garbage; the image is just large enough to be seen....hopefully not stolen

[drunken monkey]

Just to cause more hassle for potential image theft, you can also disable right-clicking on some blog pages. I can't think of the exact script for that right now but it shouldn't be hard to google either. That doesn't prevent people simply doing a screen grab but at least then they won't be getting anything like the original file quality. Of course, this isn't exactly my area of expertise and I'm pretty sure you can get around disabled right click pages but it's something extra that you might want to think about.

[gw84]

good idea! I did the google search, but unfortunately it didn't help because I'm running on (don't laugh) Photoshop version 4.0....not elements; original version 4.0 hahahaha. I have another decent program on disc somewhere that is a little newer. Hopefully I can find the disc and do a search for that program. thanks again

[Damien]

Hm...4.0. i'm thinking but I'd have to play with it again. Go find 7. It'll work. And by find I mean...um, find.

['97ventureowner]

I've seen software that puts a watermark on your photos, and it's offered for free on www.giveawayoftheday.com . If your not familiar with this site, it offers software that normally costs between $19.95 to $79.95 free for a 24 hour period for download. You may have to wait for it to come up one day, but if you can find something to work in the meantime it might be worth it. A good thing about that site is that it also has a section for comments and ratings from the users, so if you have an issue with the program after installing it , you can sometimes get your questions answered there.

[Damien]

Or go on www.download.com and see what they have for free

[ericn1300]

since youre using Adobe just convert your photos to pdf format after adding the copyright info. pdf is jpeg format compatible and has security against altering password protected included and anybody with Adobe Reader can view them.

[gw84]

sweet. i never knew what the .pdf was. thank you!!

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by gw84

sweet. i never knew what the .pdf was. thank you!!

pdf stands for portable data file. it allows you distribute a file across platforms and the internet that can be secured against alterations or copying by password protection. just remeber to add protection since it's off by default

[jcsaleen]

Your better off with just watermarking it. What drunken reffered to is true but not completely fool proof. I don't STEAL & post other people's work but I do collect ALOT of beautiful images from blogs etc. There is no way to really stop except a watermark because even though you can stop the right click they either have to.

A. High-light + Control + C which is the basic override.
B. They can take a screen shot it just won't be in super high res form unless they take several screen shots - That's just madness
C. Other browsers such as mozilla etc have script decoder and media displays. This means I can go in an DL the image as long as it's displayed on the site. It will either appear as a code on the script or as an image file under media.

Personally If you want to be really fool proof ~ Watermark it and then put it in PDF form and host it as an executable attachment.

From my prespective anything with a water mark that will distort the main focal point if edited/chopped means the image isn't worth copying down to rehost. The watermark basically makes tamper proof especially a nice a gentle overlayer. Go into photoshop - make a logo - Copy it on as a new layer to your image and set the opacity at just around 10-15 all across the image or just enough to "Touch" the focal point. that will most likey detur anyone from copying your work. Like I said I'm a collector and I don't mind watermarks (makes it easier to catagorize) but assholes who pose hate them.