Programs that can put my name and/or a copyright stamp on my photographs...

[editheworld_co]

<p>I am an avid photographer and want to put my copyright on my pictures. Therefore I need some sort of text and/or drawing program or something that can do this. Now nothing in I photo or on my Mac seems can do this. Is this something I would need Capture NX2 to do and/or can Capture NX2 achieve this? <br />Also, another thing I would like to achieve doing with my photos is not only cropping them but being able to zoom in on a portion of the picture and cropping that zoomed in portion of the picture?<br />Any feedback or direction on this topic would be greatly appreciated THANK YOU!<br /><br />P.S. I dont know even if Capture NX2 is compatible with my computer, but if it is, Iam most likely going to purchase this espically if it can do those previously discussed things but is Capture NX2 good? any other good programs out there? </p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>You can embed your name and copyright notice in the image's EXIF data and have it show up on Flickr like this:</p><div></div>

[parv]

Tim, why would you have "Copyright 2009" in "Artist" field?

[Michael R Freeman]

<p>I wouldn't count on copyright info embedded in image EXIF. For one thing, few people cruising the web looking for images to "lift" are going to check for EXIF info to see if the photo has an embedded copyright notice. And even if it does, if someone wants to lift the image and use it on their web page, they need only strip the EXIF info from the file if they want to remove any trace of who the photo originally belonged to. At least with a watermark they have to alter the image to remove a copyright notice.</p>

<p>You don't need to purchase an expensive image editing program like Photoshop or similar to place a watermark on your photo. There are a few free basic image editing software packages that can place info within the image via a text box function. <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</a> is just one, I'm sure there are others. You can get as plain or fancy as you want to with your notice. The © symbol can be entered with an ALT+0169 sequence on Windows machines (hold down ALT, enter 0 1 6 9 in sequence, release ALT) from your keyboard, followed by your copyright notice text.</p>

<p>There is also a free little standalone utility called <a href="http://copyrightleft.en.softonic.com/">CopyRightLeft</a> that you can use to place a basic copyright notice on your picture: http://copyrightleft.en.softonic.com/</p>

<p>One thing to keep in mind is that a copyright notice is like a padlock ... it only serves to keep honest people honest. If you upload it to the web, it's available to anyone and everyone without a conscience to download as use as they please, and like a padlock, a copyright notice won't deter a thief. :-)</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

 

<blockquote>

<p>Tim, why would you have "Copyright 2009" in "Artist" field?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well, that's a long confusing story explained in this Adobe Bridge thread I started here:</p>

<p>http://forums.adobe.com/thread/479162;jsessionid=18AD3C96384839BF61C099811BE268B4.node0?tstart=0</p>

<p>Now that I finally figured out how to get this info to show up, I just never bothered to change the Metadata Template because some EXIF viewers will only show the "Artist" entry so I end up covering all bases. Another neat thing about embedding all this data and having it show up on image hosting sites like Flickr is that it also shows all the ACR edits applied. That screenshot is just the upper half. The rest shows every setting I used in ACR.</p>

<p>I agree with Michael concerning the futility of protecting your work this way. Along with his advice I'ld suggest keeping your images at a small size like within 1000 pixels in length. You can't get a decent print except maybe a 4x6 at that size.</p>

<p>And according to Lex Jenkins, a PN forum moderator, there's new technology that can scour the web finding whether someone lifted a web posted image and placed it elsewhere as their own using image map analysis or something to that effect.</p>

<p>The EXIF method is really meant for professionals dealing with stock agencies and other image archival libraries like the government and news organizations.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote></blockquote>

 

[editheworld_co]

<p>But if I was to purchase Capture NX2, is it able to perform putting a watermark on my photo? And The most common way of copying pictures I've seen is to right click on the mouse, copy and paste. But, is there a way to disable that, so the average person cant do that to my pictures? Is there maybe a program? Thank you. </p>

<p>P.s. Has anyone ever went through copyrighting there actually photo, if so, was it difficult?</p>