Protecting photos on website

[ben_ward2]

<p >I am trying to create a website via iweb. My concern in protecting my photos from being stolen. I am aware of watermarks, slicing, services, etc and the one that intrigues me the most is placing a blank file over the real image. Supposedly this method will make the real image unreachable; when the image is right-clicked, it will be the blank.gif that can be reached.<br /><br />Is anybody aware of this? Can someone explain how to do this? Can it be done from within Photoshop or another software product?<br /><br />If you have any other suggestions, I am certainly interested in all options, but am tentatively staying away from watermarks or other things that would detract from the photo.<br /><br />Thanks. </p>

[bueh]

<p>If you are so afraid that your images will be "stolen", don't put them online.</p>

<p>The transparent GIF trick is easy to overcome. Just check your cache or use "Page Info" (Ctrl-I) and "Media" to access all files displayed on a webpage.</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>The best way to protect is to not publish on the web. </p>

<p>The 2nd best way is to use a watermark or copyright overlay on the image. Yes it distracts, but it's the best way to protect your work - since someone that wants to copy it has to edit that out...</p>

<p>As was pointed out - the overlay trick doesn't work - nor does right click protection as both are defeated by going into the brower's cache and pulling up the images.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[ben_ward2]

<p>I don't believe I was specific enough with my initial post. I am creating a <strong>photography website</strong>; publishing photos would be required. I am well aware that anything put online can be retrieved, but I would be neglectful if I did not attempt to deter theft. <br>

I don't mind combining multiple alternatives, but must admit that I am new to this and would need some basic, detailed instructions. <br>

Thanks again.</p>

[bueh]

<p>Just put a small watermark with the website's URL on the images and anything "stolen" will be free advertising!</p>

<p>Most of us here have photography websites and this is the maximum I consider worthwhile. On one of my sites I have huge (1600px) images for all to see, but still won't lose some sleep if some kids copy them for their blogs. Welcome to the internets!</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>Ben:<br /><br />There's no good way to protect your images on-line. You can put huge watermarks all over the photos but if you do, be mindful that you're making it very hard for potential clients and customers to view, evaluate, and license/purchase your photographs.<br /><br />Personally I add a small, unobtrusive, watermark consisting of an individual image #, copyright notice, web site URL and my e-mail, when I post low res images on my site. I make a living doing this and have well over 2,000 images on my site.<br /><br />You have to find a balance that works for you between protecting your images and giving your clients/customers a convenient way of viewing them. Don't forget that many photo buyers - if you're looking at selling/licensing to publishers etc - want to be able to quickly and easily download comps.</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>Have to agree with what others have said. I only post online what I can afford to be downloaded, i.e. small jpegs which cannot be used for large prints. If they should be used without my permission, I have learned to live with it. Attorneys love to suggest copyrighting your work, because that's what they need to help you in case of violations, i.e. for their vested interests of their business. But copyrights are only good for those who respect them. For those who don't, I have neither the time nor resources to go after them.</p>

<p>Some would disable right clicking to save a photo. Others would chop up a large image into smaller pieces so that each piece has to be downloaded separately. Etc., etc. None of these are preventions from downloading, just annoyances.</p>

<p>Then there are hosting sites with "liberal" usage rights, which many seem to be unaware of.<br>

http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00SLsS<br>

http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00WBi0</p>

<p>Lastly, there are submission calls wanting 300ppi images, online vendors (printers, scanners, book makers, etc.) who don't clarify how your high resolution files will be protected or deleted. Yes, welcome to the Internet.</p>

<p>Call me naive if you will. But if we don't speak up and make others aware, we don't have a fighting chance that anything good will happen.</p>

[swenson]

<p>

<p >

<p >Like other have said trying to make you images totally secure is a waste of time. Even a half baked scheme is going to require specific coding for at least three or four different set of browsers. Every time a new browser comes out or even new releases you're going to have to go back and at a minimum re-test. If someone has saved any really old versions of browsers it's going to be even more difficult.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Copyright notices and watermarks are only successful if they're large and places in the middle of the image. Otherwise they will simply be cropped out.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >About the only method that works is to have a boiler plate cease & desist drawn up by a intellectual property lawer. Digitally sign your images. Hire a firm that has spiders and robots that search all the photos on the internet looking for yours. When they find them send the C & D letter. Then go back to the lawyer and sue each infraction individually. This works domestically, international is another can of worms that will probably require retaining an attorney in every country that your photos pop-up in.</p>

<p > </p>

</p>

</p>

[swenson]

<p>Also, there's always flash, which turns off a lot of people and totally messes up all of the search engines and web indexes.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Another, also futile, but at least partial block to appropriation, is to keep the files small and compress them mightily. "Save for Web" is your friend. Of course, it may make many images look like crap, but that's part of the "protection".</p>

[sknowles]

<p>I'll add the voice to the choir, don't spend the time. Put Web-version only images on the Website and be done. No matter what you try to do, a hacker of even modest level can, with time and effort, undo the work and download the whole images, even slicing the image (just find the script putting it together). The work to protect the images is really more the question of how much time you want to spend working on the Website than actually doing other things. The more complex the Website, the more time spent on it, especially when it doesn't work right. Don't forget the operation of a Website will take several orders of magnitude of time than creating it.</p>

[prettygeeky]

<p>No matter what you do, even with all the UI tricks like no-right click, transparent gif... anyone can simply hit the Print Screen button and capture your image. It is a trade off of the internet.</p>

<p>With that said, if you want to prevent the copy of your actual image file you may need to code it out in flash or a java applet. =/ This wouldn't be anything a non-programmer would be able to easily do. The proper code should take into consideration search engine optimization and usability related features like deep linking, history.. etc.</p>

<p> </p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>Anything that an application displays on a monitor can be captured with "print screen." One approach I tried long ago was, as I recall, to use JS to dump the clipboard after a prtscr had been executed. However, it was easy enough to work around that solution. As I recall, I could de-focus the web page and thereby prevent the event handler from picking up the keystrokes. I could also defeat this feature by being quick enough on the draw to paste before the clipboard was cleared. The short answer is that there's no way to do it. Lord knows I've tried!</p>

<p>The solution I now use is to put a big watermark diagonally across my images, complete with name, "all rights reserved," and my web address. It's big and intrusive enough to prevent it from being edited from the image. Have a look...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.graphic-fusion.com">www.graphic-fusion.com</a></p>