Make photoshop files into pdfs

[littlebug]

I'm trying to figure out a way to give digital copies of my photography to people without them being able to edit it. I ran into a problem where some people edited my original work and claimed it as their own. How do I turn things into to pdfs so they can't be opened in editing software?

 

[boomer]

If you have Photoshop, there should be an option to save as a PDF (format is called "Photoshop PDF"). Problem is, you can open PDF files in Photoshop and edit them like any other image.

Im not sure of any other way to stop someone from doing that. There are just too many ways to save an image and edit it. They can even take a simple screen shot of it as well.

Maybe someone else will chime in.

 

[rallysman]

Acrobat will allow you to do that but if it's on the web they can still screen cap it.
Also, just for fun I tried to open a PDF in Paintshop Pro and it worked.

 

[littlebug]

So there is no way to lock photos? How do professional photographers do it to their web galleries and when they give disks to clients?

 

[Big Mike]

One way to 'hopefully' stop people from stealing your images, is to watermark them with a mark/logo that is big enough to cover the important parts of the image.

 

[Big Mike]

So there is no way to lock photos? How do professional photographers do it to their web galleries and when they give disks to clients?

Well, there are ways...but as mentioned, there are always ways around it.
Basically anything that can be displayed on a monitor, can be captured.

One thing you can do, is limit the size & resolution of the images that you release. For example, if I upload client images to my gallery/site, they are downsized for screen viewing. They wouldn't be much use for printing. You can also do with if you give them a disc...but part of the problem is that some people just don't know any better, and they will print them anyway.

Personally, I don't give the clients digital files as proofs. If they purchase digital files, they get high resolution files with a print release...but they have to pay for it.

 

[littlebug]

Thanks for the input! )

 

[boomer]

It's just me, but if I was to pay a professional I would hope that I receive real full rez images that I can do whatever I please. I'm the one paying for the product.

I think that this is why some pros use large watermarks. Then the final product that is paid for would be the original.

 

[littlebug]

Big Mike - would it bother you if they took those files, edited it themselves and then said it was your work? How do you maintain quality control on your work?

 

[Big Mike]

Big Mike - would it bother you if they took those files, edited it themselves and then said it was your work? How do you maintain quality control on your work?

Yes, that would absolutely bother me....and it would be illegal (breach of copyright).

 

[matfoster]

primoPDF is good, free app. it allows you to disable print/edit controls within Acrobat Reader. once it's installed, it is accessed via the PRINT command of whatever app you're using - selectable as a printer.

as previously advised, (almost) any image displayed on your screen can be screencaptured. watermarks are a simpl way to frustrate this..but given enough time and effort, they can often been cloned out of some (not all) imagery quite effectively.

through experimentation, i sussed a way of 'serving' an image into a browser which cannot be screencaptured (you just get a black rectangle). create a flash movie of images (using PNGs for uncompressed visual quality). use RealProducer to encode the movie and generate an HTML document. somewhere in the export process, there was the option/radio button to disable local caching of the file (so it can't be retrieved locally from a temp folder and broken-open). view the source of the HTML and alter the default quality parameter 'high' for 'best'. stream the movie using RTSP:// (UDP protocol rather than TCP/IP protocol). this defeated PrtSc from grabbing any image.

but that was in about 2001 so..things might have moved on since then.

there are some commercial firms which offer ways of restricting PDF accessibility, limited number of times a PDF can be viewed etc but personally, i can't see how this can be infallible? ultimately, somebody can just take a photo of a monitor-screen (as in text or schematic information).

 

[Dwig]

So there is no way to lock photos? ...

There is not way to lock a photo for one use while allowing other uses. You can lock a photo, but then it can't even be opened to view. A simple password lock on a ZIP or PDF file can accomplish this.

Once you allow an image to be displayed, that being a form of "unlocking", that display image can be captured and put to other use.

The common method use by online stock photo agencies is to overprint the proof/preview images with a logo that is faint enough to allow the image to be evaluated while at the same time is annoying enough to prevent anyone from getting any real use out of the image.

With PDF, you can use password locks that will prevent the image from being printed or edited. The full Acrobat package from Adobe allows for this as does the free PrimoPDF utility. PrimoPDF functions as a print driver; you print from your application selecting PrimoPDF as the "printer" and it generates a PDF film from the print data. You could add a layer with a logo watermark and then generate a password locked PDF. The password prevents opening the file in an editor to extract the full resolution image and the watermark makes a screen captured image less desirable.

 

[KmH]

It's just me, but if I was to pay a professional I would hope that I receive real full rez images that I can do whatever I please. I'm the one paying for the product.

I think that this is why some pros use large watermarks. Then the final product that is paid for would be the original.

The whole point is, when you buy from a pro, you are only buying a use license for the image, you're not buying the image itself.

If you buy a print, it's rare that copying that print is included in the deal.

By the same token, as Mike mentioned, when you buy a digital file it comes with a use license describing how you can use it. Mike's license allows the client to have prints made by a lab. A use license like that usually makes it clear personal use is the ony use allowed and specifically prohibits using the image for commercial purposes or entering it into any contests.

 

[Dao]

If you can view a photo on the screen, what that really means is an application is able to read the data of the file (image) and present it on the screen.

So either you lock it to a point that the client/user cannot even view it on any devices, or it can be duplicated. It maybe harder, but it can.

I agree with other that lower the image resolution to screen viewing only. They can still print it, but it is not going to look as good as the original.