Please help me protect my work

Peter Solano · Sep 3, 2010

Hi everyone, this is my first time here, and I ignore if the proper place to post my questions. I sell my work in person on a DVD visiting potential customers.

Last time I noticed a woman that was looking at my work and liked two of my photos, clicked on them and used Ctrl+C to STEAL my work.

Needless to say I did not make a sell. Unfortunately they were in high resolution ready for printing, so I am sure she now has tow of my photos hanging on her wall free of charge.

While I spent countless hours working on them.

Is there a way I can protect my work? That photos could be shown but not copied?

Long time ago at a site ( I forgot the name of it) I saw a picture I liked, clicked on it, the photo enlarged, saved it. Saw it in my computer as a small thumbnail. clicked on it to enlarge it and a big blank square appeared in place of the photo. That is the kind of protection I need.

Would someone know the name of such a program or a similar one/ I would not mind spending a couple of hundred dollars to protect my work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Peter Solano
www.flickr.com/photos/petersolano/

epp_b · Sep 3, 2010

Let's get one thing straight...

Last time I noticed a woman that was looking at my work and liked two of my photos, clicked on them and used Ctrl+C to STEAL my work.

It is not stealing, it's copyright infringement. They're defined entirely separately in law with very good reason. Please stop degrading language, itself, by euphemising and jading this word to inflate your sense of importance.

With that out of the way...

Needless to say I did not make a sell. Unfortunately they were in high resolution ready for printing, so I am sure she now has tow of my photos hanging on her wall free of charge.

Well, that's easy: don't give out full-resolution photos. If someone wants prints, you sell them prints.

If someone wants digital copies for preview, you provide the photos watermarked, in low resolution (eg.: an image, 600 pixels on the long side, with a large watermark of your name or of your company name)

Is there a way I can protect my work? That photos could be shown but not copied?

This wet-dream of Hollywood will never become a reality. Get over it.

Long time ago at a site ( I forgot the name of it) I saw a picture I liked, clicked on it, the photo enlarged, saved it. Saw it in my computer as a small thumbnail. clicked on it to enlarge it and a big blank square appeared in place of the photo.

This was only because you were too naive to get around it.

Learn this: if you can see a picture, it can be copied. Period.

Peter Solano · Sep 4, 2010

Your post was more a GRAMMAR lesson than what I really needed to know. I am still looking for a program that will not allowed pictures to be copied except of course with the "print screen" function, and yes what can be seen can be copied DUH!

KmH · Sep 4, 2010

There is no program that will do what you want. There is javascript code that can disable right-click.

Copyright infringrement is still theft. But, in the US if your copyrights are registered with the feds and your attorney can prove willful infringment, the court can award damages of up tp $150,000 per infringed image.

Overread · Sep 4, 2010

You can use any sort of clever codes to try and hide/protect you work - they might stop the odd person from getting a background or computer sized copy of your work, but most times any determined theif will simply bypass the protections with little effort.

The best protection I think is two fold;
1) 500 to 1000 pixel sized photos online only. This limits the uses of the photos whilst also leaving enough for people to see them and judge by them. If you are sharing photos for a client to choose 500 or 600 will be more than large enough for them to make a selection from - if you are attracting more generalist audiences or showing to the general public I would say between 720 and 1000 is enough to share you work.

2) Watermarking - if you are showing your work and there is a massive watermark over it any general viewers won't be viewing your work again - whilst any thief can most likely remove or reduce it to have little effect for their needs. So I view a smaller, less invasive watermark which is more likely to be left on by general users (and thus if your shot does do the rounds on the net people can at least find their way back to your site!)

3) If you are shooting for clients directly I think that writing a detailed, but clearly and simply worded (and checked over by a lawyer) contract at the start of things helps. In that you can outline the specific uses of the photos they are purchasing (many don't realise that taking and publishing on facebook and the like is not supposed to be done nor that little edits (even just minor cropping through the silly photoshop actions) should also not be done).
It's a moment where you can slow them down a little and just outline your stance without seeming to be rude or bossy. Furthermore getting it over and done with early means that you are less likely to have to conflict with them should they use your works inappropriately.

Peter Solano · Sep 4, 2010

Overread said:
You can use any sort of clever codes to try and hide/protect you work - they might stop the odd person from getting a background or computer sized copy of your work, but most times any determined theif will simply bypass the protections with little effort.

The best protection I think is two fold;
1) 500 to 1000 pixel sized photos online only. This limits the uses of the photos whilst also leaving enough for people to see them and judge by them. If you are sharing photos for a client to choose 500 or 600 will be more than large enough for them to make a selection from - if you are attracting more generalist audiences or showing to the general public I would say between 720 and 1000 is enough to share you work.

2) Watermarking - if you are showing your work and there is a massive watermark over it any general viewers won't be viewing your work again - whilst any thief can most likely remove or reduce it to have little effect for their needs. So I view a smaller, less invasive watermark which is more likely to be left on by general users (and thus if your shot does do the rounds on the net people can at least find their way back to your site!)

3) If you are shooting for clients directly I think that writing a detailed, but clearly and simply worded (and checked over by a lawyer) contract at the start of things helps. In that you can outline the specific uses of the photos they are purchasing (many don't realise that taking and publishing on facebook and the like is not supposed to be done nor that little edits (even just minor cropping through the silly photoshop actions) should also not be done).
It's a moment where you can slow them down a little and just outline your stance without seeming to be rude or bossy. Furthermore getting it over and done with early means that you are less likely to have to conflict with them should they use your works inappropriately.

Thank you BOTH, and YES, I do feel it was STEALING as she can easily transfer those pictures to a USB FLASH MEMORY, take them to a print shop, have them printed and framed hang them on her wall and out of that I got NOTHING.

The way she did it was on cd contents highlighted the picture with the mouse and then used Ctrl+C and after I was gone Ctrl+V and bingo my picture was on her desktop.

The protection this site I mentioned was great you copy the thumbnail, but when you click to enlarge it only a big blank square with all rights reserved on it appears, that is what I am looking for.

Sure I could water mark them and show then in low res,but even that can be over ridden if you know how. And also I want my photos to look their best when I try to sell them. And getting into to an argument with a potential customer ( the way may be I should have done) when I saw her copying the picture it not the way to go.

If someone know any java codes I can burn along with the pictures to protect them, please let me know. Thanks.

Overread · Sep 4, 2010

Thing is why go so complex when it can be bypassed by a coder - just go simple and cheap

here:

500pixels large and easily large enough to see details and make a choice if you wanted to purchase it. And yet if you try to print it you won't get much from a file that size.

epp_b · Sep 4, 2010

OK, it seems that you want to prevent people from copying files from DVDs you supply them. Without extremely intrusive, offensive and expropriating software that will require installing spyware on your clients' computers and making your clients hate you (see Sony/BMG CD copy protection scandal), there is no way you can prevent people from copying files on a DVD that is in their own computers.

Such a system will only prevent people too dumb to search Google on how to work around it.

We've already told you numerous times: for displaying to clients, watermark the photos and make sure they're too small to print properly.

Like so:

At 300 DPI, this will only print at 2 inches wide. Big whoop. Plus, they'd still have that big watermark in the middle of it.

Thank you BOTH, and YES, I do feel it was STEALING...

You can feel however you want, but it doesn't change the fact that theft is not exactly equivalent to copyright infringement.

...as she can easily transfer those pictures to a USB FLASH MEMORY, take them to a print shop, have them printed and framed hang them on her wall and out of that I got NOTHING.

The way she did it was on cd contents highlighted the picture with the mouse and then used Ctrl+C and after I was gone Ctrl+V and bingo my picture was on her desktop.

Man, you must be on the pinnacle of technology to be able to do that clever sleuth-work.

Somebody COPIED AND PASTED A FILE?!?! STOP THE PRESS!!

Did you just discover computers yesterday?

The protection this site I mentioned was great you copy the thumbnail, but when you click to enlarge it only a big blank square with all rights reserved on it appears, that is what I am looking for.

Yes, yes, that was from a website, right? That's irrelevant for the medium you use to display to clients.

Sure I could water mark them and show then in low res,but even that can be over ridden if you know how.

Um, no. This is only method that cannot be subverted.

If you do your watermark properly and have it in a small enough resolution, you've actually changed the data in a manner that it cannot be reverted.

AdrianC · Sep 4, 2010

Um, no. This is only method that cannot be subverted.

QFT.

Its true that a pro at Photoshop could eventually remove a watermark, but this will generally take hours, so its just not worth it.

I wouldn't waste my time with any of the stuff you're trying to get. Just shrink and watermark your pics.

Any way that involves using code to protect a picture is EASILY bypassed, even with limited knowledge. If you could find and post the website you're talking about, i could probably download full sized pics within minutes, and I know very little HTML.

inTempus · Sep 5, 2010

Peter Solano said:
Your post was more a GRAMMAR lesson than what I really needed to know. I am still looking for a program that will not allowed pictures to be copied except of course with the "print screen" function, and yes what can be seen can be copied DUH!

Impossible. If I can see an image on my monitor I can make a digital copy at the same resolution it is displayed at. The is no software that can prevent me from doing this. As mentioned, watermark your images and display them small enough where it's not worth the effort to copy them.