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Posted on 26/02/08 10:41:49 AM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2904 Reply  |
Protecting Your Work
Sometime ago I had submitted a satirical image to a magazine for a weekly competion (send us your jpegs for a chance to win 200$...etc) I didnt hear anything back from them but today I was flipping through that magazine and lo and behold there was my image! HOWEVER..there was no acknowledgment that I had created it, instead this man's name was there as the creator. Naturally, I was quite stunned at this. I called the magazine to see what was going on and they said basically if you cant prove it was yours then tough! (I had deleted the PSD file) So the point of my post is......Is there any way of encrypting your identity within the image? I seem to remember something about metadata but unsure how to do it. If anyone can help on this, Id be really grateful Thank You Anna  |
Posted on 26/02/08 11:53:41 AM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply  |
Re: Protecting Your Work
There are various ways of doing it, Digimark embeds a digital watermark but you pay for the service. There's the good old visual watermark, of course but there's a chance images will be rejected. You could put your copyright details in the metadata using the File Info panel (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I) but then that won't stop them printing it and it's by no means fool-proof. Personally, I would keep hold of the PSDs as they are the closest thing to 'having the negatives'. _________________ It must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays |
Posted on 26/02/08 6:24:35 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: Protecting Your Work
How annoying. I assume you have checked your Recycle bin? I also use Search and Recover, http://www.iolo.com/sr/4/ I think you can download a test copy. By the way, what magazine was it, so we can be sure not submit anything to them.  |
Posted on 26/02/08 10:06:34 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply  |
Re: Protecting Your Work
You may have deleted the psd, but presumably you still have the original jpeg file? You couldn't have got this by scanning the magazine, and I reckon this would be sufficient proof. Plus, there would be a creation date on the jpeg. |
Posted on 26/02/08 11:26:25 PM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2904 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Thank you for your feedback. Ive learned a lesson through this..never delete stuff - particularly PSD's. |
Posted on 27/02/08 00:00:34 AM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply  |
Re: Protecting Your Work
http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm Run a search on the page for "invisible" and you will find both the action download .zip file. I use this action quite often when emailing aerial proofs to prospect homeowners and small businesses. You will be able to create your standard watermark, run the action, and it will 'interlace' the watermark within the pixels. Later, you can extract the watermark by running the extract action on the image whether the person uploaded it to the web or published it in print (by scanning the document into photoshop). It's a sneaky technique that creates an invisible watermark...  |
Posted on 27/02/08 09:10:17 AM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Now that is clever! Nice one, tank! _________________ Leap and the net will appear |
Posted on 27/02/08 10:01:09 AM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2904 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Thanks for that Tank!! Theres some great stuff on that site also 
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Posted on 27/02/08 4:25:29 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Hope it helps, tooquilos. Especially if it's a weekly challenge you're entering for that publication. Along with the Copyrigt and date, you can also add a hefty fine for infringement within the watermark...say, $200 Each Occurance? I'm guessing the publication prints at least 5,000 copies each round?  There are court cases posted all over the internet where the photographer receives an enormouse settlement if a large company infringes copyright. Granted, the photographer and artist should register their images for federal copyright protection (under U.S. law, I'm not sure how it works elsewhere)
By the way, did you originally submit the artwork via email? You should have the original email, attachement, and date the entry was sent as proof... If you have sufficient evidence, you may want to contact a lawyer. Artists should be credited or compensated for their hard work and creativity. |
Posted on 28/02/08 00:15:54 AM |
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vicho
Ingenious Inca Posts: 248 Reply  |
Re: Protecting Your Work
hi tank i`ve downloaded the Action and it works fine but how does it stop people from stealing? i mean how does it prove that i own the original picture? im confused...  |
Posted on 28/02/08 00:43:03 AM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Hi vico, You have to customize the watermark to suit. You could have your name, phone number, website address, company logo, etc...instead of the stock watermark file the action comes with. Then the image will be undeniably yours. Open the image file that comes with the action and change it to suit your needs. When you save over the file, the action will place the new version (provided you didn't move the image into another directory, or change the name) Alternatively, you could create a new watermark file-->save it with transparency-->now go to the action, find the line that places the copyright file-->edit it to find your new file and you should be good to go.
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Posted on 28/02/08 00:46:20 AM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
I should point out that if someone uses the image that has the watermark and manipulates it in photoshop, whatever changes they make to the image will distort the watermark when it is later extracted. But whatever area is left untouched, will still have the watermark. |
Posted on 28/02/08 08:30:30 AM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
In the version I used, there was no watermark file, it stops and prompts you to enter text. _________________ If you hold on to the past, sooner or later you'll lose your grip. |
Posted on 28/02/08 2:48:09 PM |
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vicho
Ingenious Inca Posts: 248 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
thanks tank! so if i ever find myself in a situation like Tooquilos (  ) i could claim that i own the original image since it has my name on it as a watermark and to prove it...what should be done?
that`s what i don`t get because the watermark is embedded but not visible...unless i have that person who stole my image to run the "read watermark" action, surely he won`t willingly do such a thing! sorry that i insist but i think this "protecting you work" subject is too relevant and whatever info available on that is important.. |
Posted on 28/02/08 4:14:13 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Whoops! Sorry about that. I modified the action a bit. Instead of entering text, it places a watermark file I stored on the hard drive. The action can then be used with Image Processor, and save a ton of time. I have different versions of the action for various output sizes. 600px, 800px, or 1000px. Also a couple thumbnail sizes as well. |
Posted on 28/02/08 4:26:44 PM |
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tank172
ThreeDee Thriller Posts: 692 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
Your right, vicho. The thing about copyright infringement is you will never know someone used your work until you see it for yourself! (Or someone informs you by showing you, or sending the image in question to you.) So the print or website in question will be in your posession anyway. It is at that point you can extract the watermark from the image and prove it is yours. You can then contact the person and request proper compensation, or contact a lawyer to do it for you. As mentioned earlier, their are many methods available to protect your work. It's standard practice to embed info in the metadata, but anyone with Photoshop and 'Save for Web' will in turn strip the metadata from the image. It's also standard to place a visible watermark in the image, which could end up simply cropped out, then used. So, what if both the visible watermark were cropped out and metadata stripped? At least you will have the invisible watermark covering the important areas of the image that are likely not to be manipulated. Placing a huge, visible watermark smack in the middle of the image is effective...but also takes away from the image itself. You shouldn't rely on one method to protect your work, but a combination of the three would be more effective. (Or officially registering the image as the copyright holder with the government. Which is actually one of the best methods, and most secure if you find out the image was later infringed upon.) You could also pay for Digimark, too. Hope this helps [edit] Ever hear of a "poor man's patent?" Put the images on at least 3 separate cd's or dvd's. Put them in the post in separate envelopes and mail them to yourself.
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Posted on 28/02/08 10:38:40 PM |
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vicho
Ingenious Inca Posts: 248 Reply |
Re: Protecting Your Work
you`re right, thanks for all the suggestions! |