Image Theft Protection
This subject is best summarized by Michael Breakey as follows:
Protecting your images on the web is no longer an easy thing. Before, just the copyright symbol, or something similar, on the image did a fair job. This was before flash galleries. Then flash came along, making that practice unnecessary. However, new capture software has overcome that protection. The most useful method is digimarcing ones images. From the pro level subscription and up the web can be searched to see where your images are. Even if someone copies and prints your images a scan and check in photoshop will show your digimarc - even though it is invisible to the naked eye. Pro subscriptions are $99/year and good for up to 2000 images per year.
Check https://www.digimarc.com/ for more info.
Don Weixl raises an interesting point as follows:
The general term for online selling of photographs at low prices and very low commissions for the photographer is "Microstock". Google "Microstock" and you will get links to sites that sell the rights to photographs of all descriptions...Some require a subscription and some will sell photos individually. Supposedly the low commissions for the photographer are made up by the high volume of sales....My guess is that hobbyist photographers are willing to basically give away their photos for the thrill of a small pay cheque and the chance to be published. Unfortunately, the extremely low prices of Microstock has heavily damaged the conventional stock photography market for the professional photographer....
Don Weixl April 11, 2011 email
My take: It's better to present your work with higher resolution images and secure more assignments, than to worry about theft and lose potential assignments, especially if the theft would not have resulted in significant revenue in any case. This reinforces the old saying "the picture you haven't taken is worth more than the one you have" taken. bh
This subject is best summarized by Michael Breakey as follows:
Protecting your images on the web is no longer an easy thing. Before, just the copyright symbol, or something similar, on the image did a fair job. This was before flash galleries. Then flash came along, making that practice unnecessary. However, new capture software has overcome that protection. The most useful method is digimarcing ones images. From the pro level subscription and up the web can be searched to see where your images are. Even if someone copies and prints your images a scan and check in photoshop will show your digimarc - even though it is invisible to the naked eye. Pro subscriptions are $99/year and good for up to 2000 images per year.
Check https://www.digimarc.com/ for more info.
Don Weixl raises an interesting point as follows:
The general term for online selling of photographs at low prices and very low commissions for the photographer is "Microstock". Google "Microstock" and you will get links to sites that sell the rights to photographs of all descriptions...Some require a subscription and some will sell photos individually. Supposedly the low commissions for the photographer are made up by the high volume of sales....My guess is that hobbyist photographers are willing to basically give away their photos for the thrill of a small pay cheque and the chance to be published. Unfortunately, the extremely low prices of Microstock has heavily damaged the conventional stock photography market for the professional photographer....
Don Weixl April 11, 2011 email
My take: It's better to present your work with higher resolution images and secure more assignments, than to worry about theft and lose potential assignments, especially if the theft would not have resulted in significant revenue in any case. This reinforces the old saying "the picture you haven't taken is worth more than the one you have" taken. bh
