Hi,

My wife is starting up a small business around some specialist beauty treatments. She has setup a Facebook site for it (proper website to come later). I am wary of just uploading photos directly in case they get copied and used by others, but we obviously need to promote her work. I have seen it elsewhere that images are copyrighted with text/logos but I am not sure how to do this. Do you need specialist software or can it be done via the standard PC stuff? Also what is the best format to use so that people can't just copy and then remove the addition?

I have done some googling for this but am getting so many hits which talk a different language! Answers in terms even the idiot I am con understand would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Photoshop will let you, as will paintshop and all the free ones ont tinternet

with snipping tool in windows 7 no one is safe

As for copyright if they want it they'll get it, put a watermark through the background ?

Watermark was something I read about and probably has a lesser chance of being ripped off. Just not sure how to do it, especially if it involves creating a montage thing.

Here you go:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/watermark-images-photoshop/

For web/Internet use you only need a picture around 400-700 pixels width and at 72ppi. At this small size and low resolution you won't get a decent print from it.

Doesn't stop people copying it for use on the web though!

There are pro's & con's to watermarking images (easiest way is to add a layer of text on top of the image layer and reduce the opacity of the text to suit) but most photographers don't or only use a small graphic in one corner.

There are systems available to embed watermarks/copyright data in the actual photograph without destroying the image at all. Can't remember the name if this though and it's a paid for service!

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If someone really wants the pictures they will get them.

Not too worried about people copying and printing. What I want to do is to make it more difficult for someone to put the image forward as their's. I have been surfing around and found GIMP which is open source and enables adding layers with varying transparencies, so that if the image is copied it will show who's it is and with a web address included in the text may actually give some free advertising.

I realise that nothing is safe and anything I do is probably undo-able by any competent photo editor. But much like car alarms and immobilisers it is at least a deterrent.

Not too worried about people copying and printing. What I want to do is to make it more difficult for someone to put the image forward as their's. I have been surfing around and found GIMP which is open source and enables adding layers with varying transparencies, so that if the image is copied it will show who's it is and with a web address included in the text may actually give some free advertising.

I realise that nothing is safe and anything I do is probably undo-able by any competent photo editor. But much like car alarms and immobilisers it is at least a deterrent.

If the image has been flattened (gif, bmp, jpg, png), then all the layers are merged into one, so I don't think that concept would work. It would only apply layered images saved from photoshop, pdn, etc.

To prevent the the image being passed off as someone elses, the best method, imho, is to create the "watermark layer" as the transparency (mentioned above), and use the name of your wife's business. Place this is in the part of the image which can't easily be cropped out without ruining the photo - such as right next to someones head, hand, etc rather than say in the bottom left of the picture. Might it light though, so it does not detract too much from the image.

If you don't want to add a watermark in post processing you can always just make a copyright sign and ensure it is in the background of every shot you take. You can also make sure every shot has a background unique to your location (either wallpaper or personal object) that way even if someone does copy the image you can show it was taken in your house.

Aside from watermarking, be aware that all unique works are automatically protected under the Copyright Act - you can't "copyright" something - if you made it, it's protected, simple as

The photographer at my sisters wedding had an online album for you to order prints from, now being a cheap cow rather than pay I tried to save / print them myself but when you right clicked it said "this function has been disabled", don't know how it's done though unfortunately.

The photographer at my sisters wedding had an online album for you to order prints from, now being a cheap cow rather than pay I tried to save / print them myself but when you right clicked it said "this function has been disabled", don't know how it's done though unfortunately.

Have you tried to save the photos as screen capture? It works every time. In Mac you use : Control+shift+4 and this gives you option to cut and save from the screen.

Was 5 or 6 yrs ago so had to pay unfortunately, :'(

As a working wedding photographer, I am always appalled by people who think that it is acceptable to steal the intellectual property of another person!

Padrino - a screen capture will only obtain a picture that is the resolution of your screen i.e. 72ppi and whatever pixel ratio your monitor can cope with. This is unsuitable for printing images from as it will result in a very poor quality 6"x4".

The best you could do is put it back on the internet (e.g. Facebook), but that would be stealing. And we all know that is wrong.

P.S.: It's Cmd - Shift - 3 (and it saves the image to your desktop).

As a working wedding photographer, I am always appalled by people who think that it is acceptable to steal the intellectual property of another person!

Padrino - a screen capture will only obtain a picture that is the resolution of your screen i.e. 72ppi and whatever pixel ratio your monitor can cope with. This is unsuitable for printing images from as it will result in a very poor quality 6"x4".

The best you could do is put it back on the internet (e.g. Facebook), but that would be stealing. And we all know that is wrong.

P.S.: It's Cmd - Shift - 3 (and it saves the image to your desktop).

I do apologise, my intention was not to promote a stealing, it was more about the possibility to be done.

PS: Cmd=Shift+3 is the whole screen and Cmd+Shift+4 you could make a choice to a specific area.

For a free tool, use GIMP and just drop suitable text over the image.

You can just set the text to alter the colour saturation etc.

Most modern cameras have a copyright function built into the camera, allowing you to put in such things as name, email address, post code, phone number.

It embeds it on the images code, so when you check the properties you will see these details as well as the the camera it was taken with time/date, exposure, etc.

I know this works on Nikons & Canons. Use you manual. There will be a section on copyright (or thereabouts)...

Aside from watermarking, be aware that all unique works are automatically protected under the Copyright Act - you can't "copyright" something - if you made it, it's protected, simple as

+1

The image on the website will always be lower res than the original and will likely be cropped. Keeping the original will enable you to prove that it is your image.

Copyrighting is easy.

Enforcing your copyright is the hard part.

As said above - an image created by a photographer or indeed any person wielding a camera that belongs to them and is not owned by their employer and is used in the course of their normal business (i.e. they are not a staff photographer nor acting as one), automatically bestows the copyright of that image to the creator.

To the OP - will you be taking and creating your own bespoke images to put up on your wife's web/business pages? If so then these images are protected by law. The tricky bit is when you find an infringer what are you to do? You need to ensure that you get them to cease using the image as they are breaking copyright law and you can sue them. This can now be done quite simply via a Small Claims proceedings through the Royal Court of Justice Patents County Court. This was until recently quite an arduous procedure. It is much simplified now. However - unless you are a practicing photographer it is difficult to set a fee for damages or the cost the infringer would have had to pay you had they sought permission or license from you to use your copyright image. This is something you would need to research yourself.

How do I know all this? Well both I and my wife are photographers and she recently took some one through the same courts for copyright infringements and derogatory treatment of an image. It set a benchmark or precedent case for this new procedure. I was long, drawn out, and exhausting but she won outright. Fortunately most infringers will never take it that far. You need to send a cease and desist letter in the first instance to them and the web hosting company, followed by an invoice for the image use, followed by a second invoice (because they will ignore the 1st invoice), followed by a Letter Before Action letter pointing out that if they refuse to pay then court proceedings will ensue. And so the fun and games begin. I know of some photographers who now make more money persuing infringers than they do from taking on shoots. It's all fun and games.

Just remember - if the image is not yours and you do not have written permission or license to use an image from the copyright holder, then the use of the image is illegal. In the eyes of the law, ignorance is NO defense.

If you want to know more, just ask.

Always find it appalling that wedding photographers try to fleece you with the pictures, you would think they hadn't already been paid........

Always find it appalling that wedding photographers try to fleece you with the pictures, you would think they hadn't already been paid........

Have you ever photographed a wedding in a professional capacity? Thought NOT!

Have you ever photographed a wedding in a professional capacity? Thought NOT!

How is that relevant to said fleecing.

Thankfully our photographer was excellent and she supplied a DVD of the originals, no fleecing involved.

Always find it appalling that wedding photographers try to fleece you with the pictures, you would think they hadn't already been paid........

No idea what you are insinuating with that sweeping statement. If you are just on about a DVD of images then you may wish to clarify why you consider sweeping all wedding photographers under the carpet despite you being happy with your wedding photographer.

Didn't mention all wedding photographers or insinuate they all do that. However a lot do try and fleece you, trying to sell you back your own photos.

Depends on the photographer. Having recently been through this, I'd say that 70% of the photographers we looked at were A- crap, and B- retained the copyright.

We chose a good photographer, who passed the copyright ownership on to ourselves.