Non watermarked photographs - are they safe?

[bmorrisdavies]

I was just wondering, how safe are my photographs if I haven't watermarked or written 'copyright' on them. I do have a copyright symbolo and text underneath the image on flickr.
Thanks

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Please visit my website or my full portfolio!

I think potential customers may like to see that you are doing your best to protect and validate your product (and their investment especially if it is a limited edition work).

As for being safe - nothing can be; but you can make it more difficult for those who wish to profit from your hard work without your prior knowledge.

Regards
Andy

[flake]

Profit? The images you have uploaded to the internet should be very low res and therefore not of a size to be printed or used on a third parties web site, certainly not large enough to be uploaded to the stock libraries, so in terms of profit you should be safe.

If you're worried about people ripping you off, then just put your signature on the bottom right hand corner of the piece, high enough up to make cropping it difficult. Most people who take other peoples work aren't capable of doing much in Photoshop so I doubt they'll have the where with all to remove watermarks and signatures.

The biggest problem I believe to be happening with print is people removing limited edition images from the frames and having a shop scan & print them even if they have copyright symbols of the back. Making them 16 x 10 makes this a bit more difficult as you need a bigger scanner to get the whole image.

As Andy has said, there is no foolproof way of making your work safe from some one determined and capable enough to take it , but those people are few and far between. There's a simple rule to follow though, if you don't want to take the risk, then don't put your images on a public website!

Originally Posted by flake

The biggest problem I believe to be happening with print is people removing limited edition images from the frames and having a shop scan & print them even if they have copyright symbols of the back. Making them 16 x 10 makes this a bit more difficult as you need a bigger scanner to get the whole image.

On smaller prints you can use a die to physically emboss the work - This will then create an unwanted mark (as the photocopier picks up its reflection) on any subsequent 'unofficial copy' that has to be edited out and replaced by another physical pressing that matches your specific die.

Regards
Andy

[Gil Ritchie]

Just restrict the size of image you post here - or elswhere on the web for that matter - only large files can be used by the unscrupulous - to publish them etc - if you make the "crazy" mistake of posting your full size original images - then to coin a well used phrase - "hell mend you"!?!?! -

Why this site allows such an excessive maximum -( 6 Mb I believe - I could be wrong) - is a mystery - this only slows down the sytem - allows plagerism to take place - no benefit to the member - unless they wish to publish the images - and if so - they could always ask us for the original file - yes indeed - mystifying.

Originally Posted by bmorrisdavies

I was just wondering, how safe are my photographs if I haven't watermarked or written 'copyright' on them. I do have a copyright symbolo and text underneath the image on flickr.
Thanks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please visit my website or my full portfolio!

I thought this was an interesting article (all be it from 2008) highlighting your question

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology.../news.internet

Regards
Andy