Paint Shop Pro support - Deterring Online Theft of My Photos

Author

Deterring Online Theft of My Photos

Fulcanelli

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

I am an avid digital photographer and show my work online. I would
like to add some slightly visual text, perhaps my copyright info, to
each photo. I want it to be clearly visible but not overpowering. I
would like to deter people from stealing my photos. I realize that it
will mar the photo slightly. How do I go about doing this? Layers?
Can I apply this to a number of images all at once? I have the files
saved as jpegs.

Fred Hiltz

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

Fulcanelli wrote:
> I am an avid digital photographer and show my work online. I
> would like to add some slightly visual text, perhaps my
> copyright info, to each photo. I want it to be clearly
> visible but not overpowering. I would like to deter people
> from stealing my photos. I realize that it will mar the photo
> slightly. How do I go about doing this? Layers? Can I apply
> this to a number of images all at once? I have the files
> saved as jpegs.

Yes, most of the methods use layers. Search http://www.psplinks.com
for watermark to get a good sampling of different ways.

The batch processor can apply a script that makes the watermark to
all or selected files in a folder. Open a test image, start
recording a script, make the watermark, save the script, then close
the test image. If all your images are nearly the same size in
pixels and the same shape, this will do.

To adapt the watermark to different sized images, you need to add a
bit of logic to the Python commands in the recorded script. This
topic comes up from time to time in the Corel PSP scripting group,
where you can find some solutions to use or adapt.
http://tinyurl.com/2pt9o has the URLs and directions for the Corel
newsgroups.

A point about JPG saving that you may already know: every time you
save an image in JPG, you throw away some information and some image
quality with it. Every time! (That's why JPG files are small.) For
that reason, when working for best quality, we save all intermediate
work and a final master copy in a lossless format, usually PspImage.
We export a small JPG copy of the master only when needed for email
or the web; thus suffer the quality loss just once. Consider
applying the watermark to the good quality master--no need to save
it--and writing that final JPG with the batch processor.
--
Fred Hiltz, fhiltz at yahoo dot com

DJJohnson

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

"Fulcanelli" <fulcanelli@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:1164020477.061560.89320@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
>I am an avid digital photographer and show my work online. I would
> like to add some slightly visual text, perhaps my copyright info, to
> each photo. I want it to be clearly visible but not overpowering.
> I
> would like to deter people from stealing my photos. I realize that
> it
> will mar the photo slightly. How do I go about doing this? Layers?
> Can I apply this to a number of images all at once? I have the
> files
> saved as jpegs.
>

Your best bet will always be using a small image size (640 pixels and
under, some say 540 and under) and high enough compression to
introduce nasty JPG artifacts (subtle blocks and subtle
posterizations). Not so bad that they detract terribly from the image
but bad enough that the image can't be used for marketable
reproduction. Overlays of text and other watermarks on a
high-resolution photo can always be easily cloned-out by someone that
knows what they are doing. Making the image into a near perfect
original again. Or the water-marked part of the image can be inverted
and the anomalous shadings can be digitally reversed. This is done
often with video that has a network's logo-bug in the corner of a
movie. Done automatically for every frame of a movie by just
reproducing that logo and inverting it mathematically for a mask,
removing all traces of its existence for the length of the movie.

I've done all these things myself just to see if they could be done
before finally settling on small image and high JPG compressions as
the best and only solution. If the whole image is not usable for sale
and reproduction then they won't even bother. Plus there's nothing
more annoying than trying to see if an image is worth buying when
there's a huge ego-splash with a person's name all over it, no matter
how subtle. This solves that problem too. Why ruin your composition
when that is exactly what you are trying to sell? Just make it
unusable enough for marketable reproduction without destroying the
view.

Don't even consider invisible water-marking. Anyone that knows what
they are doing can remove all traces of that in under 2 seconds.

Fulcanelli

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

DJJohnson: I like this idea the best. You mentioned high compression.
I'm not a techie and really have no idea what all the different
compression types are, so I've been using the default setting, about
15. Can you give me some idea what ranges of compression you are
talking about? I know the final result is the final say, but I just
want to know what range you are talking about. And there are three
types of compression (standard, progressive, lossless) and to boot,
there isn't much information about this part of program in the manual.
Isn't there some software that will take a pixelated image and give it
a better appearance? (I'm asking because I have some of my own images
that I no longer have a large file for, and I'm wondering if I can
restore them to a decent looking print.)

Thanks again.

DJJohnson

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

"Fulcanelli" <fulcanelli@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:1164194120.207622.90510@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> DJJohnson: I like this idea the best. You mentioned high
> compression.
> I'm not a techie and really have no idea what all the different
> compression types are, so I've been using the default setting, about
> 15. Can you give me some idea what ranges of compression you are
> talking about? I know the final result is the final say, but I just
> want to know what range you are talking about. And there are three
> types of compression (standard, progressive, lossless) and to boot,
> there isn't much information about this part of program in the
> manual.
> Isn't there some software that will take a pixelated image and give
> it
> a better appearance? (I'm asking because I have some of my own
> images
> that I no longer have a large file for, and I'm wondering if I can
> restore them to a decent looking print.)
>
> Thanks again.
>

Since I have moved onto better software this year (PL32) I rarely use
PSP anymore, other than to test why it couldn't do what I always
needed. But I recall when using its JPG compression options in the
past that I would use the JPG Optimizer with compression ratios of
anywhere from 40 to 60. Then, to further "ruin" the image, I would
choose a larger block size for the "Chroma Sub-sampling". You have to
be careful with changing the sub-sampling as not all browsers and
viewers will support all the types listed. Stay with the basic 1x1,
2x2 and 4x4 block options. Using these larger blocks will give you
more exaggerated posterization effects in clear areas like skies.

One program that I use which performs this best of all is ACDSee's
plug-in called "RealOptimizer". It affords very high compression
ratios, keeping the image somewhat free of the most annoying artifacts
in important regions, but destroys its chroma sampling enough to be
very effective for a theft deterrent. In my favorite program, PL32, I
use compression ratios around 50% (+/- 10%). It won't matter if you
use progressive encoding or not, as that is just a different way (for
the most part) that the image is presented during downloading. Avoid
lossless options, your goal here is to destroy enough image data to
make the image useless for a marketable/printable product.

The best way to find which settings work best for you when using JPG
compressions for a theft deterrent is to zoom in on the image in
detailed areas and clear areas (like sky), and find a happy-medium
between clarity and destruction that will work well for you. No two
images will behave the same so it's always a personal judgment call.
However, if you need to do batch processing on many images then pick
the highest amount of destruction that you're willing to live with for
a worst-case-scenario. You will be your best judge in this. Look at
your resulting photo(s) and ask yourself, "If I stole this could I, or
someone more talented, fix it? Or is it just not worth the bother for
all the work it would take, provided it could even be done?" Aim for
an answer of "not worth the bother" and you should be safe. :-)

DJJohnson

2006-12-06, 7:59 pm

"Fulcanelli" <fulcanelli@XXXXXXXXXX> wrote in message
news:1164194120.207622.90510@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> DJJohnson: I like this idea the best. You mentioned high
> compression.
> I'm not a techie and really have no idea what all the different
> compression types are, so I've been using the default setting, about
> 15. Can you give me some idea what ranges of compression you are
> talking about? I know the final result is the final say, but I just
> want to know what range you are talking about. And there are three
> types of compression (standard, progressive, lossless) and to boot,
> there isn't much information about this part of program in the
> manual.
> Isn't there some software that will take a pixelated image and give
> it
> a better appearance? (I'm asking because I have some of my own
> images
> that I no longer have a large file for, and I'm wondering if I can
> restore them to a decent looking print.)
>
> Thanks again.
>

p.s. I forgot to answer your other question. Yes, you can "clean up"
JPG artifacts with some software and tools, but it still comes out
grainy and highly unusable for a marketable product, IF the original
was already ruined too much. Even PSP has a filter for this built-in.
If you are worried about, this create your "ruined" version that
you'll present online. Then use PSP's "JPG Artifact" filter (I forget
where it is, on what menu, I think in the Noise Filters section).
You'll see how it works. It helps to fix a JPG compressed image but it
can't do miracles. Once image data is destroyed or unavailable no
filters or tools in the world can bring them back completely. Put it
this way, using JPG compression would be like keeping only 1 page out
of every 10 for the book War & Peace, and then asking someone to make
sense of or sell the book as it is. They can't reproduce what is gone.
They can make a good guess but they can't recreate it.

An interesting aside: PhotoLine 32, my now most used editor, actually
resaves JPG images without losing ANY data from one JPG save to
another no matter how many times you resave your image as a JPG file.
Using a unique buffered "original JPG data" feature. I have to be
aware of this when using PL32 to try to degrade my images for
theft-free presentation. Because when used normally PL32 will simply
refuse to degrade my JPG images unless I force it to. :-) It's quite a
remarkable feature in the world of graphic editors.