General' Community Forums

I became aware that at least one of my images was "featured" on another website. What a joy! At least I know there's some quality in what I do. Oh, and some of you were featured as well, rejoice with me!
I won't gibber on the fact it was an unknown forum, the Worth1000 logo was removed and I didn't get any credit (or awareness) for that. I'm not that persnickety.

SUBJECT: I want to watermark my works. Aside for hidden signatures (which I began using after that discovery), I'd like to embed invisible watermarks in my images (especially in photos, where can be difficult to blend and hide a readable name.
Could anyone into this subject give me some advices on the favorite software to do these things? I know there are several ways you can embed a watermark: I'd like the more robust allowed by a free/low cost software.

I'm not a super pro so I don't need to worry too much, but I'd like to know that the average "thief" (or art enthusiast) removing any visible signature won't bother looking for another invisible watermark, which would be strong enough to survive to jpeg conversions and screen prints.
I don't even know if I'm asking for the impossible. Any tip is welcome.

Oh by the way this is the website where I found several entries from one of the past 'Zip it' contests, if you want to check if there's some of your stuff.

I think after the admins read about this they will take care of if. Glad u posted that link

Mmh, maybe I wasn't clear enough.
My problem wasn't the picture being there (yet I'd sure like some credit for it, but I don't expect nothing from such an amateur forum, as long as nobody is taking my credit away from me).
I just wanted to hear some good piece of advice on invisible watermarking software for my future works.

Photoshop CS2 includes a watermarking tool. I have no idea how it works, what it costs, or what it takes to use it but it is a place to start looking for what you need.

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There's the Digimarc plugin that's been part of Photoshop for a number of versions, though to actually use it properly you have to pay an annual sub ($79 is cheapest and works for up to 1000 images).

There are numerous other ones to be found by googling "invisible watermark software), and many have free trials - at the end of the day they are all going to cost you something.

The Digimarc one lets you try it out be embedding a watermark, but the ID assigned is the exact same for all versions of PS... so using it in that mode proves nothing as anybody could add their own watermark using the same ID.

Best thing you can do to prove ownership is retain unflattened PSDs, work big and never post the full size file online.

Did that, but there are way too many around, and lot of them just add like 50% opacity text. This is why I asked to the best design community I know.
And thanks for your tips, but what about photos? You don't have layered files for them.

This might be a dumb response, but couldn't you assign some sort of blocker code to the images? I've been on websites before where a block prompt would pop up instead of the default copy option, when people right click.

Mister_IQ said 2 years ago 2/9/2010 3:00:14 PM EDT

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I'm afraid that all "no right click" scripts do is stop people who aren't tech-savvy enough to get around "no right click" scripts.

They're easy to circumvent, and they're annoying to those who want to use right click functions (like Worthkeys) on a site.

Even if we manage to ban right click, people can still screenshot...

with photos I suppose you could shoot in RAW mode and retain those as your proof of ownership (if we are talking dSLR). Otherwise the never post the full size uncropped image advice still holds good.

Thanks for the update Mister_IQ! Learn something every day:)

True.

Nope :(. Thanks anyway.
But for the size thing...one could always convert the image to a size even larger than my original. Unless I cropped my original a lot, it could be difficult to compare the quality (cause this is what it's all about, I guess). I think I'll go for an invisible signature too, at least in photos. I'll check some programs an let everybody know if I find something useful. If anyone already had experiences with similar software I'd love suggestions :)

I guess the question is why go to the trouble of a secondary watermark? Wouldn't you get more bang for the buck that if you find your work is taken to just go after the person (or in the case of web posting the site) and tell them it is your work? After all, you can't see the "invisible" mark to prove it is yours and you already know it is anyway by the time you are trying to unearth the invisible mark.

If it ever happened to me or mine, I'd send them a cease and desist letter or email asking them to remove it and quite frankly stating I have the RAW or base files to prove it is my work along with some educational information explaining how it is a copyrighted work.

I like to think most people are taking others work out of ignorance and once they know it isn't right, will do the right thing. As a last resort would I then take the next step of "trying to make" them take it down.

Just my humble opinion...

I agree. As John already said I may use the layered file to prove ownership of any artwork I make. But since my camera doesn't shoot in RAW, maybe a watermark could be a better proof than the simple file size, for pictures? Sure, there are metadata, but that stuff can be (easily?) edited as well.

As a follow up to handling photos:

There are batch watermarking software but I found for me at least the easiest is to make a brush in Photoshop with the watermark you want to use. Use the dropper tool to select the color you want the watermark to blend into (or a similar color you want to be able to look for in the photo) and then use the opacity of the brush command to "transparent" the mark into the photo. Quick, easy and free! You can even batch process files that are post process complete and run any action you've recorded that marks them in one command.