Copy to print

[Winterchase]

A good friend, a wild-life photographer, has first class pictures on her site which are being downloaded and probably copied way too often, and on more than one occassion used without her permission. She's good, her pictures are great, but isn't there some way she can keep them from being copied?

 

[StephanieCordray]

There is a javascript that will disable saving pictures using a right click. try http://www.javascriptsource.com or http://hotscripts.com and search for "disable save" or "disable right click"

In addition to that, if she has her own hosted site she can disable hotlinking through her control panel since there are a lot of people who like to link directly to the pictures on someone else's site.

If she doesn't have her own hosted site, I'm sure there are some scripts out there somewhere that won't allow people to do that... what they are called... don't know... but if you look the script will probably be pretty descriptive of what it does.

 

[SiteExpress]

As I mentioned in your other post about this, there is no real good solution. However, have them watermark their images, and they will stop most people.

 

[StephanieCordray]

He's right about that one... there is no foolproof way without watermarking them which entails a lot of time but is the best solution. People desparate enough to get the pics will and have taken screenshots and cut out the desired section. With watermarks, the pictures will be virtually useless to anyone else without a lot of work on their part and most aren't willing to put in the work... that's why they steal other people's work.

 

[DLPerry]

Just thinking out loud

Since it is possible to call a script based on mouse click/hover/etc. - I wonder if writing/installing some sort of script that would automagically take 'right-clickers' to PayPal would be of any use.

Since it would only work for cursor/mouse activity - it would not stop menu users from trying to File/Save As an image - but it might help to keep the honest people honest - sort of by forcibly by reminding them that this is a copyrighted image and must be paid for.

Just a thought....

 

[WebDesigner500]

I agree with SiteExpress

...there is no real good solution...

but watermarks ruin a site for a photographer who has amazing photos to show off. I have a client in the same situation as Winterchase's wild-life photographer. I am trying to convince him to publish his photos at optimum quality for the web and accept (although it is CRIMINAL) that his photos will be copied. I wrote this post on my blog trying to explain that there is no real solution to Copyright Infringers when it comes to publishing images online.

 

[PixelPusher]

As I mentioned in your other post about this, there is no real good solution. However, have them watermark their images, and they will stop most people.

Yes it is unfortunate to ruin the pictures with a watermark, but it will stop people from using them.
In an effort to keep the quality of the image, why not make a stylized logo/signature for the photos, that sits in the corner? Make it a complimentary design element that also serves as a security measure. As opposed to something like a istock where they overlay the entire photo.

 

[d a v e]

Yes it is unfortunate to ruin the pictures with a watermark, but it will stop people from using them.
In an effort to keep the quality of the image, why not make a stylized logo/signature for the photos, that sits in the corner? Make it a complimentary design element that also serves as a security measure. As opposed to something like a istock where they overlay the entire photo.

but then you could just crop the photo and still have a usable image

i would suggest either using photos of a small enough size to make them near enough pointless to print (say around 500px wide) or make them larger and discreetly watermark them. don't bother with any scripts - all they do is annoy legitimate users

 

[bcee]

If a person really wants a photo no client-side script will stop them when it can be disabled with one button click, or if they hit the printscreen button.

Watermarks are painful to be placed on art and it's a shame but it's the only method that works.

 

[LouTheDesigner]

Anyone with a certain amount of software proficiency can get rid of that watermark and/or take a low-res screen shot of the site (and screen shots will not include any metadata).

Two possible hopes for you:
1. Using js, you can detect keystrokes and act accordingly:

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/javascript/article.php/3471141

2. There is also this service, though I don't have experience using it:

https://www.digimarc.com/solutions/images/

- Lou

 

[PixelPusher]

Yes the "image pirate" could crop out the watermark or use a graphics editor and remove it. Good point. However, in either case the image is one smaller, or two may show signs of tampering.

One important key factor here though is, that no one has mentioned, is all images made for screen media are 72 ppi, where as any image used in print mediums should be at least 300 ppi. This means that whatever image they do steal, it will need to be 1/3 the size to have a decent rendering on paper.

So when adding the image to the site it would behoove you to not make them too large. Then add the stylized watermark as well. Now they are left with quite a small image to steal.

 

[d a v e]

that's why i mentioned not making it too large on screen - <500px for example (with the implicit idea that it would be therefore too small to print at any decent resolution)