Rick Baker
07-13-2005, 01:04 PM
http://www.rickbakerimages.com/photography_advice/copyrighting_your_images.html
It is important to copyright your images to protect your work. This is especially important when you put your images up on the Internet for anyone to access 24/7. In addition to registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office, there are many ways you can stop or deter people from downloading your images off your web site.
The first and most important thing you want to do is to register your images with the United States Copyright Office. Even though, your images are copyrighted as soon as your create them, you will have no legal case against image thieves unless your images are registered, so the United States Copyright Office has evidence.
http://www.copyright.gov
It is inexpensive to register your copyright and you can register a whole batch of images at one time for one small fee of $30. A batch of images can be registered as a collection using Form VA.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl107.html
There are 3 things you must send the United States Copyright Office when registering:
1. Form VA correctly and completely filled out.
2. The $30, non-refundable application fee.
3. A non-returnable deposit of the images you want to register.
You maybe wondering about #3. What suffices as a deposit?
You can put all of your images you want to copyright on a disc in low res format, like a cd-rom or dvd-rom or you could send a contact sheet of your images. You can also put your slides in sleeves, put them on a light box and take pictures of them with negative film and send that. Don't use the USPS to send in your registration materials. They are slow to do so due to security reasons.
You should also put a copyright notice on all your images and anything that has one or more of your images on it. This is to inform everyone that your image(s) is copyrighted and may not be used without permission from you. A copyright notice looks like this:
© Rick Baker Images 2005
or
Copyright Rick Baker Images 2005
with the copyright symbol or just "Copyright", your name or company name and then the date it was created.
You can write a "Copyright Notice" into your images' metadata with an image editor like Adobe Photoshop. Most image editing and viewing programs today can read that data, so people viewing your images will know your image is copyrighted and you mean business when it comes to protecting your creative property.
In Adobe Photoshop, you can do this by first opening the file you want to write the "Copyright Notice" to and then go to the "File" menu and scroll down and select "File Info."
You will now see the following dialog box. Make sure "Description" is highlighted in the upper-left corner. Then scroll down to where the arrow in the screen shot below is and select "Copyrighted" in the "Copyright Status" field and then type in your Copyright Notice in the "Copyright Notice" field. You may also type in a URL with Copyright Info in the "Copyright Info URL" field.
Now, with your Copyright Notice written to your image's metadata, you probably want to save that, so go to the "File" menu and scroll down to "Save" to save your work.
Registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office is probably the most important thing to do to protect your creative work, but there are other ways you can use to deter image theft.
One of the most important of these "ways" to deter image theft is to set the resolution of your images to 72 dpi. This is adequate for viewing on a computer screen, but if someone was to download and try to print one of these images, they would be very disappointed. Try printing out a 72 dpi image and see for yourself that the quality is poor and the image would probably be pretty small.
To set the resolution of an image to 72 dpi, first open up your image in Photoshop and goto the "Image" menu and scroll down and select "Image Size."
Go down to where the black arrow is in the screen shot below, the resolution field, and enter 72 and then click "OK."
Another way is to use watermarks, both visible and invisible. A visible watermark is a layer of text or a logo on your image, either opaque or semi transparent, but visible to anyone and something that would obviously deter someone from stealing your images. Invisible watermarks are invisible to the human eye, but they are visible to some image editors with or without plug ins and also allow your images to be tracked on the Internet.
First, we'll talk about visible watermarks. You can make these easily in Adobe Photoshop or any image editor. Open up the image you want to watermark in Adobe Photoshop.
Select the "Horizontal Type Tool" on the toolbar on the left. The icon looks like the letter "T." Choose a font you like in the info bar at the top, any will do. Type out a text watermark like your name, you business name, or maybe your web site address. If the font size is too small, drag and highlight the text and change the font size at the top. The goal is to make it fairly big, but not too big, to deter image theft, but not obstruct viewing of the picture. Optionally, you may put your logo on a layer, instead of using text.
Now we want to rotate our watermark to maximize its coverage of the image, both horizontally and vertically. Press CTRL-T and left-click and drag right outside the watermark area. You will see two arrows in sort of a T formation and that lets you know you can rotate the watermark. Drag until the watermark is diagonally positioned.
Make sure the "Layers" palette is open. If it isn't, go to the "Window" menu and scroll down and left-click on "Layers."
Now we want to lower the opacity of the watermark, so it doesn't obstruct the picture as much. With the "Layers" palette open, select the watermark layer by left clicking on it. It is probably named whatever you typed in for the text of your watermark. You will know it is selected when it is highlighted. Go up to the "Opacity" field and click on the arrow and click and drag the slider down while looking at your watermark. Stop when you get an opacity you like. 35% Opacity is about right for me. Now you are finished with making your watermark! You make wish to duplicate the watermark layers and place them in other places on the image for added protection.
In addition to visible watermarks, there are various products out there, like Digimarc, that will embed your images with invisible watermarks. Some image editors, like Adobe Photoshop, will recognize these watermarks and notify the viewer that the image is copyrighted. Digimarc offers several versions of their watermarks at various prices. Some will allow you to track stolen images on the Internet.
http://www.digimarc.com/watermark/mypicturemarc
Another technique to deter image theft is to use JavaScript. The following code will prevent surfers from right-clicking and saving your images. In order for this technique to work, the surfer must have JavaScript enabled on their browser. This is not a fail-safe method, determined thieves will be able to get around any image protection. Place the following code between your <head> </head> tags. Replace "All images are protected by Copyright. Do not use without permission." with whatever message you want to display when a surfer tries to right-click and save on one of your images.
<script language="JavaScript"><!--
//script to protect images from theft
function click()
{if (event.button==2)
{
alert('All images are protected by Copyright. Do not use without permission.')
}
}document.onmousedown=click
// --></script>
Here's a demo of how this works. Try right-clicking on the image below.
All of these methods, described in this article, can be used either singularly or combined as multiple layers of image protection.
It is important to copyright your images to protect your work. This is especially important when you put your images up on the Internet for anyone to access 24/7. In addition to registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office, there are many ways you can stop or deter people from downloading your images off your web site.
The first and most important thing you want to do is to register your images with the United States Copyright Office. Even though, your images are copyrighted as soon as your create them, you will have no legal case against image thieves unless your images are registered, so the United States Copyright Office has evidence.
http://www.copyright.gov
It is inexpensive to register your copyright and you can register a whole batch of images at one time for one small fee of $30. A batch of images can be registered as a collection using Form VA.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl107.html
There are 3 things you must send the United States Copyright Office when registering:
1. Form VA correctly and completely filled out.
2. The $30, non-refundable application fee.
3. A non-returnable deposit of the images you want to register.
You maybe wondering about #3. What suffices as a deposit?
You can put all of your images you want to copyright on a disc in low res format, like a cd-rom or dvd-rom or you could send a contact sheet of your images. You can also put your slides in sleeves, put them on a light box and take pictures of them with negative film and send that. Don't use the USPS to send in your registration materials. They are slow to do so due to security reasons.
You should also put a copyright notice on all your images and anything that has one or more of your images on it. This is to inform everyone that your image(s) is copyrighted and may not be used without permission from you. A copyright notice looks like this:
© Rick Baker Images 2005
or
Copyright Rick Baker Images 2005
with the copyright symbol or just "Copyright", your name or company name and then the date it was created.
You can write a "Copyright Notice" into your images' metadata with an image editor like Adobe Photoshop. Most image editing and viewing programs today can read that data, so people viewing your images will know your image is copyrighted and you mean business when it comes to protecting your creative property.
In Adobe Photoshop, you can do this by first opening the file you want to write the "Copyright Notice" to and then go to the "File" menu and scroll down and select "File Info."
You will now see the following dialog box. Make sure "Description" is highlighted in the upper-left corner. Then scroll down to where the arrow in the screen shot below is and select "Copyrighted" in the "Copyright Status" field and then type in your Copyright Notice in the "Copyright Notice" field. You may also type in a URL with Copyright Info in the "Copyright Info URL" field.
Now, with your Copyright Notice written to your image's metadata, you probably want to save that, so go to the "File" menu and scroll down to "Save" to save your work.
Registering your copyright with the United States Copyright Office is probably the most important thing to do to protect your creative work, but there are other ways you can use to deter image theft.
One of the most important of these "ways" to deter image theft is to set the resolution of your images to 72 dpi. This is adequate for viewing on a computer screen, but if someone was to download and try to print one of these images, they would be very disappointed. Try printing out a 72 dpi image and see for yourself that the quality is poor and the image would probably be pretty small.
To set the resolution of an image to 72 dpi, first open up your image in Photoshop and goto the "Image" menu and scroll down and select "Image Size."
Go down to where the black arrow is in the screen shot below, the resolution field, and enter 72 and then click "OK."
Another way is to use watermarks, both visible and invisible. A visible watermark is a layer of text or a logo on your image, either opaque or semi transparent, but visible to anyone and something that would obviously deter someone from stealing your images. Invisible watermarks are invisible to the human eye, but they are visible to some image editors with or without plug ins and also allow your images to be tracked on the Internet.
First, we'll talk about visible watermarks. You can make these easily in Adobe Photoshop or any image editor. Open up the image you want to watermark in Adobe Photoshop.
Select the "Horizontal Type Tool" on the toolbar on the left. The icon looks like the letter "T." Choose a font you like in the info bar at the top, any will do. Type out a text watermark like your name, you business name, or maybe your web site address. If the font size is too small, drag and highlight the text and change the font size at the top. The goal is to make it fairly big, but not too big, to deter image theft, but not obstruct viewing of the picture. Optionally, you may put your logo on a layer, instead of using text.
Now we want to rotate our watermark to maximize its coverage of the image, both horizontally and vertically. Press CTRL-T and left-click and drag right outside the watermark area. You will see two arrows in sort of a T formation and that lets you know you can rotate the watermark. Drag until the watermark is diagonally positioned.
Make sure the "Layers" palette is open. If it isn't, go to the "Window" menu and scroll down and left-click on "Layers."
Now we want to lower the opacity of the watermark, so it doesn't obstruct the picture as much. With the "Layers" palette open, select the watermark layer by left clicking on it. It is probably named whatever you typed in for the text of your watermark. You will know it is selected when it is highlighted. Go up to the "Opacity" field and click on the arrow and click and drag the slider down while looking at your watermark. Stop when you get an opacity you like. 35% Opacity is about right for me. Now you are finished with making your watermark! You make wish to duplicate the watermark layers and place them in other places on the image for added protection.
In addition to visible watermarks, there are various products out there, like Digimarc, that will embed your images with invisible watermarks. Some image editors, like Adobe Photoshop, will recognize these watermarks and notify the viewer that the image is copyrighted. Digimarc offers several versions of their watermarks at various prices. Some will allow you to track stolen images on the Internet.
http://www.digimarc.com/watermark/mypicturemarc
Another technique to deter image theft is to use JavaScript. The following code will prevent surfers from right-clicking and saving your images. In order for this technique to work, the surfer must have JavaScript enabled on their browser. This is not a fail-safe method, determined thieves will be able to get around any image protection. Place the following code between your <head> </head> tags. Replace "All images are protected by Copyright. Do not use without permission." with whatever message you want to display when a surfer tries to right-click and save on one of your images.
<script language="JavaScript"><!--
//script to protect images from theft
function click()
{if (event.button==2)
{
alert('All images are protected by Copyright. Do not use without permission.')
}
}document.onmousedown=click
// --></script>
Here's a demo of how this works. Try right-clicking on the image below.
All of these methods, described in this article, can be used either singularly or combined as multiple layers of image protection.