Copyright watermarks on pictures

[newtothescenery]

If you dont want anyone to download your work, keep it off the net. Go open your own gallery somewhere, and sell your pieces that way. It's obvious that if someone wants your photos, and you have em posted - its like stealing candy from a baby. What can we do about this? Nothing - unless they begin selling your work. In the US, there are laws that may protect the artist, but there are laws that protect the culprits that steal your work - and they are protected as long as they dont sell it. I mean, honestly - how many pictures have you downloaded off the net? or even cool pics that would look good as backgrounds? All I'm trying to say is if you are going to post your pics up into publicly viewable galleries, there are going to be people downloading your work, and printing/reposting it. If you'd like to prevent this from happening, go and invest 100k into a crappy gallery, where noone would really come to look anyway.

[victoriaelvaxu]

http://www.pbase.com/victoriaelvaxu/image/73991990

[toronto_dave]

Excuse the ignorant question, but how do I change the size of a large JPEG to 72 dpi to upload a smaller image that is less prone to misuse?

Thanks in advance.

[amoxtli]

If it's on the net, it's there for the taking. However I do a few things to protect yourself. How effective, I don't know.

1.) Limit the maximum image size to 650 pixels per side.
2.) Upload medium resolution and re-compress images.
3.) Disable right click. Screen capture etc. is still possible, but most people copy with right click.
4.) Imbed copyright information using software like Adobe Lightroom 2.
5.) Disable direct linking, though I currently have it enabled.
6.) Put copyright warnings on each gallery and image page.

In my opinion most watermarks mar the image, so I don't do that.

My .02 worth.

[heinsite]

Excuse the ignorant question, but how do I change the size of a large JPEG to 72 dpi to upload a smaller image that is less prone to misuse?

Thanks in advance.

Many programs have an option to change the size of an image, and this includes the ability to change the resolution. Photoshop does it via Image-Size. Lightroom does it via an option setting in Export. It will depend on what image editing software you use. But 72dpi on web images is a nice choice because it allows good quality viewing and "relative" "safety" when it comes to theft because an image of that resolution won't print very well at larger sizes.