Thursday, August 27, 2009

Problems With Watermarking

Hi, Everyone!!  It seems that a lot of people have been having problems with people “borrowing” their pictures and posting them on other forums without permission.  I’ve noticed some of you have been putting watermarks on your pictures.  Using Live Writer only gives you the option of placing it either on the top or the bottom of your picture and I’ll show you a reason why you may want to invest in a different photo program.  Did you know that you can click on a picture to enlarge it and then right-click it to save it in a file?  If you have a photo printing program that can crop pictures, which you can do in Live Writer, you can crop off the watermark!!  In some pictures, you could lose the integrity of the picture by cropping, but in others, cropping doesn’t affect the picture at all.

I asked Lisa (primsfromabove) for permission to use one of her pictures as an example.

I right-clicked and saved this picture from her blog.

primsfromabove

I used Live Picture Gallery and cropped off her watermark and now I have a great picture I can post where ever I want!!  (I wouldn’t really!!!!)

 primsfromabove

I bought a photo imaging program called “Photo Explosion” at Staples for $50 and has a $20 rebate.  Other stores carry it.  I learned about this program from Karen of kmprimitives. She adds an edging feature onto her photos that I loved and this is the program she told me she uses.  Thanks, Karen!!

It has a watermark feature where you can add your mark any where on your picture, choose font style and color and then the transparency of the watermark.

These two pictures are examples of ones I have posted before.

Anitque Finds 003

Anitque Finds 001.JPG 01

I’ve been torn about putting watermarks on my pictures.  Part of me thinks that I should take precautions to prevent someone from stealing my photos and another part of me thinks that if someone does want to take my photos, what are they going to gain?  Are they going to try to pass off my home as their own?  I don’t think they would be able to keep up the facade for too long before someone would figure it out.  Are they taking them to criticize my decorating style?  Go ahead, I don’t pretend that I have a degree in home design; I decorate my home to make myself and my family happy.  Besides, how many people would want to follow a blog where someone is always criticizing another’s home?  I definitely wouldn’t.

I guess I should be concerned about my tutorials.  Some one could take my projects and pass them off as their own.  I’ll probably try to safeguard those, but if someone really wanted them, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to get them. And I guess if they can live with themselves, then more power to them!

Those of you that post pictures of items you’re selling should definitely try to watermark your pictures.  Someone had the audacity to take pictures from Janet’s (underthewillow) selling website and use them as their own for items they were selling on ebay!  Can you believe the nerve?!!

My point of this post was to let those of you who are putting watermarks on the tops or bottoms of your pictures to be careful of someone taking them and being able to crop off your mark.

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I’m going to be participating in Colleen’s (andbabymakesfive) Back to School Recipe Pool on Fridays, so check back tomorrow to see what yummy recipe I’ll have to share with you!

 

Until Next Time. . . . .Kris

16 comments:

  1. With Live Writer I could watermark in the center also. But I do see that people can still save a picture if they click on it. It's sad that we have to worry about so many people copying. There's always got to be a sour apple in the bunch.

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  2. Thanks for sharing that info and THANK YOU for asking to borrow my picture. Hopefully this helps alot of prim gals out there. The last thing people need to be doing is stealing ideas from other people. Yep, I agree... the nerve of some people. All I have to say to those people is GET YOUR OWN IDEAS!!

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  3. What I don't understand is if they take your picture they CAN'T sell your item, so what's the point in taking the picture? I know ebay is opening it up where anyone can take anyone's picture as their own, but....I don't understand all of this! :) If anyone can help me to know what's going on I would really appreciate it. I'm really quite new to all of this stuff and I'm trying to figure it all out. Thanks so much!

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  4. Hi Kris,

    I was concered about exactly that as well. When I post pictures with Live writer, I use the LINK TO scroll down and click NONE and then you cannot click on my photo to enlarge it or save it. I also have a no right click gadget added so you can't do that either.

    But you can choose to center the Watermark in Live Writer - at least I can.

    I use a Picture Trail free editing program and Photscape is free too. You can add special effects with them as well if anyone is interested!

    hugs, Linda

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  5. What a beautifully written and informative post, Kris. Thanks for taking the time to share all of these helpful details with us.

    I can't wait to see what recipe you'll be sharing tomorrow ...

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  6. Thanks for explaining it all Kris, I don't make anything but samplers and I feel if they want to copy the will find a way but don't ask to be friends. LOL It's something that I'd never even think of doing so it's hard to figure them out so I don't waste my time:)
    Rondell

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  7. Great post Kris!....I'm taking a break from watermarking to read blogs! LOL....I already had Photoshop Elements so I searched online for tutorials on how to create watermarks using that particular program....the watermarks you made look great!
    Janet

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  8. thanks for the tip..it is an easy program?

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  9. Kris,
    Thanks for a very informative post. I have downloaded the writer thing & I am going to start using it. There are so many wonderful prim patterns for sale, for free, and tutorials that people don't need to be stealing and as far as decorating our homes I do get inspiration from others and from magazines but it would be very difficult to steal a pic & try and pass it off as our own, like you said. Thanks for a great post.
    Pam

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  10. Kris, I was thinking the same thing! I have not tried Live Writer yet, nor have I tried to watermark my photos. I may decide to try it later though.

    I do have a NO RIGHT CLICK gadget on my blog to keep anyone from being able to download my photos, etc. But when posting pics on forums, there is no protection unless the forum owner has something similar, so watermarks would come in handy for that.

    Great post! Have a wonderful weekend!

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  11. Copying is the sincerest form of flattery.

    I will be copying a few of your recipes, they look tasty and delicious!

    Thanks for the informative and well-written post.

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  12. Hi Kris,
    Thanks for sharing this post. It is so informative.

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  13. It is a shame that people do this. This is some great information, thanks for sharing.

    Maxine

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  14. Great post. Could someone help me out on how to disable the "right click" gadget for my blog? I agree that it is a more personal issue that is done when they repost pictures, but how far will they get with it? We all are just sharing, how sad it has to come to this.

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  15. To avoid cropping watermarks off, it's better to use diagonal watermark which is stretched to fit picture size. Such watermark can't be cropped off without spoiling picture at all. To easily watermark your digital images with any kind of watermark, please try Bytescout Watermarking tool or free Bytescout Watermarking Lite if you don't need batch processing. Hope you'll like them!

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  16. That was very good info on the watermarks. I was wondering how that was done and why. Thanks

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