Stolen photo

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by Morgan Starr

I don't have PS CS3, I have PSE5.0. Maybe I can find a plug-in for it, though, thanks.

Google "copyright watermark photoshop" and you'll get pages of different techniques.

[hotrod4x5]

Originally Posted by brian.austin

Where are you getting your costs? According to the Copyright Office, it's a $45 fee per application. An application can include one "collection" on a CD-ROM. I know photographers that file once a year, taking all of their final versions, shrinking them to discernable low-res images, and sending them in as a single collection on one CD-ROM.

I don't know anyone who registers their photographs independently or pays THAT much.

And there's no point in expediting since the copyright starts at creation, not registration.

Exactly! When I saw those mentioned amounts, I just mumbled to myself... that's not true.

[Finn]

Personally I think while you can try with the legal approach your onto to a loser there. the RIAA have been trying for years to stop people copying music and they haven't actually achieved much.

Best bet is to make sure there is nothing to copy. Only release low res heavily watermarked images so its not worth their while to rip it off. I don't just mean a name in the bottom corner as that's ridiculously easy to clone out (or even crop) but also a something low opacity over the whole image. Don't really see the point in "invisible" watermarks/fingerprints etc either. Yep it proves they ripped off your image but you know that anyway (and I'd have thought having the original full size RAW file would prove it) your job is to make it so they can't remove the visible distinguishing remarks easily.

[gsk]

For those possibly waiting to get on to TinEye. I just had no problem signing up...

[loraksus]

I posted a few responses about a similar situation at phototakers a while back. Perhaps the thread will help a bit.

Someone is stealing my photos and using them!

If they are based out of Italy, I'd say you're SOL though. One avenue you can pursue is writing a DMCA takedown notice, although there is a slim chance that they are actually hosted in the states.
I'd send one to imageshack for shits and giggles. You are pretty much guaranteed to get it taken down.


Sample Form | Example DMCA Notification of Infringement | DMCA Takedown Notice Form


The problem with US copyright law is that it is effectively useless for anyone who doesn't have a fair bit of money behind them. If you're a small fish, you not only get abused by the infringer, but you'll have difficulty bringing action against infringers because the lawyers you want to hire don't want to deal with small cases.

Also... publishers will blacklist you if you sue them. That's sort of understandable, but at the same time, some publishers are scum.

[generic]

What I'd like to see is a small program that would imbed an ugly watermark printer command into the img file so that it didnt show unless the img was sent to a printer.

That way all copies of the img would serve as an add.

With the proper encryption it would be pretty hard to remove and cause the img to fail and simply not print if it were blocked in any way.

I've seen the watermark pro used and while it can do an excellant job I fail to see why an individual would not simply compose a watermark in corel draw or even word and make a layer out of it.

gene

[loraksus]

If you're just worried about scanning / printing - there is a "dot pattern" that
prevents a large number of scanners from scanning (and some printers from printing). There is a crack for photoshop to turn off the checking, but that should stop most people from dicking with the pics.
That pattern can hidden fairly well and will still be detected.

EURion constellation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For high res prints, you should be able to set a moire pattern up that will show up only when printed on a decent printer..