An Option for Discouraging Photo Thieves

Zillions of photographs are posted to the web every day, and many of those are stolen and used by others on their blogs or websites. We've all read that even if you buy a photograph, you can't be absolutely sure the folks you bought it from had a right to sell it to you. Risky business, this copyright infringement stuff. The best way to protect yourself from a lawsuit, and a stiff payout, is to use your own photos. So, you ask, how do I protect my photographs from theft? Well, you can never be sure it won't happen to you, but you can take measures to make it a bit tougher for the unscrupulous to snag yours.

One method is signing your photographs. I posted this to my blog a while back:  How to Create a Signature Brush in Photoshop

Signing your photographs is one way to announce it belongs to you, and will discourage all but the most bold of photo thieves, who will just crop out your signature, and plop it in wherever they have a mind to. Another method is 'Watermarking' your photos. While this works better in discouraging thieves, it can also have a distracting effect on the photo. In any case, I offer this tutorial, and you can decide if it works for you.

I have used Photoshop CS3 in creating this tutorial, and assume a basic working knowledge of Photoshop. HOWEVER, if you do not have Photoshop, or something like it, do not despair! I have offered a link to a FREE online tool for watermarking your photographs at the end of this post. There are also online companies that will actually 'track' your photographs for you - and let you know who's trying to get away with something, but from what I understand, with some of these the method  used degrades the quality of the photograph.

This is easy, guys! You'll be surprised!

1. Open your photo, and select the Type Tool. Then select the font, size, and color you wish to use. If you decide you don't like the position of your text, move it. (You can do this it at any point before saving it).

2. Click on the FX Tool at the bottom of your Layers Palette, and open Blending Options. Here you can choose any effects you'd like your text to have. I have chosen Bevel and Emboss, but play around - lots of fun things you can do here. Just keep in mind how 'distracting' some choices might be.

3. Adjust the Opacity slider to achieve the level of opacity you want.

4. You are not limited to using text - Try a symbol, such as the copyright symbol, or your logo.

That's it! Done.

Now, if you don't have Photoshop, you might look into a free site like PikMarkr  I think your options are more limited than they would be if you had full control, but it might be better than not at all!

My next post will be how to create an Action in Photoshop for Watermarking your photos!