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Digital Watermarking and Protecting Copyright
One issue that concerns an increasing number of photographers is the possibility of image theft. With more and more photographers having their own web sites and displaying their work in online galleries this is an increasing problem. One of the beauties of the Internet is the fact that there is so much information available to you. The trouble is we all know just how easy it is to copy and download the information and images that you can see online. In fact it couldn't be simpler. Right click, save picture and it's gone. What is there to stop your images cropping up elsewhere with someone else taking all the credit and payment as well?
There is some good news. Online pictures need to be at a resolution of around 72 dots per inch. Much higher than this and you have issues with the amount of time it takes to download an image from a web server for a visitor to view it. Therefore your pictures are highly unlikely to be stolen from your website to be used in a magazine. The quality would fall a long way short of being acceptable.
So is there anything that can be done to protect your online images? The answer is yes. There are two options to you.
The first is to stamp each image with your identification. For example if you check out Will Moody's gallery on this site you will notice that each of his images, excluding thumbnails, are clearly stamped with "Copyright Will Moody". The obvious advantage is that it is abundantly clear who owns the photograph. The downside is that it detracts a little from the image. In some cases it may also be possible to crop the image and remove the copyright notice altogether. More blatant examples of image stamping can be found in the Wizzam gallery where the ownership is stamped right across the middle of the image.
The second option is to invisibly watermark. The biggest advantage of this technique is that the photograph itself is not compromised in anyway. In terms of quality it is more or less impossible to tell the difference between a picture that incorporates a digital watermark and one that doesn't. Digital watermarking on it's own is of little use, but when it is coupled with a facility to have the Internet scanned for unauthorised usage of an image it gives you a high level of security.
One of the best digital watermarking services is provided by Digimarc. They provide applications at different levels to suit smaller, intermediate and large users. Their package allows you to imbed digital watermarks into your images by working with standard image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. In addition, once the watermark has been added Digimarc scan the Internet on a regular basis to check if the image is appearing where it shouldn't. You then log on to their reporting system to check for breaches of copyright.
How it all works.
First you create a digital image. This can be done by taking a picture with a digital camera or scanning a photograph into your computer. Next you embed the Digimarc watermark into the digital image. This is done by using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop. Then you are ready to publish your image. The watermark will stay with the image even when it is copied and is able to withstand most edits including compression and conversion. You can then track your image with the Digimarc MarcSpider to ensure that the image is not being used without your permission on the Internet.
If you are concerned about your copyright and images being pirated, click here to visit the Digimarc website and see how their software and system works.
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