When I first started putting Images and content out on the WWW, I knew there was no way to really control content or copyright protection. I could watermark photos and put a copyright mark on them but that was about it, and I think watermarks are distracting. Watermarks may have a definite place in wedding, high school, real estate and perhaps some other high impact Images, but I tried them and did not care for them.
My next option, and one that I still use, is to frame my images and add a logo. This preserves the idea that the Image has been titled and has an author. So this concept of frames is part of my final workflow out put.
I next came across this service “Digimarc” just as they were upgrading their Photoshop plugin and they were campaigning their services. The cost to enroll is only $49 for Basic (for 1,000 images) or $99 for the Pro service for 2,000 images.
So for my final output, (all part of my PS5 “action”) Digimarc is an important step. This plugin will embedded in the bits of your digital images your Digimarc ID and Copyright information in an electronic watermark which will not visually alter your image in any way (i.e. you can not see the watermark).
The workflow for using the product is straight forward and they have a number of online instructional videos. In a nutshell, you have to convert the image out of the PSD format to JPG in Photoshop, image size sb above 256X256, locate Filters in the toolbar, select Digimarc and embed your watermark, then you’ll select strength and watch as Digimarc does its thing as a green status bar pops up and embeds your watermark……very cool stuff !
Digimark
Your next question maybe is,,,. How does this help if no one realizes that the Image is watermarked because there is no human readable text ? The folks at Digimarc have yet another service where they can scan the WWW and see if your content is out there being used without consent or authorization, and I’m told that if your on windows platform, that the Internet Explorer browser bar has an Icon that lits up or becomes active when a Digimarc Image is moused over…so the viewer is aware of the status…
Last but not least, the Digimarc website has a lot of user content, videos, and a very informative Blog….For my money and effort ..this is a wonderful product which provides some peace of mind for providing a pathway to researching content misuse that would not take to much time if I had to go searching for infringements….
