Water marking

[wenrob]

Is there a simple way to do this or do I have to apply it to each picture separately? I've gathered that Smugmug for example will apply one automatically but I assume that is Pro accounts? I have a Power account and thus far haven't come across this feature. I have my account set up so that family can download pics if they want so I wouldn't want to watermark all my pics but I would like to watermark some to share here mainly because they are mostly of my kids. While I'm not worried about the people here at the DIS, being a previous member of parenting sites, stealing pics of kids runs pretty rampant. I guess my question is, if I want to watermark for sharing and have copies for family am I going to have to upload two copies of each pic?

 

[Groucho]

It all depends on the host. I run my own site and so am in complete charge of my own gallery, and I have the ability to choose which photos have watermarks and which don't, and can have non-watermarked "originals" as well. I watermark all my "public" photos and I have a family/friend section with unmarked photos of, well, family and friends.

If your current gallery doesn't give you that option, then you'll either need to switch hosts, pay for a premium option on your current host if it gives you that option, or watermark before uploading and upload multiple copies if you want watermarked and non-watermarked versions.

 

[dr_zero]

When I was looking at galleries the other day I found this for watermarking
http://www.picture-shark.com/watermark_freeware_image_protect_gallery_default.htm

Also for hosting your pics you might consider getting your own web space its not that expensive and you have total control and some offer Albums in the package.

I have been with Lunarpages for a few years now and they have some good prices like $7 a month for your own site.

http://www.lunarpages.com/solutions.php

Basic Hosting 6.95 a month and the are offering it for half off this month!

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[wenrob]

Thanks for the info Guys!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Is there a simple way to do this or do I have to apply it to each picture separately? I've gathered that Smugmug for example will apply one automatically but I assume that is Pro accounts? I have a Power account and thus far haven't come across this feature. I have my account set up so that family can download pics if they want so I wouldn't want to watermark all my pics but I would like to watermark some to share here mainly because they are mostly of my kids. While I'm not worried about the people here at the DIS, being a previous member of parenting sites, stealing pics of kids runs pretty rampant. I guess my question is, if I want to watermark for sharing and have copies for family am I going to have to upload two copies of each pic?

With Smugmug, I believe that watermarking is a pro level feature. An alternative would be to upload pictures twice - once clean and posted in private galleries and once watermarked and posted in public galleries.

Just out of curiosity, why would people steal pics of kids? Judging from my gallery, strangers are always interested in my pics with no kids in them and pretty much ignore my pics with kids.

 

[Chikabowa]

To the original poster - I watermark everything I put up on the web. It just makes sense anymore to do so, especially with companies and people stealing pictures left and right. I cannot tell you how prevelent this problem is in the pro-photographic community. People going as far as to steal multiple pictures, from multiple different photographers, creating websites, collecting money for session fees, and then never showing to do the actual portrait session. It's sick!

Additionally, it is just one more step of protection of your own work. If you have pictures for family, I highly suggest putting them into a private gallery. Watermarking doesn't need to be too hard... you should be able to create a simple brush to stamp your photo or even a simple action in Photoshop and bam, it's done.

Just out of curiosity, why would people steal pics of kids? Judging from my gallery, strangers are always interested in my pics with no kids in them and pretty much ignore my pics with kids.

I'm not trying to freak out anyone by giving out this information, but since you asked... and since I'm a pro children's photographer... I'll tell you why. It started on flickr groups a while back, maybe 8 months ago, where people were finding pictures of their own children on bizarre websites based in Brazil. Turns out there is some strange game that Brazillian teens play, where they steal pictures of little children off of flickr, give them names and personalities and then play this role playing game based on the photographs.

While it seems pretty harmless, as a mom and a photographer, it is TOTALLY freaky! Most every single on of my friends has now taken their flickr accounts to private accounts only allowing friends and family. I am way more protective of my own child's picture and/or client's child picture now days than I am of anything else. There are some real weirdo's out there!

 

[wenrob]

Just out of curiosity, why would people steal pics of kids? Judging from my gallery, strangers are always interested in my pics with no kids in them and pretty much ignore my pics with kids.

They take them and create a whole 'family' and life around them. It's rampant on parenting boards. They regularly steal a particular person's pics and present them as their children. I know more then a couple of people personally that it's happened to. If you go parenting websites and search 'faker' you'll get all sorts of examples. It's also part of the reason I refer to my little ones as, 'my two' rather then the word for sibs born at the same time because that word is a popular search and a faker favorite. It's why I don't belong to parenting boards anymore, it's that bad. You make friends w/someone only to find out they're not real.

 

[wenrob]

Watermarking doesn't need to be too hard... you should be able to create a simple brush to stamp your photo or even a simple action in Photoshop and bam, it's done.

Making a brush is a heck of an idea, that didn't even occur to me. I had this image of me typing out a 'watermark' for every pic. Definitely doable. Just going to have to take the time to upload two copies if I want to consistently post pics of my kids. I've posted a pic here and there without it but nothing I feel would be relative to a search, however I'd feel better having them marked.

All my galleries are private. It drives my family batty to have to use passwords but oh well!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm not trying to freak out anyone by giving out this information, but since you asked... and since I'm a pro children's photographer... I'll tell you why. It started on flickr groups a while back, maybe 8 months ago, where people were finding pictures of their own children on bizarre websites based in Brazil. Turns out there is some strange game that Brazillian teens play, where they steal pictures of little children off of flickr, give them names and personalities and then play this role playing game based on the photographs.

While it seems pretty harmless, as a mom and a photographer, it is TOTALLY freaky! Most every single on of my friends has now taken their flickr accounts to private accounts only allowing friends and family. I am way more protective of my own child's picture and/or client's child picture now days than I am of anything else. There are some real weirdo's out there!

That actually sounds pretty amusing. I've got some Brazilians working for me. I'll have to ask them if they've ever heard of anything like this. Given the thousands of pictures of my kids on several websites, I wonder if they are big stars in the bizarre Brazilian role playing world. As weird as it sounds, it doesn't sound particularly threatening to me. Given how hard it was to get Brazilians a visa to come here, I'm not going to lose sleep over some Brazilian teens playing make-believe with my kid's pictures.

I can't recall ever hearing of any harm come to a child because their picture was posted on the Internet. I worry about who my kids associate with, whether they wear their seatbelts and bike helmets, what they eat, and a gazillion other things. I'm not going to lose sleep over a risk I think is as infinitesimal as having my kid's pictures be amongst the hundreds of millions of kids pictures on the Internet.

As far as pictures being stolen for commercial use, that's another story. I have heard of that happening many, many times. In my case, I balance the level of potential harm to me with the inconvenience of taking protective measures. As an amateur shooter with no interest in becoming a professional, it doesn't seem to me that I'm risking much. I think I'm better off posting my pictures in un-watermarked, full resolution originals and risking copyright infringement than I would be taking measures that would reduce infringement and limit other's uses of my pictures.

 

[MICKEY88]

Is there a simple way to do this or do I have to apply it to each picture separately? I've gathered that Smugmug for example will apply one automatically but I assume that is Pro accounts? I have a Power account and thus far haven't come across this feature. I have my account set up so that family can download pics if they want so I wouldn't want to watermark all my pics but I would like to watermark some to share here mainly because they are mostly of my kids. While I'm not worried about the people here at the DIS, being a previous member of parenting sites, stealing pics of kids runs pretty rampant. I guess my question is, if I want to watermark for sharing and have copies for family am I going to have to upload two copies of each pic?

I use a great program called"photowatermark professional"

you can batch watermark a whole folder of pics..

if you want reduced size pics for online, you can watermark and resize in one step..

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

Watermarking doesn't need to be too hard... you should be able to create a simple brush to stamp your photo or even a simple action in Photoshop and bam, it's done.

Here is a tutorial for those who don't know how to do it. I found this extremely helpful
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/apswatermark.htm