*** From the Archives ***
This article is from February 1, 2006, and is no longer current.
Photoshop How-To: Protect Photos with Watermarks and Copyright Symbols
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Digital photographers often need to distribute photos electronically — as proofs for clients, perhaps, or on a portfolio site. But with that digital distribution comes a certain risk. Your photos could be used in ways you don’t approve of or even stolen. In this image-rich tutorial, Photoshop expert Scott Kelby shows you how to add information that identifies your photos as yours no matter where they end up.
In the first part of this technique, you’ll add a see-through watermark. In the second part, you’ll embed personal copyright information.
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Pages 418-423 excerpted from “The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers” by Scott Kelby. Copyright © 2005. Used with the permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and Peachpit.
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If your URL is not of an unholy length, you should smack that on your photos to direct folks to your site and save the audience the trouble of Googling for the author.
Not everyone is going to care about the copyright metadata that is read by Photoshop. That can be stripped out, especially when you properly save the image for the web in Photoshop. Why Mr. Kelby did not take the ‘Save for Web’ function into consideration for online images is a mystery.
This was just what i was looking for to protect my photos.
There are other options for copy protecting images without destroying their look. Depending on critical the mission critical is, you can use image encryption, capture proof software or a secure web browser.
More info on these options can be viewed at https://www.artistscope.com