Questions about Smugmug and photo safety

[Deb Wisker]

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to ask a question about those of you who use Smugmug for galleries/client viewing/web sharing. Are you concerned about your images being taken without your permission even if you have copy right and watermarking?

My college profs encourage galleries to get your work seen. Right now my Smugmug galleries are password protected and right click protected. Am I being too possessive and paranoid?

Thanks for your insight. I appreciate it!

[GreggObst]

Anybody that has a simple utility like Snag-It can grab a screen capture of your images on ANY site. Doesn't matter what you disable, doesn't matter if it's served by flash, simply doesn/t matter. If they want it, they will get it.

The real question is you seem concerned about this happening but have you registered your photos with the US copyright office ? Yes, you have an implicit copyright ownership but unless you have registered your photos with the copyright office, no lawyer is going to take your case because you will not be able to get punitive damages. It's easy to register them and you can do it in bulk. Makes all the difference in the world should someone steal and use your photos and you can prove it. Here's the copyright office page to get started with that: U.S. Copyright Office - Online Services (eCO: Electronic Copyright Office)

A recent addition to Google image search Google Images allows you to drag a JPG or upload one and they will use that in a closest pixel match across the web and find areas your images may have been used illegally. Just yesterday I found one of my Indian Peacock photos being used to sell big screen TVs. They took the photo and put it on a electronics review site with my image overlayed on the TV as a sample TV picture. Google image search found that right away.

[hilhi2005]

Another option is to use the watermarking feature in your account on Smugmug. Just upload a watermark and have the site apply it to all of your pictures.

[Deb Wisker]

Thank you both so much. I appreciate the advice! I bookmarked the copyright link and I am going back to watermark my pics in my galleries.

[BK553]

I provide samples/proofs of my photos in varying sizes/watermarking based on how much I trust and like my clients. Use common sense. If they seem shady, cheap or something just "feels off", then they get 600px images heavily watermarked. if I like them, they are nice and I trust them, they get 1200px minimally watermarked images. Is this discriminatory? Yes. Do I care? No. They are my images, and mine to protect.

The problem with all the copyright BS is that you (1) have to actually copyright them with the Copyright Office (2) have to hire a lawyer to go after people and (3) be able to prove damages, and unless it is a commercial deal, with really high damages, (3) isn't going to pay for (1) and (2).

Edit; Also, tineye.com is a great way to find your images if they've been stolen. It's free and even has extensions for most browsers that make sit as easy as right-clicking an image.

[ZacW]

Hi Deb,

My name is Zac and I work for SmugMug. I saw your post in a reader so I decided to sign up for DPS and give you some input.

It was already mentioned that anything on the internet can be lifted. It's a sad but true fact of life. The good news is that there are steps you can take to

1. Right click protection works for the casual browser but anyone that really wants your image can still get it.

2. Watermarking your images is a great way to fool those people that want to steal your images. They may get your photo but it still has a big old watermark on it that says your name and website (or whatever you want it to say).

3. Limiting the viewing size. You can limit the largest viewing size to Large or Medium which is big enough to see on a monitor but really too small to make good prints out of. the downside is that a medium size image can still be lifted and used on sites such as facebook.

Using a combination of all 3 features can drastically improve your results. We have a help page set up on how to best protect your images. The help page explains some of the features I mentioned above, as well as a few more. Check it out on the link below.

SmugMug Help: Pros: How to protect your images from theft

You can also email our help desk and get a timely answer from a real person on any SmugMug questions you may have .

SmugMug Help: How to email a real person who will respond

All the best,
Zac
SmugMug

[KatTankersley]

I only have a basic smug mug account, can I do the watermarking you mentioned, Mitch?

[funcrunch]

Originally Posted by BK553

The problem with all the copyright BS is that you (1) have to actually copyright them with the Copyright Office (2) have to hire a lawyer to go after people and (3) be able to prove damages, and unless it is a commercial deal, with really high damages, (3) isn't going to pay for (1) and (2).

Copyrighting photos isn't really that difficult or expensive; I've registered up to 700 photos in a single $35 online registration. The ASMP has an excellent tutorial.

[hilhi2005]

You cant do the custom Watermark, but I do believe that there is some sort of watermark option though. Just go poking through all the settings, great way to learn what you have control of.