CD Copy Protection

[bmcguirk]

I recently attended a short seminar on wedding photography at one of the local community colleges. One of the things we discussed was the pros and cons of letting the customer have a cd to look at to decide what prints they'd like to buy. One of the students mentioned that there is software out there that will allow you to put your files on the cd or dvd and the customer can view the files but is not able to download or copy them in any way. So no prints could be made. (even though now as I sit here, I wonder about the "print screen" function) But anyway, has anyone else heard of this? I've googled it and don't seem to find anything in particular. Thanks, Bob

[archersdad]

I don't know of any way to protect your CD images that isn't easily bypassed.

[dcclark]

If such software exists (I'm sure someone has tried...), it probably only works on Windows -- meaning that it is trivially easy to pop the CD into a Mac or Linux box and bypass that entirely.

Print Screen / taking a screen capture is available on almost every computer in use today, and that's all you need for a decent 4x6 or a facebook picture.

Watermarking can help, but will definitely not discourage people who are really intent on getting the photos for free, or just don't care.

Overall, I think that a sampler of small photos isn't a bad thing, as long as you realize that there are people who will misuse them. However, I imagine that the benefit will outweigh the loss for you, in the long run.

[oldwolf]

Put it in a slide show so they're forced to look through the slide show. Most slide show programs will convert the jpg to something proprietary.

I've also heard of people converting the pictures into one pdf so they go through them like a book. This is easily done as well. All you'd need is some type of word processing program and a program like PrimoPDF. PrimoPDF installs like a printer so you're printing to a PDF file.

Both of these aren't fool proof but it's a lot better than just handing them a CD with the jpgs.

[bmcguirk]

Thanks for the replys. I thought it was too good to be true.

[fletch]

The slide show is the best idea. Its simple and easy to use, you need to remember that most of your clients will be honest and would not steal your pictures knowinly so you don't want to punish them. However they may inadvertently use a JPEG file for facebook etc if its available to them.

Its easy to forget most people don't have a clue about copyright, watermarks, image files etc. However if someone does know about all that stuff they could easily bypass most security.

[kirbinster]

Just give them low resolution small jpegs. You might also try watermarking them with something like "this is a proof only and it is a copyright violation to print this image"

[fletch]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

Just give them low resolution small jpegs. You might also try watermarking them with something like "this is a proof only and it is a copyright violation to print this image"

I've seen people post low res JPEG images to facebook, water marks and all. People are just unware things like that aren't allowed or even the difference bettern low and high res. Giving them a slide show stops that happening without having to tell them not to post to facebook which is a potential source of conflict.

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by fletch

I've seen people post low res JPEG images to facebook, water marks and all. People are just unware things like that aren't allowed or even the difference bettern low and high res. Giving them a slide show stops that happening without having to tell them not to post to facebook which is a potential source of conflict.

I actually suspect that some people think that watermarks give them permission to post your photos on facebook! After all, they're giving you credit -- right there on the photo. I kid you not.

No matter what we do, people will (intentionally or not) do the wrong thing with photos. I like the slideshow idea. Anything that sells photos will mean a net gain in the end -- whether people post your low-rez watermarked versions on facebook or not.

[cdgaskin]

What ive done (once so far anyway) is, after ive pp the shots ive copied them, put the file names in the corner of each photo and my logo as a large watermark over the image, then put all the images in a video editing software and made the slide show that way. print screen would still work i suppose but with so much wording on it, it shouldnt be to usable as a standalone photo. I know alot probably wont agree with this method but it seemed to work ok.