I am against the watermarks..... it takes away from the pics,
as for getting protected images thats easy as pie. :lol:
as for getting protected images thats easy as pie. :lol:
I had a member ask about preventing people from copying images. So I thought we could have a discussion about that...
The short answer, is that there is no way to protect any image on any website. That's why the sites that sell images, like Getty use large watermarks over the whole image.
The best we can do is make them less likely to want to take them. We currently place a watermark, a rather bold waterwark, on the bottom right corner, seen here. So that if someone does copy it and post it elsewhere, at least the forum as a whole benefits from some free advertising.
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On the pic above, it would be easy enough to crop the bottom off and still have a good picture. So we can do other things, like the next few pictures.
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These are just examples, we can put virtually any shape or image over the original at virtually any transparency level. This makes the image less desirable to the types would would copy them. Unfortunately it makes them less desirable to look at... its a balancing act between protecting them image and preserving the quality.
By the way, if you upload images here, you get the benefit of having the server resize them for you and placing the watermark. With images off-site - like photobucket - we cannot watermark or resize them, we are just showing them on our pages.
Also, if uploaded as attachments, they show in the post as thumbnails - although rather large thumbnails by most standards - and show the full size image when clicked. You can also upload them to an album, and then link to the images in the album, and they will show full size as the ones above do.
So what are your thoughts. For or against the large transparent watermarks? For or against the site name on a corner? Combine the two?
Oh, and guys like me can get any image from any site faster than a Challenger can finish the quarter mile.If you find a site that you believe is protecting the images, give me the link an I'll email you any pic you ask for. Although if it has a watermark, you get it with the watermark.
