Disabling Photo Downloads (Drag&Drop/Rght/Clck/Save)
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ElectricLadyLens
Joined: 2008-02-27
Posts: 26 |
Posted: Sun, 2009-10-04 07:33
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I am a photographer and have a photography website with the Carbon theme. I've had problems with people downloading my images and spreading them all over the web. I watermark my pictures, but not even that stops people. I was wondering if there is any way to disable people from being able to right-click-save and/or drag and drop images from my site? I know Flash-based galleries can do this, but I am hoping to do this without having to resort to Flash. Thank you in advance! |
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Posts: 16504
Nope, it's not possible. If I can see the image, I can grab it. If it's flash, I can use tools to watch the traffic and figure out where it's loading the images from. Worst case I can take a screenshot. If people don't care about your watermark, they're not going to care about low res images.
To bypass any right-click "non-protection" all I have to do is use a browser like Firefox and disable the ability for the website to change my right-click behavior. Search the forums though, it's been asked and answered many times. There are hacks you can do that disable the right-click action and it will stop a fair chunk of people, but it depends on who's doing the copying. If someone really wants your images, the only way to prevent them from copying them is to not make them public.
There is also a hack that puts a transparent PNG or GIF over the image so if they try right-clicking and saving they just get a transparent image and not yours. However, that's easy to bypass by simply looking at the source of the page.
Watermarking is the best and IMO, only real option.
I did google your name and found your site. My suggestion, make the watermark bigger and go across the center of the image. Maybe a bit more transparent so it's not invasive, but still visible and blatantly obvious. But I've seen some really good watermarks that still allowed you to see the image, yet there was no getting around the fact that it was watermarked. For your images, I could easily just crop out the lower-right corner.
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Posts: 26
I have been thinking about this for a bit. Obviously I, like a lot of artists, are in a catch 22 with the technology. On the one hand, it is priceless promotion, on the other, you want people to see be able to observe your art. If you cannot think of it off hand, it is OK, but I was wondering if you might point out some photography sites where you've seen the images clearly, yet the watermark is invasive enough on the image where there would be no getting around it, hacker or not?
My pictures are somewhat low-res, but I also hear what you are saying about once you go public, there are no guarantees these days. Usually the big topic on my photography forums, as you can imagine. Do you know anyone that has used DigiMarc with any success? Supposedly it tracks your images where ever they are online. If someone is using them illegally, it would be easy to find them. It is expensive, so I'm wondering if it works as well as they claim it does. I appreciate the heads up!
Posts: 16504
I have no idea about digimarc. I know of it and that's all.
As for watermarks, I'll see what I can dig up. I know I've seen some that are quite tastefully done where you can still see the image, yet there is no getting around the fact that it's watermarked.
Here's one:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2337513-labrador-retriever-cream-puppy.php
I know I've seen others of people using G2, but I can't think of any off the top of my head
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Posts: 16504
about the watermark, just saw this site posted:
http://www.tasadam.com/gallery2/
I believe his is just a light grey that fits in with his color scheme, but you could do something like that and make it semi transparent.
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Posts: 25
nivekiam
Thanks for using my site as an example of what to do, very reassuring and complimentary considering the number of sites out there.
As well as watermark, I rely on copyright laws. As has been said, if you have a picture on your screen, you can save it to your computer. Press print screen, paste it in MS Paint and crop it for a very basic theft of an image if right-click doesn't work.
Then there are various selective capturing utilities available...
So if I ever find one of my images where they shouldn't be, I'll be contacting the appropriate authorities and prosecuting to the full extent. I know it isn't easy, but it is possible.
Proving ownership shouldn't be too difficult, my images are pretty unique.
Adam.
www.tasadam.com
Posts: 46
You can overlay a blank GIF image on top of the pictures AND add a script disallowing right-click.
They can still make a screenshot of course, but the above should deter the majority.