Hi folks,
I wasn't sure where to put this thread and since it's something that can be done during post process work i thought i'd stick it in here :-)

I haven't been on this site long, but i have noticed a few comments about water marking and copyright protection. Given that 1x dosen't allow waiermarks or any other visible text on uploads, i thought i'd put this idea to you as a possible alternative.

My idea is to physicaly write a personal mark on an image when enlarged to 400%. If you first add a working layer and choose a spot on your image for the mark, take neighbouring colours using the colour picker and a 1 pixel brush size and write your name or logo etc in an area of the image where it will be disguised by the surrounding texture or colour and then use the opacity slider to make it as faint as possible but still just visible enough to be unmistakeably your mark. Make a copy of the image file with the area of the mark (or marks if you think the image might be cropped to exclude a single one) ringed for future reference and stick it alongside your original in the folder.
I realise that this method would not prevent the theft in the first place, but the person taking your image would be very unlikely to spot the mark or marks unless they intend to examine the image pixel by pixel at high magnification.
I'm not sure that this idea will prove to be very practical on images with only 950 wide or 750 high as on 1x but anyway, it's worth considering as a sneaky alternative to digital watermarks which can be removed with the right know how!
Just an idea, so let me know what you think!

Regards
Vic.

Hey Vic.,

It's an interesting idea, and there's certainly benefits to being sneaky. Unobtrusive watermarks would certainly make a lot of galleries much more pleasant to browse. You piqued my curiosity with this topic so I tried an idea that I've had floating around. Personally, I've never had anyone steal my images (not that I know of anyways) so I can't tell you whether or not this works.

Basically what I did is take a small bit of text (© 2009 Robert Pantalone; I'm a little behind the times...) and place it on the image in an area that was white or black. I then adapated the text's colour to be very close to white/black with a slight hint of red colouration to it. At this point, the text is impossible (for my eyes, on my uncalibrated monitor at least) to spot. Even when I looked at 400% magnification I had a hard time seeing it; actually I couldn't even find it. Which raised the problem of proving it was there. What I thought to do next was take a curves layer that would exaggerate the slight difference between the text and the surrounding area. I applied the layer and voila, the text appeared! I caught myself stealing my own image. For the light image, I inverted the curve used on the dark image.

The results are below. Before opening the image that has the adaption applied to it, see if you can spot the watermark (and how easily you can do so). If you can find it at a glance, I've more or less failed in this pursuit. The second image has the curves layer attatched. I can send the .PSD or curve files to anyone who is interested in seeing if this actually works.

The truest test would be to try and sneak one onto 1x.

Dark Area

Hidden Text
Revealed

Light Area

Hidden Text
Revealed

There's a couple of obvious problems with this method: if your image hasn't got an area which is exceedingly light, or exceedingly dark, you'll have to come up with a new colour and curve scheme. I think the principle will still work, however. Also, if the thief edits your image (even changing the contrast perhaps, but more likely cropping out the area with the text if it is non-essential), it may be difficult or impossible to "recover" the mark.

I'm sure someone else has a better way to do this than what I've done here.

Rob

Hi Rob,
Nicely done!! Your method certainly works well for those two images but perhaps would not work so well on an image with fine details or varied colour throughout the frame.
Maybe sticking it on a new layer and using the opacity slider before merging to make it even more subtle so as to be virtualy invisible on any image until you apply your Curves layer? I may give that a go!
All good food for the grey matter :)
Regards
Vic.

You're right that it doesn't work well on images with fine details or highly varied colour (I chose those images deliberately, I would lose the watermark if I tried to apply a curves layer to an area with too much detail). Adding a watermark using the method you suggested would likely be more effective in those situations.

One could also try Digimarc or a similar product that adds noise that is decoded later. The drawback to this is that their service is kind of pricey and the noise is rather visible (to my eyes) in images with smooth colours.

The downfall to all of these systems is tracking and identification. Digimarc makes good money doing that; and tracing my curves layer wouldn't be the most practical option for me, or for most other people.

Rob