how do I protect my self

Dear Ken
Thank you for your advice and yes I will be Joining a Professional Photographic body in the new year.

I have decided to give them free at a low res but only when the orders for the prints have stopped and with the odd watermark.

I have a studio that is ticking over nicely by word of mouth (around 4 shoots a week)

although I am and conduct my self as a pro I will never become a pro as I don't need to earn any money or a living from it.

so I class my self as a semi-pro

sorry if you where under the impression I was a amateur photographer stealing work from a pro-wedding photographer

James

Lots of useful points have already been said by others on the topic, perhaps I could suggest the way to look at it is as a loss leader into the weddings area. If your friends/wife's friends are happy with the results then this goodwill may translate into recommendations to their friends/acquaintances which you can benefit from to build the work, just as for your studio. Potentially souring it over a few pics for a screen saver doesn't seem worth it to me, in spite of the irritation it's causing you to feel.

just my 2d worth... hope you manage to resolve the situ to everyones satisfaction.

Hi Anvh/Stefan, interested to know have you any experience of this ?
From a 2min scan of the website (so I'm probably oversimplifying) it just sounds like a hyperlink or ID code to their site is inserted into the EXIF data for the image and then your code no. and licencing info is held on their site for reference for the princely sum of $500 pa.

Could you not do this with a EXIF editor or DAM tool and your own website, doesn't seem like it's worth the money to me, or did I miss something about how the watermarking works ?

cheers

Get a hold of somebody with Adobe Acrobat Professional (not Acrobat Reader) and make a protected PDF Package.

Protection to disable printing and copying of the PDF file can be added in the secure tab along with a lot of other security options including adding a watermark etc.

As ever, valuable information from Brian!

Following along those lines PrimoPDF is free and has security options which prevent copying and printing. It wont be as sophisticated as AAP but might be worth a try.

No it does not work like that, at least not fully.
They add pixels to the photo, just a slight variation of the original so you don't see it.
And the way the pixels are made is coupled to your ID, they simply scan the internet for those codes and keep track of them.

Here is more about the way they make the watermark and at the bottom of the page you have more explanations link

It might see a bit pricey but if you make a living with those photos it might be worth it.

Brian's idea is also very good, that's probably the only way to secure your photos the best if you give them to clients.
You can even send the complete package in advance and when they have paid you can give them a password to print and edit the document/photos.

I own Photoshop creative suite 3 master collection if that helps any one with my dilemma

James

then you have Acrobat 8 Professional just about the best home user security enabled package you can get.

I've been considering that for a while - was it expensive and did you download it, or get it on disk?

Ray

Yes the plugin to make them is free and is in Photoshop CS3 but you need an account to use it.

thanks for the link stefan, read this just b4 end of my lunchbreak so was skimming and didn't have time to read all the site

Question too difficult?

Ray

Dear Ray

It was bought as a download and disk/box was posted on
unsure of cost as it was a gift from my wife.

Hope that answers your simple question.

James