Advanced Photoshop :52 Protect Your Art Online

1. Feature
PROTECT YOUR
ART ONLINE
Image theft may pale in comparison to robbing a bank, but to those who find
©
their work stolen, the results can be traumatic. Nick Spence investigates ways to
protect your work online
T
he internet has many positives: the chance to learn, share, T
BESSAN
participate and collaborate, offering the possibility to © M A RC
explore the world beyond your horizon. As a tool to
showcase you and your work, it offers great potential, a chance to be
seen by a global audience and attract clients and commissions
regardless of your location. Yet for every positive, a few negatives lurk
on the dark side of the internet. From dodgy downloads and scams to
nasty viruses and dubious pills and potions, the internet is not a place
for the reckless. Being prepared and aware of the potential dangers
online should help protect you. The same caution should apply when
putting your work online. Creating your own website, placing your
work on a blog or forum, selling your designs on an online shop, these
are all good, but you don’t want to find your hard work has been
hijacked by those looking for quality images for free.
The simple way to ensure your work isn’t stolen or plagiarised is to
stay offline altogether, although this will severely restrict potential
©
interest in you and your work. Much better is to limit the damage that
can be done by using a range of measures, including copyrighting
© ANDY POTTS
80
Advanced Photoshop
©
© Imagine Publishing Ltd
No unauthorised copying or distribution

2. Protect your art online ©
Case study
Andy Potts
Award-winning London-based illustrator Andy
Potts (www.andy-potts.com) couldn’t believe
his eyes when he came across the work of a
Dutch artist. A selection of his paintings, which
he sells and exhibits internationally, bore an
uncanny resemblance to his own work, created
for a selection of prestigious clients and
displayed on his website. Such was the similarity
between Potts’ illustrations and these paintings
that it raised serious concerns. What isn’t clear
is whether the artist managed to copy them
from relatively small JPEG files found on
Potts’ homepage. “I’m pretty sure this guy was
able to blow up some very small web images
and paint on them large scale quite successfully,”
explains Potts.
Potts’ US representative, Anna Goodson
Management, and the Association of Illustrators
EUROPA COVER: A striking cover design for French here in the UK were both equally amazed at the
magazine Europa by Andy Potts about the rise of non- artist’s sheer nerve, and felt rightly that Potts
governmental organisations
had a excellent case for copyright theft. Potts
© ANDY POTTS
quickly informed the artist that he faced legal
action if the paintings were not removed, and an
images, using digital watermarks, reducing images agreement was signed that none of Potts’
down to a size that’s difficult to reproduce effectively copyrighted work would be used again in future.
and creating a password-protected area of your Since many of the original paintings were
website for high-res examples that’s only for clients. sold, Potts asked for financial compensation. All
Each has its pros and cons. Digital spoilers, such as well and good, except Potts discovered that to
visible watermarks for instance, will prevent images actually sue someone for clear copyright
from being printed and sold but won’t prevent infringement, even in another EU country, would
anyone from simply borrowing or copying your image be a long and costly venture.
or design. No amount of protection will be effective if “I have been royally ripped off this year by this
someone wants to mimic your style. Having your artist and there’s not much I’ve been able to do
name stamped in big letters on everything can also about it unless I commit to a very expensive,
be annoying to the viewer and allow you to be stressful and probably unsuccessful lawsuit,”
perceived as a misguided amateur; after all, few large adds Potts.
studios and illustration representatives see fit to use
watermark images. Getting the balance right should
ensure you look a professional outfit without FACEFULL TOP : Personal work from illustrator Andy
seemingly being overly precious about your work.
Potts, one of the most creative illustrators in the UK, who
has been recognised within the industry by a BAFTA 16.3 PER CENT
OF IMAGES USED
nomination and a prestigious AOI award
© ANDY POTTS
Watermark images
Third-party sites where you can buy a simple but
effective website off the peg should offer some image
GETTING TO KNOW YOU ABOVE : Book cover
design by Andy Potts for the collected short stories of sci- ON OUR GALLERY
protection tools as standard, which you can choose to
activate or not. “Just over 40 per cent of Clikpic
fi writer David Marusek
© ANDY POTTS PAGES ARE
customers, based on a sample of 100, have opted to
watermark their images within the Clikpic system,
service Mr Site (www.mrsite.co.uk), suggests that
while fewer users watermark images, the numbers are WATERMARKED;
which can be done literally at the click of a button, so
it is clearly an important issue for artists”, explains
still significant. “Around 16.3 per cent of all images
used on our gallery pages are watermarked, meaning THE REMAINDER
Tim Hunt, a director at Clikpic (www.clikpic.com),
which offers a website-to-go service. “It reminds a
that the remainder are open to potential theft,” says
Spice. “Watermarking offers you the best protection in ARE LEFT OPEN
potential thief, who can often be a casual observer
who is completely unaware of copyright issues, that
they need to think before copying.” Stuart Spice,
my opinion, as it acts as a ‘spoiler’ for the image
without detracting from the impact of the image.”
More primitive methods, such as disabling right-
TO THEFT
technical officer at professional website builder click (or Ctrl-click on Macs), fail to take into STUART SPICE, MR SITE
© Imagine Publishing Ltd 81
No unauthorised copying or distribution Advanced Photoshop

3. Feature
account something available to all PC and Mac users, and Bevel and Emboss effects to ensure the text
warns Spice. “One method people often discuss is the doesn’t overpower the image. The Digimarc (www.
disabling of the right-click on the mouse to prevent digimarc.com) plug-in, which comes as standard with
people from clicking Save As when hovering over an Photoshop, allows you to embed copyright
on-screen image. This may offer a small degree of information into your images. Copying an image with
protection, but is no match for the ardent copyright an embedded watermark also copies the watermark
thief. In fact, one of the most basic functions of and any information associated with it. You can also
Microsoft Windows that has been around since the create a metadata template in Photoshop, and in the
old days of Windows 3.1 is the Print Screen function.” File Info interface or the Metadata panel in Bridge,
Mac users can use a similar method to capture images you can edit your document’s copyright info.
and professional screen capture utilities are available For those looking for a little more variation, many
for both platforms. “The techies often talk about free and payable watermark and image-protection
placing invisible ‘layers’ over the top of your image to applications are available, found by searching
prevent the right-click or any interaction with the websites such as Download.com (www.download.
image. This works to a degree, but again falls foul of com), Softpedia (www.softpedia.com), Tucows
the Print Screen button,” says Spice. (www.tucows.com) and MacUpdate (www.
macupdate.com). TinEye (http://tineye.com) is an
image search engine, currently in beta, that lets you
Tags and metadata search for your images online. Copyscape (www.
Digital watermarking is another possible solution. copyscape.com), meanwhile, offers some free or
Having your details on an image can identify you minimal cost searches along with a premium service,
should a third party require legitimate copies or wish Copysentry, which for around $5 a month aims to
to compliment you on your design. “It also tags your protect your site against content theft by monitoring
images with your details,” says Tim Hunt. “So if some the web for copies of your content and emailing you Portishead: Marc Bessant produced artwork for cult
of your images from, say, a wedding are being as soon as they appear. YouTube (http://uk.youtube. band Portishead and their album Third, recently voted
Album Of The Year by Uncut magazine
emailed around, anyone wanting to buy one will see com/watch?v=xem8KSnuhJI) has useful tutorials
© Marc Bessant
your details on the watermark and can visit your site showing you how to watermark for the web, including
and buy them, so digital watermarks can be a good using Actions to batch-process your images. cases. “An image thief is limited in what they can do
marketing tool.” with a web image other than use it online. This is
You can create both digital and visible watermarks because the resolution is simply too low for the image
in Photoshop, and there are several ways to do this, Small solutions to be reproduced effectively elsewhere, especially
like adding text with the Text tool on an additional If watermarks aren’t your thing, keeping images small thumbnail-sized images,” explains Tim Hunt of Clikpic.
layer. Experiment with different typefaces, opacity and low-res will limit how they can be used in most Although there are software solutions, including
Visible watermark Get a watermark in Photoshop in several ways, like
In places I’ve
step-by-step
creating a new layer and using the Text tool to add
the © sign, your logo, site or contact details
seen
1. Create a new layer 2. Adjust your watermark watermarks,
Open the image you want to add a visible
watermark to and create a new layer. Select this
Use Opacity and Fill in order to adjust your
watermark. The lower the opacity setting, the less they have
layer and use the Type tool to add your copyright
text, for example, ‘© Danny Hughes http://danny21.
likely the watermark is to distract from your
image. Additionally, experiment with typefaces, always looked
deviantart.com’. Use a large watermark that fills
most of the image. This will make it difficult to
as some are significantly more pleasing on the
eye then others. Finally, flatten the layers and pretty awful. I
remove the watermark using the Clone Stamp or
Healing Brush tool.
remember to Save As to avoid writing over your
original file. thInk the best
thIng Is just an
overall
dIsclaImer
somewhere tIdy
on the front
– MArC BESSAnT
82 © Imagine Publishing Ltd
Advanced Photoshop No unauthorised copying or distribution

4. Protect your art online ©
Orphan Works
2008
As we went to press, the US Orphan Works 2008
was still slowly progressing through the
legislative system with Congress going into a
lame-duck session as a new President prepares
to take office. During this time, it was thought
the bill might still be passed despite numerous
artists, photographers, illustrators and
individuals attacking the plans as ‘grossly unfair’.
The Orphan Works Act defines an ‘orphan work’
as any copyrighted work whose author
someone who wishes to use the artwork is
unable to locate, as long as they have
performed a ‘reasonably diligent search’.
In a radical departure from existing copyright
law and business practice, the US Copyright
Office has proposed that Congress grant such
‘infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the
author and use the work for any purpose,
including commercial usage’, reports the
Illustrators’ Partnership (http://ipaorphanworks.
TINY DANCERS: A three-colour gig poster advertising MALAKAI: Promotional poster for Malakai, a two-piece blogspot.com). In the case of visual art, the
an appearance by the band Tiny Dancers. Marc Bessant band from Bristol, by designer Marc Bessant, who is word ‘author’ means ‘artist’, and in theory, work
recently launched a new website showcasing his vast responsible for numerous music-related CD covers, that you have placed on the internet could be
and varied illustration and design work packaging and posters
© MARC BESSANT © MARC BESSANT used by anyone. “It’s very easy for images,
especially on the net, to lose their creator’s
name and therefore be open to exploitation by
anyone,” warns Derek Brazell of The Association
of Illustrators (www.theaoi.com). “However, the
EU and the United Kingdom are looking at
orphaned works and it appears there will be
more rigorous checks on who can do what with
an orphaned work in these territories.”
The Illustrators’ Partnership maintains a blog with
new updates and ways you can help prevent the US
Orphan Works 2008 from becoming law
ENCHANTMENT: Marc Bessant provided album art
and design for The Enchantment by Chick Corea and
Bela Fleck. Bessant is head of design at Peter Gabriel’s
Real World Studios
© MARC BESSANT
© Imagine Publishing Ltd 83
No unauthorised copying or distribution Advanced Photoshop

5. Feature
Case study
Share and
share alike
Although you need to be concerned about how
and where you put your images online, many
seek to actively share their work. If you’re stuck
for suitable inspiration or reference material,
there are numerous free and legal resources
available online. Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu),
Freerange Stock (www.freerangestock.com),
Fontplay (www.fontplay.com/freephotos),
morgueFile (www.morguefile.com), Photo.net
(http://photo.net) and Woophy (www.woophy.
com) all offer free stock. Images may have
restrictions on use, but many are offered under
Creative Commons licensing or the Copyleft
licensing scheme. This allows for some but not
all copyright restrictions, giving the user the
ability to modify an image, for example, as long
as the resulting image is bound by the same
Copyleft licensing scheme. Good karma dictates
you always read the small print, but few
restrictions should apply.
deviantART (www.deviantart.com) actively
encourages the use of other people’s images.
Some of the more impressive Photoshop
photomanipulations found on the site take
elements on stock images freely offered by the CharleS Darwin: 12 February 2009 marks the 200th anniversary
community. “The resource and stock art of the birth of Charles Darwin and Nature magazine commissioned
this striking portrait by illustrator Jonathan Williams
providers go out of their way to offer a wide © Jonathan williamS
variety of high-quality material that comes from
artists that span the globe,” enthuses Kari
Campbell, assistant director of artist relations at third-party Photoshop plug-ins, to increase the size Copyright and wrongs
deviantART. Browsing the Stock Photography of images, results are mixed at best. “Place only very Placing a copyright message on your website won’t
gallery enables artists to locate suitable stock for highly compressed JPEG images at small dimensions protect you from theft, but it may deter some from
their various projects. “deviantART provides a on your site. That way, if the image is stolen, it is of simply downloading without thinking. Marc Bessant
forum for stock art and resource providers. Here, such a small size and low quality that an attempt to (www.marcbessant.com) is a well-respected designer
deviants are able to ask questions about tips, resize or reuse the image in any way will produce a and illustrator with numerous CD and DVD covers,
share information on what they find in terms of very degraded version of the image,” suggests Mr books, logos and posters under his belt, who has
creating the best resources possible,” insists Site’s Stuart Spice. There are positives and negatives in never been a fan of visible watermarks: “In places I’ve
Campbell. “This open platform is a great way to doing this, not least reducing your work down to a seen watermarks, they have always looked pretty
communicate with the Gallery directors resolution and size that won’t do you justice. “There is awful. I think the best thing is just an overall
regarding any questions they might have one main detractor, which is that the image may lose disclaimer somewhere tidy on the front end of the
concerning this valuable genre. Artists can also impact so it won’t be shown in its best light, crucial if site. I’ve seen my work printed in magazines blatantly
post threads if they are looking for something in you plan on selling your pieces,” adds Spice. Play from a low-res source from the net. obviously, I’m
particular for a piece that they are working on.” around with the Save For Web function in Photoshop thrilled someone is interested, and in the most part all
to see how your work will look at different sizes while exposure is good exposure, but I wish the effort had
aiming to keep the resolution, 72dpi, the same. been made to get better-quality examples.” Much of
I lIke CreatIve Commons
lICensIng beCause It allows
The spirit of collaboration and sharing is central to CollaboratIon and shared
online communities such as deviantART
ownershIp – JoNATHAN WIllIAMS
84 © Imagine Publishing Ltd
Advanced Photoshop No unauthorised copying or distribution

6. Protect your art online ©
Digital watermark You can add copyright information to Photoshop images and notify users that an image is copyright-
step-by-step
protected via a digital watermark that uses Digimarc technology. Digimarc software is included as standard
in Photoshop and a Digimarc ImageReader is also available
1. Embed a watermark into 2. DigimarcEdition
your image Professional
3. Read a Digimarc
watermark in Photoshop
To begin, from the Photoshop menu, head to For those serious about protecting their images, In order to read a Digimarc watermark, choose
Filter>Digimarc>Embed Watermark. Next, decide Digimarc offers a series of subscriptions, starting at Filter>Digimarc>Read Watermark. If the filter finds
upon your image attributes, then enter your around $79 and rising to $499. Coinciding with the a watermark, then a dialog box will display the
copyright year and set the strength of the digital release of Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4), Digimarc creator ID, copyright year (if this is present) and
watermark, too. Click the Personalize… button to introduced a new version featuring improved image attributes. Select OK, or if you want to find
enter your own Digimarc ID and PIN. If you don’t robustness for image format transformations, resizing out more information then click Web Lookup. The
already have one, never fear, because you can and compression, as well as improved Search Service Digimarc website will be displayed in your web
purchase one from the Digimarc website at www. with expanded website coverage and monthly browser, where contact details appear for the given
digimarc.com. reports of where customer images are located online. creator ID.
what Bessant does is already in the public domain, in Creative Commons
shops and online stores, so he sees little point in Like Marc Bessant, Jonathan Williams (www.
protecting images that could be easily copied jonathanwilliams.co.uk) is popular and in demand.
elsewhere. Any designer who respects what they do As an illustrator with a distinctive style and work
wouldn’t dream of wholesale copying another showcased across the internet, on websites including
designer’s image. That said, ideas are hard to AOI Portfolios, Altpick, Behance Network, Creative
copyright, and that’s a grey area for Bessant and many Shake, theispot.com and the TAXI Design Network, it’s
others: “If people are going to copy, then they are not hard to find suitably impressive examples of his
going to copy regardless of scale. It must make it a work. Again, Williams has yet to see his work copied,
little harder to do the smaller you go, but the idea but increasingly clients are calling for work freely
itself is unprotected at any size.” available online to be protected: “I haven’t been
Plagiarism in art, design, music, literature, fashion ripped off (yet) so I’ve never felt a need to watermark
and many other creative areas is clearly a problem, online images. Recently, a handful of clients have
difficult to define and ultimately, hard to prove, asked me to protect images they have commissioned
especially in a court of law. “Possibly, we are all from being downloaded. As the potential for online
influenced by the things we see and the web is the digital promotion grows, it seems that clients, more
biggest crystal ball ever,” says Bessant. “Anything that than ever, want to control and restrict the use of
goes into your head potentially might end up part of commissioned work.”
what you do. I’m talking more about ideas and Recently, Creative Commons (http://
concepts really, though, rather than straight line-for- creativecommons.org) licences, which provide a
line plagiarism.” While the designer has, to his flexible range of protections and freedom for authors,
knowledge, never been plagiarised, he’s seen some artists and educators, have begun to appeal. For
sorry and shoddy reproductions of his work. “If I have Williams, it has the potential to offer the best of both
been ripped off then I haven’t seen it online, although worlds: “I see artists borrowing ideas and techniques
sadly I’ve seen plenty of bootleg band T-shirts laid out from each other all the time, and can’t help
on pavements outside venues over the years that I wondering if ‘intellectual property’ is, in fact, far more
had nothing to do with that have my design all over fluid and communal than traditional copyright SCOUTING FOR GIRLS: Since graduating from the
them and, of course, the pirate CD market is rife. All admits. I like Creative Commons licensing because it Edinburgh College of Art in 1993, Jonathan Williams has
worked as both illustrator and art director. His images
the elements for dodgy replication are up there allows collaboration and shared ownership, while also have appeared in major publications, books and retail
online, but hopefully the savvy consumer will spot recognising the professional artist’s right to receive outlets across Europe, America and Australia
the rubbish.” payment for original artwork.” © JONATHAN WILLIAMS
© Imagine Publishing Ltd 85
No unauthorised copying or distribution Advanced Photoshop