[benbaur]

i have a Photoshop 5.5 and i want to put a hidden Copyright on a picture

there is able possibility ?


thanks for your help

[Ko]

Read the manual!

Ko

[ceenda]

Hi there.

Some would say that an artist's painting, digital or otherwise _is_ his/her signature.

It is _unbelievably_ hard to for somemone to take, say mine or Spooge's or lotor's or the art of _anyone_ on this board and palm it off as his/her own.

Why? Because once you pass off a piece of work as your own then that is what people expect you to produce! I wouldn't worry about encrypting your pics at the expense of quality benbaur.

Anyway, do your pics at 1280x1024 then reduce them (e.g. 640x480) for display purposes. That way you have the original pic in it's highest detail which only you possess.

Also, save your pics every so often as you do them so that you can prove how you did it.

Look forward to seeing some of your stuff up here benbaur, and don't worry about Copyright issues.



[This message has been edited by ceenda (edited July 25, 2000).]

[General Confusion]

what you are talking about is called a watermark, you could embed one using photoshop, but if you want to personalize it there is a program that you can buy (not sure how much or the name, I think you can find it with the embed watermark plug-in in pshop, there may be a link to a website when you open the plug-in) But by purchasing it, you can input your own copyright info into the image.

However, like ceenda said, by creating the image you already hold copyright on the image. Laws for artists have become really good, there was a thread awhile ago about this, take a look.

But if your not completely trusting of the people who view your art, then here is a trick I've been taught. Get a hard copy of your image, then mail it to yourself, but don't open the image until, if need be, someone has violated your copyrights. It's sort of corny, but probably would hold up in any court.

post some of your stuff, I want to use it for myself, ...... just kidding!!!!!!

good luck

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[ceenda]

General Confusion makes some good points!

However, some notes about the 'post it to yourself' trick.

1) It must be recorded delivery. Royal Mail(for the UK) is not enough.

2) This only works for pictures and writing(I think). It does NOT work for intellectual property apparently (i.e. ideas written down).

[Thorn]

Just thought I'd throw in a bit of info that I found out the hard way.

Copyright belongs automatically to the artist. That sounds pretty good and straightforward.

However, artists can transfer copyright, and (this is the important bit), not even know that they've SURRENDERED THE RIGHTS to their work.

I had to check up on my rights once and this is what I found out. Basically, if the artist distributes his/her work in any way, copyright goes to the recipient, unless the artist clearly states verbally (with a witness) or in writing that conceptual ownership stays with them. It doesn't have to be fancy in how its done, but if you don't make it clear right at the start your in effect transferring your copyright-with no conditions of use-and the recipient(s) can do whatever they like with the piece. And they don't need your permission. The law sees it as a business transaction (whether or not you're paid), and that you have to state or, in a lot of cases, negotiate the terms under which the work is distributed.

So its always best to be cautious. The legal side of art ownership is complicated, and can get really nitpicky and fuzzy. And you usually won't find out how nitpicky until someone's done you wrong in a way you never expected.




[This message has been edited by Thorn (edited July 25, 2000).]