Quote:
Originally Posted by Nixon
all that stuff you get from "Filters->Digimarc->Embed Watermark" creates a digital watermark. you dont see it but its still there in the file details. people can still steal your image and use it but the watermark is always there hiden away.
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Digimarc isn't cheap. It creates a hidden watermark, by making very slight changes to an image according to a mathematical formula. Supposedly this will survive a lot of editing, and the theory is if you don't know it's there, you won't know to remove it. Like Nixon says, this is really meant to get you a victory in court after the fact, not to provide web security and make it impossible to grab the image.
I use the text mask tool. Right click the big
T in the tool palette, and choose "Horizontal Type Mask Tool," the one with marching ants and an arrow pointing right. Then click somewhere, type your mark, select another tool ( because while you're typing, shortcut keys don't work ), and you'll have a selection that looks like the letters. Finally, copy this to a new layer, and apply some effects to it, whether you want a gradient, flood fill, drop shadow, or anything else. I like this method because you can see detail in the image behind the text, and between the letters; this makes it a lot harder to clone the text away.
You can get the copyright symbol (
© ) on a PC by holding down the ALT key and typing 0169 on the numeric keypad.
I hope it's not inappropriate, or hijacking your thread, but since we're talking about creating visual effects in Photoshop, here's an example of what the technique I just spelled out produces:
The word "Forrest" would be fairly easy to clone out, because it's sitting on out of focus background with no detail. But the ©, and the Cr in my last name would be a little bit harder.
Finally, you can use html to lay a transparent gif or png image on top of the file you want to protect. This is far from full proof, but make it a little bit harder to grab your image, since right clicking and doing "save as" will only get you the empty file. Example:
http://forrestcroce.com/Photos/Bryanna3.html
Hope this helps a little.
