Question about putting pictures on the internet. I am planning

[GreenPartyVoter]

on making a website for my family's photos and artwork. Obviously photobucket is great for sharing pics here, but what about concerns over people stealing their work? I know that watermarks in the corner can just be cropped out. Any other suggestions that don't ruin the look of the picture? I thought about making a gallery like this one, but I fear that it would be out of my league.

Also, do you find that photo galleries chew up your bandwidth so that they aren't financially worth it? (For the most part we're just interested in displaying our art, but at some point we may be interested in trying to sell some of it.)

[Blue_In_AK]

1. I use SmugMug

and you can set it so the photos can't be copied.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Thanks! I will check that out.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I should mention that I have a professional account

($149 a year), but I assume the same feature is available for the free account. Other people here at DU use it, too, so maybe someone else can comment on that.

[Stevenmarc]

6. Another vote for Smugmug

Plus there are 3 good Smug apps for the iPhone

Smugshot
http://www.smugmug.com/iphone/smugshot/

Smugwallet
http://midnightmobility.com/

Smugshow
http://www.billbear.com/index.html

[ManiacJoe]

4. If you place it on the internet, it can be stolen.

The only question is how much effort it will take. Both Smugmug and Flickery have options to limit the ease of theft. Both have the options of limiting access to "friends and family".

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Well we want people in general to be able to see the pics, so I guess there will still be some risk.

[ManiacJoe]

7. Some things to think about:

- Keep the publicly viewed pics at a relatively low resolution, say 800-1000 pixels on the long side.
- Put a small copyright notice on each photo.
- If the hosting site has the option, you can add a visible watermark to the viewing image while having no watermark on the prints for sale. (Might require a "pro" account.)
- Most hosting sites have an option to prevent "right-click to save"

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Thanks. I will definitely keep that in mind. In terms of resolution should I also have

a low DPI? (I am new at all this stuff, so please excuse any dumb questions.)

[ManiacJoe]

9. DPI only really applies to printing (for most people).

The dots-per-inch (or pixels per inch) are only important on devices that let you play with those quality settings, like printers. Computer screens are a fixed resolution, so only the size in pixels matters for viewing. The "resize" dialog boxes in some editors do not make this as clear as they could.

Sites like Smugmug and Flicker will allow you to upload a large size (Hight x Width) file and then dynamically resize the picture based on the viewer's screen size. These sites will often let you pick the largest viewing size you want to allow separate from sizes needed for printing.

[apaflo]

10. If it is on the Internet, it can be downloaded.

There is little point in trying to make it so that images cannot be copied. The fact that they show up on a web browser means that they have already been downloaded! How else would a computer show them? Getting the download process to put the image into a file is just a matter of how adept the user is.

That said, there are some things that help, and some things you just have to accept. If you put your image on the Internet it can be copied, and probably will be. So the idea then is to limit what can be done with it. Use the smallest resolution that will accomplish your need to begin with. Hence a 200x200 thumbnail sized image is often appropriate. And if the picture itself is what you want to display, don't make it any larger than 800x600. That is enough to allow decent computer display, but with most images will prevent making a decent print. If you want to have an exceptionally good computer display, go as high as 1024x768, but never any higher. At that resolution it can be used for other things though...

In addition, post only JPEG formatted images, and use excessively high compression when making the copy you post. Different programs have different ways to designate how much compression is used, with some measuring it as 0 to 100, others 1 to 12, and hard to say what else. Start with low numbers (say 50% or 6 for the 1-12 scale), and determine the lowest value that produces a usable image for your purposes. The result will be that trying to scale it to a higher resolution (a larger image) will enhance all of the really ugly JPEG artifacts!

The ultimate point though has to be that if you put it on the Internet it can be stolen. So do not post anything that you cannot live with having distributed or made into wall paper or whatever. (It's sort of like legal advice to never say anything on a telephone that you cannot live with seeing on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper!)

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Thanks. I have Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 on my computer. Husband uses several different ones

on his. I'll have to become more familiar with them so I can do what you suggested. :)