Plantman56, This is a sorry situation. Where is our nation going? You have really nice work and I am disappointed that you have to do this so you can be credited with the work. You can put your name on them with a photo program but that takes time & money away from trufa. But the whole thing is that you shouldn't have to. Please keep posting pictures. Kathy

Kathy, I have thought about the same thing. Adding in my name somewhere on the picture. But unless its smack across the middle, ruining everything, whats to keep them from just cropping your name out?
Tammy

Good Point. I don't know if you could use a font that would just be a line or fade it out and just put it in the edge. I may play around with it to see what I can do. There isn't much on TV and it's cold outside. Kathy

"I will figure out a way to print my name on the picuture but for now you will see a blank picture in my older posts "

Plantman56,
I have a friend who is a computer geek. This was his reply:

You could send them to this email account (helpdesk@digitalcomputrworks.com) . We could talk about how they wanted it secured. Transfer of the pictures, Logo/watermark?

Hope that helps.

I just found this site to use online. Seemed to work pretty good. There is also one to download here, that I havent tried:

http://www.picture-shark.com/watermark_freeware_image_protect_gallery_default.htm
{{gwi:66036}}
Tammy

Here is a link that might be useful: Watermark your pics

I played around with both Photoshop and Picture It over the weekend and put my name on some of my photo's. Is kind of a pain. Course anyone can erase/mask/touch up/crop the name also if they have the programs. Kathy

The watermark across the middle or main part of photo would be impossible to crop out without ruining shot. It would be possible I suppose to use some kind of clone feature.And your probably right tho, I doubt there is anything foolproof.
Tammy

Its rather shocking to me that someone would write a book on a craft using pirated photos. Makes you think many books really aren't worth buying. And the garden center is way out of line because by using your photo they imply they are selling your stuff, and they don't even know you. A friend of mine discovered a picture of her home in a landscaping book, and even though that was legitimate/legal - the person had taken a pic from the street - you'd think that common courtesy would suggest that they tell her!
Kathy

Tammy the watermark site looks like a lot less work than trying to use one of the programs I have. Will check it out better this weekend. If they want to go to the trouble to clone I guess they can use the picture. Guess we have to either not post them or consider it a compliment if they work that hard. I really enjoy seeing and sharing pictures. If they can write a book they should be smart enough take pictures. Kathy S

I would hate to see others NOT post their pictures due to fears of theft. I know I truly enjoy seeing them. Gives me lots of ideas for my own garden.
Tammy

Mike I am asking my professional photographer friends about the best way to protect images online. What these people are doing is definitely immoral and most probably illegal. Hope Gardenweb can find a solution to this issue. The pictures posted by its members are too beautiful not to be shared.

I found out that the person that wrote the e book had no knowlege of the youtube video that included a picture mu trough-- it also included a picture of her book. So I guess the person that made the video also took her picture - not sure what the purpose!

Until I find a way to better protect my picutures I will limit my picture posts.

I tried the picture shark software - not as easy as I had hoped - I will need to take time to review process.

If anyone has any ideas - please share -

Thanks jpeg for the help

plantman, for picture shark you just click on the brown box that says "upload photos" right below the number 1. This prompts you to find your pic file on your computer. Then when its done uploading, the file will show up under the brown box. Then you click on " #1 Add Watermark" A popup here allows to to type in your text you want to appear on the page here you can also select font size, color, angle for the writing, and in " Alpha (%)" this slider allows you to select how opaque you want your text. While doing all this you will see your pic to the right. You can drag this text box around on your pic and put it anywhere you want.
When done, click "#3 Process photo". Then click the brown box that says "Process photo" right under the #1 box.
Then you will be prompted in red text right below the brown box to " download finished photo". This will save to your computer. then you can upload finished photo anywhere you like. After you do this one time, its simple to figure out.I hope this helps.
Tammy

We all must remember, anything on the Internet is, "up for grabs". Freedom of Information Act..?

The youtube video maker at least is not making a profit from your work - so that doesn't seem so bad to me - just extremely discourteous.

I don't understand what all the panic is about. Just make the pictures low-res so they are not print quality. If someone wants one of my picture, so what?

Hi all
I did a little searching of GW and I found this 2006 thread in the houseplant forum. It seems to be addressing the same issue as this thread.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/con0120281525582.html
I just gave it a quick read but it seems the best way to protect your images is to watermark them and post them to an external website, which is exactly what my Pro photography friends recommended.
They use Photoshop to watermark their images. They found it bit time consuming to set up initially, but after that it can be done pretty much mechanically. There may be easier programs out there, any suggestions?
Once you have copyrighted your image by watermarking it, you have legal recourse if someone crops it and uses it without your permission.
They use blogspot.com to post their pics and have been very pleased with the security and protection that the site offers. It is also free.
Plantman, I hope this is of some help to you.

Someone copying your photographs is copyright infringement, and it is against the law. You don't have to really put the copyright symbol © on it, either, although it might scare off some of the trash that would try to steal it. Your work is protected by copyright automatically from the moment you create it.

If someone is using your photos (esp for profit), send them a letter saying that if they don't immediately cease and desist using it, they can expect to hear from your attorney.

If you know a computer geek, they should be able to know a way to get the person's name and physical address. If they are selling an e-book through someone like Amazon.com, contact Amazon (or other) and tell them you want the people to remove your work from their books, and if they don't, THEY will be hearing from your attorney, too.

It will cost you something, but you might talk to an attorney and ask how much it would cost for them to come up with a 'threatening letter'. Sometimes a letter from an attorney will put an end to the problem.

This has always been a problem. Even in the commercial art industry, the people think they can make some little change, like flop the picture or change the color, and they think they're avoiding copyright infringement charges, but they aren't.

Anytime you base your work on someone else's work, and you haven't received permission to do so from the original artist/author, you are in violation of the law.

Some attorney's will give you a free consultation, call around.

Sue

I have had nice experiences - with folks actually asking permission. One was for a segment on HGTV Gardening by the Yard and the other was for an online essay. I appreciated those honest folks. When I found some pix pirated by others, it only took a nudging email to get them to stop. Beyond that - I really don't get too bent out of shape.

...anything on the Internet is, "up for grabs". Freedom of Information Act..? FIA - Not sure how that applies to this sutuation - Up for grabs - I agree
I don't understand what all the panic is about. Just make the pictures low-res so they are not print quality. If someone wants one of my picture, so what? - good idea,

The youtube video maker at least is not making a profit from your work - so that doesn't seem so bad to me - just extremely discourteous. I am not sure what this persons purpose was , why did they, make a video showing a book that you need to purchse on line and then need to include my picture. Did they profit - not sure-

It is annoying when all these people ( that took the photos for their use) all think it is perfectly ok to right click a picture and then use for their personal benfit. One was a very large nursery and the owner argued with me and said he was perfectly within his rights to use the picutre on his website to advertize a hypertufa class that he was charging a fee to attend.

Just ask, give me a credit line and it would be just fine. Take without asking and then argue with me when I ask for credit or removal is just rude and maybe illegal.

I post pictures for the enjoyment of the readers of this forum. I am hoping that people learn from the pictures or just enjoy - .

The only reason for the original post was to warn readers that if you post a picture, it may turn up on someones web site

The people that will suffer are the people that are reading this right now - So I guess maybe it is a big deal
Thanks --Mike

:...anything on the Internet is, "up for grabs". Freedom of Information Act..?"

THAT is totally untrue, and I wish that people would stop passing it around as gospel! Copyright laws and Freedom of Information Laws are totally, TOTALLY not connected.

Check out the link below for a brief overview of current copyright law and the internet.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained

So if you are worried about it, then please do copywrite your pictures. I have copied a number of pictures from the web to catalog the plants I have, just for my information of what each plant is in my yard. So what?

sharbear50
So what - I could care less if you would take one of my picture and use for your personal use. In fact I think thats great!
And I eventually I will go though the process to place a mark on all of my pictures. Although someone can easily crop that off.
The point of my original post - which I guess you missed is that there are businesses using my photos to make a profit.
I guess that is what I have the real problem with and they think its ok.
So what --- I post pictures so people like you can get learn about Hypertufa, or Landscapes, or tree care....
Not for companies to make a buck at my expense.
So What

I created a custom "brush" in Photoshop, actually several. Some are my name and some say copywrited whatever year I took the photo. They look similar to the water mark above. So I can just paste either or both on any pictures I upload.

The terms and conditions of GW are the reason that I very rarely post photos anymore and never post links to albums.