Secure (non-copyable) photo viewing CDs for Mac?

Scorrow1967

Hi folks,

I'm stumped. I want to provide viewing CDs of senior portrait sessions to my clients, but I don't want them to be able to snag the images. I know of PC software that accomplishes this task and the CDs load automatically on a PC when inserted. Anyone have a clue as to a similar product for Macs? I've done some pretty exhaustive searching, but alas, I'm stuck.

rutt

Scorrow1967 wrote:

Hi folks,

I'm stumped. I want to provide viewing CDs of senior portrait sessions to my clients, but I don't want them to be able to snag the images. I know of PC software that accomplishes this task and the CDs load automatically on a PC when inserted. Anyone have a clue as to a similar product for Macs? I've done some pretty exhaustive searching, but alas, I'm stuck.

Despite a lot of wishful thinking, doing this in a really secure way is not possible, PC or not. If you can see the images, you can snag them somehow if you are determined enough. For example, they could just take a picture of the screen while your picture was there. Believe me, though, it is always possible to do better than that. What you can do is give them images suitable for previewing but not for printing (lower resolution), or add an annoying watermark.

One nice way of doing just this is to upload to a smugmug gallery and customize the maximum resolution appropriately. You can even disable left-click which will foil non-tech-savvy clients (but which really isn't secure for the same reason given above: you can see the image, so you can snag it.)

I think there is an even better way to think about the problem, though. How is it that you have clients for portrait sessions who you don't trust? Maybe you can fix that? I don't think most people will steal from you if you have done good work for them. I assume that if you have, people will want at least a few prints. Price the session accordingly.

Scorrow1967

Thanks!

rutt wrote:

Despite a lot of wishful thinking, doing this in a really secure way is not possible, PC or not. If you can see the images, you can snag them somehow if you are determined enough. For example, they could just take a picture of the screen while your picture was there. Believe me, though, it is always possible to do better than that. What you can do is give them images suitable for previewing but not for printing (lower resolution), or add an annoying watermark.

One nice way of doing just this is to upload to a smugmug gallery and customize the maximum resolution appropriately. You can even disable left-click which will foil non-tech-savvy clients (but which really isn't secure for the same reason given above: you can see the image, so you can snag it.)

I think there is an even better way to think about the problem, though. How is it that you have clients for portrait sessions who you don't trust? Maybe you can fix that? I don't think most people will steal from you if you have done good work for them. I assume that if you have, people will want at least a few prints. Price the session accordingly.

Thanks Rutt!

I don't think its a big problem, it is just that we use a PC-based program that creates a CD that autoloads and I wanted to know if there was a similar program for macs. At any rate, I appreciate you taking the time to respond! I think I can probably make what I need to burn on to a CD from photoshop because most users have viewing software. I do offer online proofing through smugmug, but some people in this rural area have slow internet connections. Again, thanks for the reply! Shawn Corrow

rutt

Scorrow1967 wrote:

Thanks Rutt!
... because most users have viewing software.

Every mac user has preview, which will do the job.

Toshido

What about .PDF slideshows and such.

Free viewer and a few security options.