Easy Sharing Means Easy Stealing
coach-al
Registered Users Posts: 70 Big grins
Hi all,
For all you pro users out there I suggest you review your gallery settings. I had easy sharing activated, also had right click not activated, plus allowed large and original display of images. But I certainly did not want free downloading of my originals.
My market is intermediate and high school athletics.
One of the athletes told me he was able to download my originals without paying. No way I said. He showed me how. It was pretty easy. Click on easy sharing. Use the link for original if it's there, if not just use the link for large and change the L to an O. I was able to get an unwatermarked original even when I had watermarked the photo.
I have now removed easy sharing, don't allow display of large or original, and watermarked some of my photos. May do the rest if I find I need to.
Beware.
Al
For all you pro users out there I suggest you review your gallery settings. I had easy sharing activated, also had right click not activated, plus allowed large and original display of images. But I certainly did not want free downloading of my originals.
My market is intermediate and high school athletics.
One of the athletes told me he was able to download my originals without paying. No way I said. He showed me how. It was pretty easy. Click on easy sharing. Use the link for original if it's there, if not just use the link for large and change the L to an O. I was able to get an unwatermarked original even when I had watermarked the photo.
I have now removed easy sharing, don't allow display of large or original, and watermarked some of my photos. May do the rest if I find I need to.
Beware.
Al
0
Comments
You are right....I was able to save one. Is there a way to do a bulk change on my galleries?
Will trade 2 crisp examples of the "Kit Lens" for a 400mm 2.8
Just as I was typing the last message....one of my seniors mothers emailed me with an order. Guess what...she had copied the pics and had them in her email for me to see. Good thing I had my personal watermark across them. Andy...you reading this?
Will trade 2 crisp examples of the "Kit Lens" for a 400mm 2.8
Your "share with friends" has little to do with the ability of people to download your images against your will.
The two settings you want to monitor are "Originals" and "Larges". If you disable the viewing oringinal size images in a gallery's control panel, the public will NOT be able to access them, not even by changing the JPG's URL from L to O... Even with the "Easy Sharing" option enabled.
If you want further protection you can disable the large images too, but that is not necessary if you have them watermarked.
So, feel free to leave the "Easy Sharing" option enabled. Just be sure to disable originals and you will be safe! But yes, this is something that must be done to each galley individually. If you ask nicely, sometimes it will happen "magically".
Like you, I wish there was a "bulk" gallery customization page. But this is not available yet...
Take care,
-Matt-
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Go into 'customize gallery', set the settings as you woud like them
Go to the top, can select 'save settings below as...'
Create a new name for your template
Save
After you have done that, select 'bulk settings'
select the galleries you would like to apply the settings to
select your template
select 'apply'
www.ivarborst.nl & smugmug
Yes, but I'm failing to see what the problem is? If you could be specific, I'll be happy to help.
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Hi Andy,
Since I started this thread I'll answer. The problem, as I see it, is the combination of "easy sharing", and allowing large and original is an open invitation to having your customers download your original photos, even if you have watermarked. I was able to download an unwatermarked photo in a watermarked gallery which really woke me up.
Maybe this is explained well somewhere but I missed it. If I missed it then maybe some other people did too.
I'm thinking the awareness on this issue should be raised a little so other photographers don't get the rude awakening I did. I thought I was protected because I had disabled the right click but that was not the case. It was a good thing one of my customers was honest enough to warn me. Who knows how much business was lost? These kids could even be selling my photos for all I know...
Later, Al
Hi Al, it's very prominent in our Pro Help section on How to protect images from theft.
http://www.smugmug.com/help/image-protection
Does this help?
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Yes, it helps. But I remember reading that page at one time but still got into trouble. There are so many settings, which is good because you give lots of flexibility, but when you first start with Smugmug it really is overwhelming. Just my take on it.
One idea to help new users might be to have premade gallery templates like:
Total protection
Wide open
Somewhere in the middle
You get the idea. Then a new user could at least start with these and as he got more familiar with the gallery make adjustments. I've been using Smugmug for a year now, overall I like it, but I don't feel totally knowledgeable or comfortable with all the settings. Maybe it's just me.
Have a good one, Al
... and this has nothing to do with smugmug. If you can see an image on a computer screen, you can save it. I know you're concerned about your originals-- and now you know how to disable them. One thing I recently learned is the original view doesn't have a watermark-- now I NEVER post my originals.
My favorite tales, though, are when I post a web size photo (72 ppi, 450 pixels tall for smugmug view) and someone prints it and then contacts me and says it looks really poor as a print. Mind you-- this has happened to me on galleries where prints were available for purchase!
Anyway, my solution involves posting web sized images with my copyright on them for my web galleries, then posting watermarked large images (no originals) in a private gallery and linking that to the web sized gallery. It's more work but the results are worth it to me.
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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Here is what she wrote back to me when I asked how she did it.
Well, I hope you know I'm honest and won't steal your pics. I mostly just did it to make it easier to decide between our favorites... less to look at while making final decisions. I had the pic up on the web site. I hit the "print screen" button on my computer... which puts whatever is on the screen on my computer's clipboard. (doesn't really print... I don't know why they call it "print screen") Then I went to MS paint and pasted them there and cropped out the pic. Sorry, if it upsets you that I did that.
Will trade 2 crisp examples of the "Kit Lens" for a 400mm 2.8
What you need to do is to watermark your photos and disable the viewing of any size image you're not comfortable with your viewers having for free. Fortunately for you Smugmug makes that a piece of cake.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
Ahh, sometimes I miss the old days when pressing Print Screen actually did cause the screen to be printed - screeching out of a dot matrix printer. A mouse was a critter that ate cheese and monitors were in color (green or amber!)
Ok, back to 2006...
Actually, allowing original, no matter what the other settings are, is an open invitation to customers. All they have to do is view the original size (which is never watermarked) then go into their internet browser's cache and the original image is there. Don't allow originals or larges is the lesson.
The galleries are also password protected as there are photos of minors involved.
Dna
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Im not a pro user like of you guys are, im a power user...
i tried puting the right click message but, it dint work, ....
I guess watermarking all my images before uploading to Sm
is the best way...
visit my website. feel free to sign the guestbook to le me know you dropped by-
http://www.tanyadelnegro.com
You can watermark large photos. As long as originals are disabled, how can someone sneak around the watermark on a large? What am I missing here? I don't really care if someone prints up an image with a big ol' "proof' stamped on it-- that's what it's for, right?
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
website blog instagram facebook g+
Why would you do that? If you want to print them, they'll be printed with a watermark....
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