Jeff I've worked for years with some of the world's biggest advertising agencies, complete with some of the world's brightest and best commercial pro photographers.

What those photographers all say is that if anyone is worried about copyright theft / image piracy, then don't shove unprotected pictures on the 'Net but watermark 'em in such a way that even the most expensive pixel manipulation software around -- which definitely isn't today's offering from SoftOrbits -- can't defeat it. As to how to do that, you yourself should know. I'm not going to waste space here telling a working photographer / writer / publisher.

The Clone Stamp has been out and in use for Gawd knows how many years -- 20? -- and by now the Internet should be absolutely stuffed full of 1,000s of case histories about the theft of images by unscrupulous users of post-processing software. Adobe should also have gone bust by now under the weight of Class Actions. But the Internet isn't full of such case histories, leading one to conclude that this issue is more an Urban Myth than an actual reality. And no, Adobe hasn't gone bust, either.

I could put an image on the 'Net right now that no-one could pirate using today's Soft Orbits giveaway or, indeed, any combination at all of high-end Adobe products costing $000s (hint: low-res thumbnail icon coupled to low-res mother image embossed with broad-rim circular ripple). The protective effort would take me all of 2 minutes.

I can also right-click on any image I may've posted on the 'Net and call up a TinEye image search and Google image search to determine if anyone has pirated it (though good on them, if they've managed to make anything at all out of a data-stripped picture-minimized lo-res ripple-watermarked original.)

Bottom line: the world isn't full of people going around using this kind of software on other folks's pictures. What it is full of are people who like taking pictures, and would like a way to remove blemishes and unwanted objects from those pictures on their computers back at home.

To imply that somehow, all these people are bonded together in a malevolent conspiracy to rip-off commercial photographers is not only offensive to those who might wish to download and try today's GOATD, it's actually bordering on the paranoid.

MikeR  –  9 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+30)

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Jeff I´ve had photo´s stolen from me too, years ago, and, even worse, by a rivalling company .... so I can relate to your indignation.
But... this program poses no threat if you place watermarks the right way (big size, middle of the photo, 3d effect with transparancy & shadows, etc.). I´ve never had photo´s "stolen" again ...

Lucky Luke  –  9 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+18)

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Jeff
The principle of what you say is correct, but you can not blame the tool or the tool maker --- just like you can not blame the gun or the gun maker. Freedom is NOT free.

freecat  –  9 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+9)

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