Well everyone else is posting photos of snow so I thought it was time to get the sunglasses out and sit in the garden awhile. No seriously whilst it's been snowing I've been learning more about Stipple - not an Eskimo term for snow or new handicraft in case you are wondering. Stippling is a method of protecting photographic image identity as well as making photos more interactive. This post will be the test of whether my first attempt at stippling one of my images has actually worked. If it has been successful when you hover you cursor over the image you should see a link to this website and also some details about the photo itself. Please let me know if you can't see them. If that happens something has gone amiss and I will need to go back to the drawing board. Wherever this photo might travel on the internet in the future it will hopefully be linked back to this website. Even if somebody was to crop the watermark at the bottom of the photo the links will still be there.
I have not got brilliant photographic skills and do not make an income from photos or this website but it does annoy me when one of my photographs has been used on another website without my permission. I think that in most cases, that if somebody asked permission to use one of my photographs on their site, I would be so flattered that the answer would be affirmative. This especially applies to the garden blogging community. The incident that incensed me was that one of my photos appeared on a non gardening website which contained some adverts and links to rather dubious products and sites that I would not want to be associated with. Since then I have been trying to put a watermark on my photos even though this does not prevent other people from using them if they are determined to. I am reluctant to spoil the photo by placing the watermark in the centre, so it would still be relatively simple for somebody to crop the photo, therefore removing any association with me.
I came across mention of Stipple when I read this article on detering image theft by Rosie over at leavesnbloom. If you have not visited Rosie's blog before you are missing out. Her posts regularly include her absolutely exquisite plant photos which make me realise that I have got a long way to go. Rosies' article here covers the why and how tos of Stipple in depth and provides an excellent tutorial should you want to try it out. She explains what is involved clearly and with excellent step by step photographic illustrations. She has also written a follow up article here which tells you more about how you can make your images more interactive via Stipple. For instance I could have included some information about the Southport Flower Show i.e. dates of 2013 show, which is where I took the above photo but thought that it might be too ambitious for my first attempt at using Stipple.
At the moment you can sign up to Stipple free. The process of using it seems relatively straightforward and not too time consuming. For professional photographers like Rosie this development will help to protect their livelihoods. Garden bloggers can use it to enhance their photos with much more information. Do let me know if you have a go and a big thanks to Rosie for sharing her knowledge and her great instructions. There are of course instructions on the Stipple website, a community forum and you can also get in touch @Stipple
Now here goes - I'm about to press the publish button to see if it works!
Yes it did work Anna and it is a great idea, I also went over to Leavesnbloom and wonder how I haven't come across her blog before. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine - yes it's a good idea both for the interactive stuff you can add and also to deter image theft. Glad that you found your way over to Rosie's blog.
DeleteYeah it worked. I better go and check this out over at Leavesnbloom too. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know Helen :)
DeleteYes, there is a little round circle with a link image on, in the middle of the photo and it works exactly as you've said. What a good idea and something I shall go and investigate further
ReplyDeleteThanks Su :)
DeleteYes, it works. I'd never heard of Stipple before, but it's a great way to protect your images.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback Jo. Yes it's a good idea Jo - just hoping that it will live up to its promises :)
DeleteThe link sign appears straight away. I had thought the info. would too - then found I had to point at the link sign to read it. It may be a good idea to protect images in this way but I'm not too struck on the interactive possibilities. I think I'd find them distracting.
ReplyDeleteSo glad it works for you... doesn't for me yet. Stipple over-rides my template's code, still trying to figure out a work around. The possibilities sound imaginative.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Carolyn. I'm sorry that it has not worked out for you yet. I only wish I could offer advice. I did not insert the javascript into my template but added it to the end of the individual post. Hope that you get there in the end :)
DeleteYes it works Anna, will check out Stipple if it will be good enough for us too. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome :)
DeleteWell done on giving this a go Anna. I found 2 spots - 1 in the middle and 1 top right. I like you can't see them unless you mouse over the image, thus image stealers may not be aware of the protection put on the image (whereas the watermark is immediately obvious and can be dealt with). However that could be a disadvantage as far as using the image as a further resource, as most viewers won't be aware it's there. Whether Stipple's claims that the image meta data can't be stripped out (which e.g. pinterest does) remains to be seen.
ReplyDeleteThanks VP. You make a good point. Having had more time to think about it I do not think that I would add a lot of interactive information for this very reason but will use Stipple more to identify my photos as mine :) Time only will be the test of Stipple's claims but would be great if it is a completely successful procedure especially for professional photographers.
DeleteSo glad that you've tried it out Anna! and I see your tag right in the middle. I still keep my visible watermarks on the image but I know some professional photographers who don't for the simple reason that they make lots of money chasing up companies that are using their image illegally.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for giving my blog a mention here at Green tapestry :) and sharing my link.
Thanks Rosie for not only your comment but for your excellent instructions too! :) I was going to ask you about leaving your visible watermarks on your images. I did place the code at the bottom as reluctant to interfere with my template and to be honest wasn't completely sure where to put it.
DeleteHi Anna I've just been approving my blog comments and noticed your question - I take it that you placed the code at the bottom? as that's where I have placed mine too.
ReplyDeleteHi Anna! What a cool post! A nice change from all the snow and useful too! I had no idea image theft was such a problem. I do see a lot of people watermarking their images though. The stipple definitely works! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteAnna B
Thank you Anna :)
DeleteIt doesn't work for me, strangely. I'll get OH to try on his computer. I know image theft is a problem and incredibly annoying. It just seems like another thing to have to do. Writing posts and uploading images can already be time consuming. It's a pity there isn't a programme that can automatically protect your images when you transfer them from the camera to the computer.
ReplyDeleteOh I wonder why it didn't work on your computer WW? It certainly adds to the time involved in creating a blog post. I think though that if you find that either your words/photos have been used without your permission a procedure like Stipple is worth exploring. There's definitely a gap in the market for somebody to come up with a quick to use magical programme which would protect our images once they are visible in the public domain :)
DeleteOh, thank you Anna, I have always resisted watermarking my photos because I don't like "spoiling" the image, but this actually provides potentially useful information... Off to check it out...
ReplyDeleteYes it's hard to find the right balance with watermarking Janet so Stipple might be the solution. Thanks for your comment :)
DeleteHi Anna, I'm just catching up with everyone's blogs and this seems like a great idea. I have no idea if people like my photos or not but I did once get a Pinterest email of suggested images I might like - and one of them was mine! I think Pinterest is okay as it leads folk back to the original post (usually) but I don't want to watermark my photos as this is too time-consuming (although easily done in Photoshop). I'll read the suggested post and see what I think; thanks for flagging this up, internet technology is progressing all the time so it's nice to hear of the new stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnna, At first I thought it wasn't working, but that was because I was reading in Google reader. When I clicked through to your blog, I saw the stippling information. I haven't been visiting Rosie's blog regularly and had missed this post. I'll go over and read it now; thanks for the information and the link. -Jean
ReplyDeleteJust a quick follow-up. As a test, I tried copying your image from Google reader and then pasting it elsewhere. I was able to do that and the stippling wasn't present in the copied image (although your watermark was). I think the solution would be to change your settings so that a reader only sees a summary and not the whole post in a blog reader. -Jean
Deleteoh - please don't cut the blog feed. I'm clearing my Reader and it saves clicks if I can read the vanilla post there. I'll rely on the watermark for mine. I know it's not a 100% effective, but I can't make the time to add another step to processing images for the blog.
Delete