Question: How Can I Protect My Photos From Duplication or Printing?

by brentriggs on December 14, 2009

A reader asked:

Do you have any idea how I can post photos to the blog but make them where they cannot be duplicated or printed? I hate to have to do this but someone tried to use my photos for false advertisement and I don’t want it to happen again.

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You can add a “no right click” script to your blog (the code is at the end of this post) that keeps people from being able to right click and SAVE/PRINT but it also disables any other right click functionality that is typical in a browser. I’ve found that it is more of a nuisance than a help. In fact, it can be downright annoying to site visitor AND…

For any viewer that knows how to save a web page or do a screen shot, you can’t stop them from “getting” your photos anyway. There are a dozen ways to get around this “trick”.

When you have pics you don’t want used, the best way is to simply put up a note and make sure your viewers know “please don’t use these pics on another blog or print them because…”.

You can’t stop the malicious from doing it if they really want to. A good rule of thumb is: if you put it online, you better be okay with it being copied all over the Internet.

In fact, to pretend that statement isn’t universally true is simply to invite heartache or problems (that’s a hint to all you Facebook party pic posters, YouTube wasting time at work wannabe’s and FlickR “only for my husband” photos not-suitable-for-work ladies).

Here’s the “no right click” code. Find the BODY tag, and modify it to this:

OR…

Put this script inside the HEAD tags of your blog:
<script language="Javascript1.2"></p> <p>am = "The right click function is disabled on this blog!";</p> <p>bV = parseInt(navigator.appVersion) bNS = navigator.appName=="Netscape" bIE = navigator.appName=="Microsoft Internet Explorer"</p> <p>function nrc(e) { if (bNS && e.which > 1){ alert(am) return false } else if (bIE && (event.button >1)) { alert(am) return false; } } document.onmousedown = nrc; if (document.layers) window.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN); if (bNS && bV<5) window.onmousedown = nrc;</p> <p></script>

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

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Tagged as: photos, right click

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Lisa C. December 14, 2009 at 7:55 pm: Hi Brent –

Thanks for the suggestion on how to protect our photos on our blogs. I am using blogspot.com and need to know how to find the “HEAD tags” or the “BODY tag” of my blog. Can you help me with this?

Thank you,

Lisa

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2 JamericanSpice December 14, 2009 at 7:02 pm: For a blog that does reviews…is it ok to use something like this?

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3 Rachel December 14, 2009 at 5:33 pm: Another great way to protect your photos is to watermark them. You just need a basic image editor (even microsoft paint will work!) You can do something as fancy as a custom logo like professional photographers use, or simply type your name across the picture.

If you are using a more advanced image editor (such as Photoshop or PhotoImpact, you can even save your logo as that programs file extention (for example Photoshops is .PSD) and you’ll be able to copy it onto your photo quickly and easily every time.

Just be careful that your watermark isn’t so big a gaudy that it distracts from the photo. If you’re going too write all over it, you might as well not be posting photos at all!

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4 Misty Dawn December 14, 2009 at 1:49 pm: You are right – you can’t really stop them. I think the best preventative measure it to use a watermark.

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5 The Redhead Riter December 14, 2009 at 5:55 am: I used the “no right click” code for a while, but like you, I found it to be more of an annoyance than a help. Especially because my family wanted to download the photos from the blog, but they couldn’t do that either! I have removed the coding and blogging happier. Great idea to put the code in the post for those who do want it.

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6 Joni Sweet December 14, 2009 at 3:12 am: Another idea is “Picasa Photos”. It’s FREE & you keep your photos private, public or give the link to only those you want to have it AND you can have several different albums with their own settings which can be set to locked or unlocked. It’s a great program… you may check mine out if you’d like, http://picasaweb.google.com/Sweet.Joni

And yes, everything Brent said above is TRUE! “This photo is Copy Righted.” That statement in itself will ‘usually’ detour ppl but not ALL people. You can even include a LINK WITH THAT STATEMENT to whatever site YOU wish to direct people to. Hope that helps.
~Joni

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