<strong>SUMMERANA</strong> <strong>MAGAZINE</strong> There’s an easy way to automate it, too. Set up an action for web which will make it difficult for your images to be stolen. First open the document, then hit record on your new action. Resize it to 1000 pixels on the longest side, at 72 dpi. Now use the place tool to add in your logo and website address to the bottom left or right corner of the image. Hit the button to stop recording. Now whenever you want to watermark images for use online, you can batch process the whole group. It’s important not to merge layers right away, so you can go through each one and adjust if necessary. When you have done so, you can batch process the layers merging and save the files to close them. HOW DO YOU BACK UP YOUR IMAGES? External hard drives are the tried and tested method of backing up images. Yes, they are expensive, and yes, they may fail, but they are one of the best options available to you. Using two backed up drives for all of your work (one as the back up you use, and one as a spare should that one crash) is a very easy way to back up your images. If you back them up to a cloud storage service like Dropbox, you may be more susceptible to theft than you think. While an external hard drive has a physical presence, and therefore has to be touched to be stolen, the same is not true of digital content. If someone on the other side of the world manages to guess your password or hack into your account, they could have access to all of your files. Worst of all, you may not even know they have been in and out. They can download everything, and unless your service is set to notify you of unusual logins, you will never be told. There are many benefits to Cloud storage, and it can certainly be used alongside physical data as a very convenient option. For most people, theft here will not be a problem. But if you had a particularly valuable image to protect – for example, if you were a celebrity photographer with some unretouched files of Kim Kardashian looking less than perfect – then you may want to think twice about using an online solution. WHAT KIND OF IMAGES DO YOU TAKE? This question probably will not feel very fair, especially if you are someone who comes out on the negative side. But unfortunately, what you take pictures of will probably make you more or less likely to be a target of image theft. There are some images that are not worth the effort of stealing to most thieves. There are others which could be the biggest haul of their lives. If you take senior pictures, shoot weddings, deal with newborns, or generally have a part time photography hobby which is just something you are passingly good at, you should be fine. That’s the good news. The bad news is for anyone who falls into the other categories. Those who are most at risk of theft are celebrity photographers, those who work on nude or boudoir shoots, high fashion photographers, and fine artists. If you take picturesque landscapes or stunningly detailed still life, then you could be at risk too. If you want to assess how desirable your work would be to thieves, consider the uses they may get out of them. If your images would make someone popular on a social network, they may steal them to pass off as their own. If they can resell them by printing them on products, they are definitely a theft risk. If they are something that the world would like to see leaked, you could be in trouble. DO YOU ADD METADATA? If your answer to this question was “What is metadata?”, then you may be in trouble. Metadata is information that is attached to an image and travels with it, whether you add it to a website or simply send it as a file. It can give all sorts of information about the image. This includes when and where it was taken, who took it, who was in it, who the copyright holder is, and what sort of usage it is available for. It can even include tags which denote the content. 47
<strong>SUMMERANA</strong> <strong>MAGAZINE</strong> A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH IS ONE THAT COMMUNICATES A FACT, TOUCHES THE HEART, AND LEAVES THE VIEWER A CHANGED PERSON FOR HAVING SEEN IT. - IRVING PENN 49
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