February 22, 2018

The Ultimate Image Protection Guide: 13 Tips To Prevent Image Theft

For photographers and image creators, online image theft and unauthorized use of copyrighted work is a constantly present, real risk. In a 2016 Pixsy survey, 64 percent of photographers said that their work had been used without permission. Some platforms, including WordPress, Facebook, or Instagram, are places where stolen images surface particularly often due to their visual nature and higher user base.

Though it remains practically impossible to completely prevent image theft, there are a number of ways to minimize risk. This image protection guide explains the most important terms you need to know, plus 13 tips that you can implement to retain full control of your visual work — and to get fairly paid later in some circumstances. ‍

Image protection 101: 6+1 essential terms

Before covering the practical tips that will help you protect your photos and pictures online, let’s review some basic terms around image protection.

  1. Image theft: Image theft happens when someone uses an image without permission or a valid license from the image owner and thus the copyright holder. For example, a WordPress travel blogger may use an image of the Golden Gate Bridge that they found in Google search, but without having secured a license or permission from the rights holder.
  2. Unauthorized use (of an image): An unauthorized use of an image is when someone uses an image without the image owner’s permission, or outside the terms of a license. For example, the image owner only authorized print usage but not digital, thus publishing the picture online is a violation of copyright terms. Likewise, the image owner may grant non-commercial usage, thus using the image in any commercial way would be an unauthorized use or contract breach.
  3. Image protection: Image protection means protecting an image from download, misuse, image theft and unauthorized use. It especially applies to a digital context, as it can be easier to find tools online to protect and monitor possibly stolen images. An example can be an image monitoring and protection service platform such as Pixsy.
  4. Copyright: Copyright is a “bundle of rights”, which include, as explained by The Copyright Society of the USA, the right to “(1) distribute the work, (2) reproduce (or make copies of) the work, (3) display the work (for example, a painting that you want to allow a museum to publicly display), (4) perform the work, and (5) create Derivative Works based upon the original work”.
  5. Copyright notice: A copyright notice is placed on or displayed in the context of the work and gives information about copyright ownership.
  6. Copyright infringement: According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner”.
  7. Image rights: Image rights are a set of rights of a photographed individual. Although the photographer holds copyright to their work from the moment of its creation, they might not hold all the rights to its publication or distribution — they may have to ask for permission, for example, from the subject of the photograph, depending on the country they operate in and the intended use of the image.

13 tips for image protection

Here’s our collection of tips and best practices to help you prevent your images from being copied or stolen online.

1. Register the copyright to your work

When you create an original work (in the use case of photographs, when you click the shutter button), you are automatically granted copyright of that work, which means you can decide how it is used and distributed. However, registering your work with an official copyright office brings many additional protections. In some jurisdictions, registering an image entitles you to claim damages for unauthorized use of your work, can boost your chances of getting legal expenses covered, and provides an independent database where your ownership can be verified.

As the owner of an image, registering your work is time and money well spent: in the event of legal proceedings, registration makes ownership rights clearer, speeds up the resolution process, and can result in a larger settlement including damages.

2. Use a copyright notice

Attaching a copyright notice, such as ‘© All Rights Reserved,’ has not been a legal requirement in the US since 1989. It does, however, clearly identify you as the copyright holder, thereby decreasing the likelihood your work will be used without authorization and bolstering legal evidence in the case that your work is misused. A copyright notice should include:

  • The copyright symbol (©) or the word “copyright”
  • A statement of rights (e.g. “All Rights Reserved”)
  • The creator/author’s name
  • (optional) The date or date range (of creation) marking the year(s)
  • (optional) Contact information (where interested parties can get in touch to request permission to use your work - often your website address)

You may also choose to license your online image under a Creative Commons (CC) license with specific terms. If you do go down this path, make sure to signal the appropriate CC license in your statement of rights.
It’s also worth noting that a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license will deprive you of your copyright, turning your photos into public domain images.

3. Watermark your work

A watermark is a strong way of protecting your work from unauthorized use. Watermarks also identify you as the copyright holder of the work — a bonus in an age when social media and viral content sharing are commonplace.

The study concluded that randomized digital watermarking provides the best protection for images. This method involves constantly changing the design or shape of digital watermarks, and there are many online tools available that do it. While watermarks are not perfect anti-theft solutions, potential image users are more likely to take an image without a watermark, so it’s a valid feature to consider adding.

4. Use a digital signature

A digital signature can be created with image editing software and is intended to be a deterrent that doesn’t affect the visual impact of the work. Basically, it’s an image attribute that’s not visible until the file is downloaded, meaning anyone determined to use such an image would either have to make the conscious decision to ignore the digital signature or crop it out.

5. Include hidden foreground layers

Protecting an image with a hidden layer means adding a transparent foreground layer to it. When somebody then downloads the image online, the download only shows the blank layer in front of the image — not the actual image itself. Hidden foreground layers can easily be added in Photoshop and other similar photo editing software and is a good solution for images displayed on your website.

6. Edit EXIF data

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) data is a type of metadata that is generated when you capture a photograph with a DSLR or other digital camera. The EXIF file contains the image dimensions, shutter speed, and even the model of your device, among other attributes. It also offers an option to add your name or full copyright notice to the image data. While adding your copyright information to image metadata is an easy step, it’s not widely known among non-professionals, so in case your image gets stolen, you can quickly resolve the matter by pointing to the EXIF data.

7. Use low-resolution images

Uploading your images in low-resolution to any online platform ensures that if they get downloaded, the quality will likely be too poor (i.e., pixelated) for the downloader to use. It might even stop them from downloading it in the first place.

8. Adjust the color profile

Adjusting the color profile of an image usually comes up among photographers because they want to improve how their work looks like on the web. Today, all commonly used web browsers are color managed, so they will guess the color space and display the image according to their own settings. For this reason, sRGB is the recommended choice of color space for the web, but we have another image protection perspective to add to this discussion.

9. Disable right-click

As the image owner, you can disable this right-click option on your site by using HTML or JavaScript. You can find WordPress plugins for this, and the function is also built into many image hosting platforms.

10. Block screenshots

Unfortunately, for photographers and other image owners, screenshots endanger their images and support image theft. Luckily, plugins exist now that can prevent this activity on websites.

11. Disable hotlinking

You can disable hotlinking by editing your own code or in some cases, plugins are available to do the job for you.
You can do it by adding specific code to your .htaccess file.

12. Check where you upload photos

When you upload images to any third-party site, your pictures will no longer be so protected. It’s advisable to check the sites’ terms and conditions related to how they handle images, how they will protect them, and if they have any policies about image crediting.

13. Use an image monitoring & protection service

Using an active image protection service, such as the one offered by Pixsy, means all your relevant work is monitored for duplicate uses. If a match is discovered, you can review it to see if it’s an infringement of your rights, or an approved use.

Find the best image protection option for you

Image protection is a complex activity, and different photographers and image owners find different tactics valuable. First and foremost, it’s important to know your options, then choose the one(s) that seem the most suitable for your needs. If you want to know more about your rights as a visual property owner, visit the Pixsy Academy.