PW4GDF

Hello all. I have just taken a series of pictures for a medical office to put on a website. The pictures are good and portray what they wanted. The staff are happy with their images. The Dr. is concerned that the pictures may get 'hacked' or what ever and used by some-one else. I have had this happen to me before even though I initial my pictures. Of course initials can get stamped over. Is there anyway to stop this from happening?
Any ideas appreciated.
Thanks.

wolfd Loc: Vancouver, Canada

Take a look at this:

http://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog/2016/01/27/images-stolen/

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Realistically, no. You can disable right click, but viewers can still do a screen capture, or even take a picture with their phone. Tell the Doc that it's the Internet.

SS319

If I were unethical, and I am not (OBTW), and there was a photo with your name on it, I might be inclined to steal it; however, If the name of the doctor or the name of the clinic was prominent in the photo, I would be hard pressed to steal it to advertise my clinic. Only other choice is to give all your money to a copyright lawyer.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The best way to ensure that the image will not be misused is to not post it on a website. There is no way whatsoever to prevent image theft. You can only register your images with the copyright office and hope that someone steals the images to use them commercially, in which case you and your copyright attorney will make a fortune when an unethical company - hopefully with deep pockets - steals your image(s) and uses them to promote a product or service. Don't concern yourself with this - just assume it will happen. A watermark will not deter someone, but it will make the image not look as good as without it.

I have a friend that watermarked all of his event photographs, had small, low quality images for sale on his website, and was complaining that his sales were low. I suggested he use better quality higher resolution images, remove the watermark, and let potential buyers see how good his work was. He followed my suggestion - kicking and screaming mind you - but within a few months saw nearly a tripling in sales. His images still get stolen, usually by teenagers to share on their social media, but he doesn't care anymore, and usually just sends them a letter to include a picture credit and they often just take them down.