Embedding Digimarc Digital Copyright Info


Digimarc is a digital copyright watermarking system that is applied to your photos right within Photoshop using the Digimarc filter, which appears at the bottom of the Filter menu. (You always wondered what that filter was for, didn't you?) The system is pretty ingenious, and although it requires an annual subscription to the Digimarc service, you can do that online right from the filter's dialog. Here's how the process is done (and how to prepare your files for digital watermarking).

Step One

Open a photo for digital watermarking. This watermark is applied directly to your photo, and as long as the photo isn't one big solid color (there are some variations in color and detail in the image), the digital watermark is imperceptible to the human eye (however, dogs can see it, no sweat, but they see it in black and white).

Step Two

The embedding should take place right before you save the file, so do all your color correction, retouching, sharpening, and special effects before you get ready to embed the watermark. Also, this Digimarc embedding only works on a flattened photo, so if you have a layered document, duplicate it (by going under the Image menu and choosing Duplicate), and then flatten the duplicate, layered document by choosing Flatten Image from the Layers palette's flyout menu.

Step Three

Go under the Filter menu, under Digimarc, and choose Embed Watermark. This brings up the Embed Watermark dialog. I'm assuming at this point you don't have a Digimarc account set up, so click on the Personalize button. If you do have a Digimarc account, click on the same button, and it will ask for your Digimarc ID and PIN. If not, you'll have a chance to get yours in the next dialog.

Step Four

The Personalize Digimarc ID dialog is where you enter your Digimarc ID and PIN. If you don't have one, then click on the Get Info button. As long as you have an Internet connection, it will launch your Web browser and take you to Digimarc's website, where you can choose which subscription plan best suits your needs. At the time of this writing, the service started at $49 for a one-year basic subscription and went up from there based on how many photos you want to protect, and other options you might want to purchase. See their site for details.

Step Five

At the Digimarc site, the registration process is very simple (pretty much like any other e-commerce site these days), and immediately after you hit the Submit button (with your payment info), you're presented with your Digimarc ID and PIN. Enter these in the Personalize Digimarc ID dialog. Needless to say, that's not my real Digimarc ID number and PIN. Or is it? Hmmmm.

Step Six

Click OK to return to the Embed Watermark dialog. In the Image Information pop-up menu, leave the Copyright Year selected, and then enter the year the photo is copyrighted. For Image Attributes, select the information you'd like to appear on the file. You also need to choose a Target Output, which helps determine how strongly the watermark will be applied to your photo (for example, Web images that will go through compression will need more durability than photos saved in lossless formats like TIFF or PSD). Look under the Watermark Durability slider in the dialog to see the relationship between visibility and durability (kind of like the compression relationship in JPEG images, where higher quality means larger file sizes and lower quality means smaller file sizes).

Step Seven

Click the Verify checkbox at the bottom left of the dialog if you want to check the strength of the watermark immediately after you apply it.

Step Eight

When you click OK (with Verify turned on), Digimarc immediately verifies the strength of the watermark, and whether it was successful. Click OK in this dialog, and the process is completea copyright symbol appears next to your file's name when viewed in Photoshop. Also, your website URL, your contact info, and your copyright info are embedded into the file. Now it's okay to save the file. (Note: If you're saving as a JPEG, to preserve the watermark, it's recommended that you don't use a compression Quality lower than 4 in the JPEG Options dialog.)

Step Nine

Now that the info is embedded, if somebody opens your copyrighted photo in Photoshop, the watermark will be detected. You can check the watermark manually by going under the Filter menu, under Digimarc, and choosing Read Watermark. This brings up the Watermark Information dialog, which shows that the photo is copyrighted and whether the image is restricted. In the bottom left-hand corner of the dialog is a Web Lookup button, so if clients who downloaded your photo click on this button, it will launch their Web browser and take them directly to your copyright and contact info. Pretty slick stuff!



    The Photoshop CS2 Book(c) for Digital Photographers
    The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
    ISBN: B002DMJUBS
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 187
    Authors: Scott Kelby

    flylib.com © 2008-2017.
    If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net