Have or not have the feature to disable people saving/dragging your images?

[kevs]

I've had flash sites for 8 years or so now, and the company is moving to HTML 5 which is fine. One thing I have liked is that with Flash people cannot easily save your images. Of course they can screenshot, but rarely do. So this cuts down on images floating the internet around by probably 95%.

That said, I did have one meeting years ago with a magazine editor who noticed he could not save the image,  and said he really liked being able to drag images to the desktop. I should have picked his brain on that issue, but I had other things on my mind..

For now, I may have the option on the new html5 sites to disable the right click.  If you disable saving images, from your conversations with creatives,  might you lose jobs... in that some  wont be keeping your images in their little saved folders to review later? I wonder....

[petermfiore]

  might you lose jobs... in that some  wont be keeping your images in their little saved folders to review later? I wonder....

You can count on it...thats's the nature of art buyers. It needs to be at reach when they need it.


Peter

[kevs]

Thanks Peter, what is your experience? I would love to hear real world experiences, or maybe I'll have to ask creatives in the future... I do feel it would be a pity to not have the block and then hundreds of images will start floating around who knows where, but at the same time, it's also maybe important for reason stated...

[MarkM]

I have been told by several photo editors as well as art buyers that they like the ability to grab images from a site when they are planning stories and ads. I've also seen comps with my photos in them. I think it's pretty universal.

I've never disabled right-click on my site because I find it super annoying and always extremely easy to circumvent. Anyone who is in the business of stealing (uh…I mean curating) work off the internet knows how to save images from a website without right clicking.

[kevs]

Thanks Mark, that is the info, I'm looking to hear. Of course, I've never even had the option before, but this helps...

[Shanghai_Phil]

In the end, following the same line of thought, you can "view source" on a page and it will show the jpeg html address. So images are rarely safe.

Beyond art buyers, in a world where social media is taking more and more importance allowing your images to be hotlinked and shared (pinterest, regram,...) allows you to also be discovered. I've had job offers from these platforms. I think ultimately IPTC data embeding is your best "protection" but it allows you to fill in information about copyrights and your website and so on. It would not be a protection from re-posting or downloading, but it would allow people to easily find out where the image came from ans assure they come back to YOU.

IMHO.

[kevs]

Thanks Phil, ok I'll try to remember to run a copyright on everything if I go that route. What about Watermarking? Do you do that too. Most don't as they find it visually hateful. How is Shanghai? I have this idea of working abroad and that is one of a dozen places on my list. I was there once for a few days, great city, way better than Bejing.

[Shanghai_Phil]

Watermarks have an equal disdain here. The agencies are much the same as back home (TBWA, W+K, BBDO, DDB,...) and so you face very much the same culture in that sense.

Shanghai is a commercial center while Beijing is more artistic. So Shanghai is a great fit for what I do and my line of work. But more fashion guys and art guys are up in BJ.

[Hulyss]

<script type="text/javascript">
    <!-- Disable
    function disableselect(e){
    return false
    }

    function reEnable(){
    return true
    }

    //if IE4+
    document.onselectstart=new Function ("return false")
    document.oncontextmenu=new Function ("return false")
    //if NS6
    if (window.sidebar){
    document.onmousedown=disableselect
    document.onclick=reEnable
    }
    //-->
</script>

Inject this script in your html body and you are good.

If an "art buyer" or an editor want to download one of your photo there is many ways to do it or, most often, they contact you...
I do have art clients in Shanghai.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Doesn't stop someone taking a screenshot and using that, though. I realise the original question didn't address the issue either, but it is worth considering: and there's nothing that can be done about it.

Jeremy