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Flickr question

Moonshine

New member
I had a question about Flickr and Moderators if this is the wrong place to ask please direct me to the right place :)

Recently, a friend was able to download a picture of mine off of Flickr and I was wondering if there was a way to secure my pics on Flickr from anyone randomly doing this.

I tried looking around on Flickr settings but I really couldn't figure out how.
Can someone please tell me if i'm missing something or is there a way to ensure that your pics aren't taken from Flickr without permission?

Thank you in advance!
 

ramosa

Member
Hmmm ... not sure. A few years back, there was a way to get around the flickr protection, but, if I recall correctly, the downloaded photo wasn't at high quality. Anyway, I'll be interested to see what other say ...
 

Leigh

New member
Anything that can be viewed can be downloaded. After all, viewing is downloading.

There are no protection schemes that can't be circumvented by somebody who knows basic computers.

One common protection method involves putting a transparent overlay on top of the image, so if you right-click on the image you download the overlay. Trivially simple to get around it.

If it's displayed on a computer screen, it can be stored on the computer hard drive.

The only possible protection is to just upload lousy quality images, like at 72dpi or 96dpi resolution.

- Leigh
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I had a question about Flickr and Moderators if this is the wrong place to ask please direct me to the right place :)

Recently, a friend was able to download a picture of mine off of Flickr and I was wondering if there was a way to secure my pics on Flickr from anyone randomly doing this.

I tried looking around on Flickr settings but I really couldn't figure out how.
Can someone please tell me if i'm missing something or is there a way to ensure that your pics aren't taken from Flickr without permission?

Thank you in advance!
Account settings, Privacy & Permissions.
 
Basically don't upload an image to flickr that is larger than you want people to access. I limit all files I upload to 1280 px longest edge. For images that I want the full size stored online (so I can grant selective access to clients etc.) I use zenfolio. With zenfolio the larger images are restricted and it renders a small image that people can access.
 

250swb

Member
You don't need to ban all people from downloading a picture, but can set it so only your friends can download the largest size.

Steve
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine.

What does "safe" mean anyway? Do you depend upon your photos for your living? Do you feel that you are posting work that has the potential to pay for your retirement, or that mansion in the Barbados you have been eyeing? Or do you feel that your work should simply remain yours in the happy event that it attracts some recognition?

What I post to flickr is always a digital image sized for web display, with watermark, properly embedded IPTC annotation, and copyright metadata. I don't mind people downloading a copy for their personal use on their desktop or in an album of their favorites. If they want a print, I ask that they contact me ... I'll make a high quality print at a modest price. If they want to use a photo, I ask they contact me for terms and price.

I'm sure there are some thieves out there but I don't sweat it much. Enough folks have dealt with me honestly that I am happy with how I've set up my flickr stuff.

G
 

Moonshine

New member
Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine.

What does "safe" mean anyway? Do you depend upon your photos for your living? Do you feel that you are posting work that has the potential to pay for your retirement, or that mansion in the Barbados you have been eyeing? Or do you feel that your work should simply remain yours in the happy event that it attracts some recognition?

What I post to flickr is always a digital image sized for web display, with watermark, properly embedded IPTC annotation, and copyright metadata. I don't mind people downloading a copy for their personal use on their desktop or in an album of their favorites. If they want a print, I ask that they contact me ... I'll make a high quality print at a modest price. If they want to use a photo, I ask they contact me for terms and price.

I'm sure there are some thieves out there but I don't sweat it much. Enough folks have dealt with me honestly that I am happy with how I've set up my flickr stuff.

G
Godfrey I don't rely on my photos to make a living at all!In fact i have never sold a pic or even have any one show any interest in one! I don't think they're that good anyway! Mansion in Barbados...I wish! Lol
Photography is a hobby for me and I enjoy it.

I've just been reading about how pics get downloaded from Flickr and then can be used anywhere i guess...I mean there are soo many people on Flickr so I thought it might be safer to disable that.

How do you watermark your pictures? Can i do that using Aperture? Sorry if it's a dumb question but I seriously don't know how.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Godfrey I don't rely on my photos to make a living at all!In fact i have never sold a pic or even have any one show any interest in one! I don't think they're that good anyway! Mansion in Barbados...I wish! Lol
Photography is a hobby for me and I enjoy it.

I've just been reading about how pics get downloaded from Flickr and then can be used anywhere i guess...I mean there are soo many people on Flickr so I thought it might be safer to disable that.

How do you watermark your pictures? Can i do that using Aperture? Sorry if it's a dumb question but I seriously don't know how.
I would relax, then. You're not making photos for a living, post what you like in sizes up to 1200 pixels on the long edge, fill in the copyright IPTC data, put an unobtrusive watermark on, and don't sweat it.

I use Lightroom, which includes very capable watermarking capability built into it starting at version 3 and linked to the IPTC metadata annotation that you enter for your photos.

I haven't used Aperture for a while ... but ApertureExpert discusses this in
Watermarks in Aperture 3

G
 

ramosa

Member
Moonshine: I played about a bit on flickr today, as a way to rectifying your situation with any already uploaded photos. If you go to one of your flickr photos, click on actions (in the upper left) and choose "edit photo in Aviary." Then, resize the photo. That will make your photo be smaller and (I think) have a less quality. Of course, in the future, you can just upload smaller, lower quality versions of your photos.
 
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Maggie O

Active member
Embrace the idea of sharing and use a Creative Commons license! My work gets used, with attribution, all over the place and it's all good and it drives potential paid work to me, too.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Embrace the idea of sharing and use a Creative Commons license! My work gets used, with attribution, all over the place and it's all good and it drives potential paid work to me, too.
It's a darn good notion, Maggie O. I've been thinking of switching my stuff to a CC license for a while, should get on it and do it.

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
How do you get a Creative Commons license ?
Thanks everyone for the help :)
Learn about Creative Commons ...
Creative Commons

You read and understand what the different CC license models are, choose which license to use and offer with your photos, and then set Flickr to display your photographs with the creative commons license options.

G
 

emr

Member
In short, everything that is on the net can be downloaded. There are browser plugins that will allow to download any resolution of a picture that is on Flickr despite the download settings provided it is visible in public. So in general if one really does not want to give anybody the chance not to download a picture, it shouldn't be uploaded or be seen in public at all.
 

Maggie O

Active member
Even if you can't "download" a photo, if you really want it, you can just do a screenshot of it.

That's why I switched all of my photos to CC. (Flickr has an option to set the license to CC in its settings, too)
 
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