With the onset of personal blogs and websites, a greater number of people have become more and more conscious of the need to establish your work as yours. This gets increasingly difficult when it comes to image files. Nearly anything posted to the Internet can easily be stolen through a quick 'copy' and 'paste' function. This is a fact that has been understood by photographers for years but new Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest users are just beginning to understand the implications. One easy way to ensure the protection of your work is to simply add an irremovable mark to your images. This ensures that any of your images have your information available and ownership can readily be established.
There are a few options that allow for watermarks to be placed within an image. One choice is through Microsoft Paint. This typical program is a default on all PCs. The image can be opened for edit by right clicking it and selecting 'Edit'. From here, a watermark can be dragged onto the image by choosing the Insert tab and clicking picture. The watermark must first be created and then saved to the computer however, a time consuming process. Another option is through the use of Picassa, which is image software produced by Google. Picassa offers the ability to place a watermark in image files as they are uploaded. However, just one watermark location is offered. This is difficult if the images being marked have personal watermark needs. However, the largest drawback to both programs is just that they don't allow for multiple image files to be processed at once. Every file must be separately selected to be watermarked, and, in the case of Microsoft Paint, each watermark must be dragged in place by hand. For the keen photographer who may have as many as thousands of images, these strategies are simply unrealistic.
A vital program for any image creator is the 'How to Encrypt Image Files with Text' program offered at www.hothotsoftware.com. The program sports a typical user interface, making it usable by anyone on a computer. The program starts with an easy choice of image files to be watermarked. This may include 1 image file or 100 image files. Secondly, the desired encoded phrase is entered. For example "© My Pictures" can be entered as the watermark. This message is then encoded within the image file by clicking the 'Encrypt All Images in File List' button at the bottom of the window. The software also features the decoding capabilities so that you can verify the watermark on the image. The watermark may have your name or website on it, helping to ensure knowledge that an image is yours if people want to purchase and use your images. This is less risky than conventional watermarks as computer savvy editors can get rid of a visible watermark. Whether for the professional photographer or labeling treasured photographs, this software can free up hours of your time.
To learn how to quickly add watermarks to your images, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjFD9Ne3lrg. You can take ownership of your work without sacrificing hours of work doing it. Just a few clicks and your work can be thoroughly protected and identified.
