You have to be creative and have good skills to create beautiful pictures. Part of the professional photographer’s world boils down to this.
But once they have made their talent known and start to post their photos online, they face a big threat: theft and identity theft. Indeed, of the 3 billion images exchanged daily on the Internet, 85% are exchanged illegally.
The number of illegal copies that still escape copyright today is proof that many photographers are not aware of the protection mechanisms that exist to help them protect themselves against such abuses. It is important to circulate them as widely as possible to allow everyone to implement the solution that best suits their needs in order to limit the damage. Here are some tips to help you avoid online photo theft.
Reduce Photo Size and Quality
There are a variety of actions that can be taken to prevent images posted on the web from being diverted from their original purpose and used for other purposes. The first thing to do is to reduce the size. The larger the photo, the wider the use that can be made of it, and the greater the risk of borrowing or theft. Therefore, it’s preferable to export pictures intended for use online at a size of 600 or 700 pixels, up to a maximum of 1000 pixels on the widest side.
By reducing the size of the images, a high compression ratio and a lower quality are obtained. It is also possible to directly influence the compression of files when exporting with photo-editing software. This is a great way to control the final size of a photo and its appearance and to save it in standard web formats. Of course, these measures do not prevent the theft of images, but coupled with other steps, they greatly limit their malicious use, especially with regard to printing.
Disable Right-Click on the Web
Most browsers offer many features designed to enhance the user experience. The downside is that photos become more vulnerable to theft. For example, with a simple right-click on an image, anyone can save it to their gallery — it’s the fastest way to download photos. Fortunately, there are ways to counter this risk quite easily.
On a portfolio website, a simple solution is to insert a JavaScript snippet that disables the context menu. However, disabling right-click entirely also blocks other useful browser features. To avoid this, it’s better to use an attribute directly in the HTML image tag. In that case, right-clicking is disabled only for images, not for the rest of the page.
That said, this method has another drawback: most modern browsers allow users to disable JavaScript. To prevent this, you can create a page at the root of your site called js.html error to alert visitors that JavaScript must be enabled to continue browsing. This approach is quite radical and not always recommended, as it can reduce your page traffic. In many cases, it’s simpler to use hosting platforms like WordPress, which offer built-in options to disable right-clicking on images.
While right-clicking is the most common way to copy photos, there are other methods as well. It’s important to implement additional measures to prevent image theft, such as:
- Disabling click-and-drag for images in Firefox.
- Preventing the image toolbar from displaying in Internet Explorer.
Add a Watermark to Your Photos
A particularly effective way to protect your photos is to apply a watermark — a visual signature that clearly indicates the image is not free to use. This can be done manually or automatically with photo-editing software. There are several types of watermarks, giving photographers the freedom to mark their work as they see fit.
One common approach is to include your name or logo. It’s a simple and elegant solution, especially when placed subtly in a corner of the image. However, other types of watermarks can be more intrusive, detracting from the photo’s beauty or blurring key details. While the goal of a watermark is to discourage unauthorized use, it’s important to strike a balance between protection and aesthetics.
In practice, a watermark mostly serves as a deterrent. It identifies the image’s rightful owner but does not guarantee complete protection. Someone with basic Photoshop skills could still remove it and falsely claim authorship. To prevent this, it’s best to also embed key ownership details and copyright information directly into the image file’s metadata.
Complete Your EXIF and IPTC Data
Photographers are strongly encouraged to complete their EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) and IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) data to protect their work from theft or any other form of misuse. These are metadata embedded directly within the image file. EXIF data provide details about how and when the image was created, while IPTC data mainly store information about the author. Although essential, these fields are often overlooked or not fully supported in some editing software.
This data can be added either directly from the camera or later in post-production software such as Lightroom, Luminar, or Capture One. Information can therefore be entered during the shoot or when importing and organizing images. Depending on the software, access to this metadata may vary in complexity — typing “EXIF” or “IPTC” into the help menu usually leads to it quickly. If not, it’s worth exploring the menus manually to locate the relevant fields.
Ultimately, completing EXIF and IPTC data is crucial. It not only helps identify the origin of an image but also makes it easier for others to contact the rightful author. In many ways, it acts as a digital watermark. However, unlike a visible watermark, this information is embedded invisibly in the file, ensuring that the integrity and appearance of the photo remain intact.
Asserting Copyright
A photo is an intellectual work. As such, it is subject to copyright. The authoritative legal text in this field is article L111-1 of the Intellectual Property Code. It stipulates that: “The author of an intellectual work enjoys an exclusive intangible property right on this work, by the sole fact of its creation, which is enforceable against all. This right includes intellectual and moral attributes as well as attributes of an economic nature (…) ».
While photos in France are protected by copyright by default, this is not the case in other countries. In the United States, for example, the law does not recognize one of the components of copyright, which is the moral right, and requires any image owner to go through formalities to be considered an author. This means that the latter must provide formal proof that they own the copyright of the published work. To do this, the universal convention of 1952 introduced a major innovation: copyright.
Copyright guarantees some kind of protection in all the states that are signatories to this convention. A photo with this mention cannot be used without the consent of its owner or their assigns. This adds additional protection. So, it is advisable for photographers (beginners, intermediates or professionals) to file a copyright registration to assert their copyright for their creations.
Even if the use of copyright has no legal significance in France, the web has no borders. You might as well file your works in order to be able to assert copyright in the event of a problem. To file a copyright registration, there are 3 possibilities:
- an online filing site;
- a public notary;
- the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property).
In conclusion, in photography, the protection of images is a major issue. Some measures can be implemented more quickly than others. Cumulative measures also guarantee good results.
