postcards at gallery sites

[oleCC]

Hey Scott.....just a thought here...but by
giving the option to send postcards, using
the artists paintings.... makes me wonder?!
Seems like it is an invitation for copyright
abuse. Help me here please, to understand
better.....thank you much ! http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

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[shair]

I have found out that people have downloaded images from my site to use anyway. I suppose it is ok, because they cant sell it or really do anything other than look at it on their screen and think of the artwork. I kind-of like the idea of always being on someones mind... Maybe when they decide to buy a piece of art after looking at my painting everyday they will come to me. As for the postcard thing I still can not even get it to work. But I would like to send them myself to people on my mailing list to promote the new paintings. I have sent sample cards to myself and it is always just code... has anyone actually got this feature to work?



Sarah

[Phyllis Rennie]

Carol, Not to change the subject; but, why can't I see the larger images in your gallery? I was there a couple of times and clicked but the larger version didn't come up. Phyl

[oleCC]

Phyllis....I went and checked it out, and sure enough, they won't enlarge! Yesterday
they were ok...then I added some pics and
may have messed up somehow. I will get some
help to fix it. Thanks for letting me know
and thank you for the visit ! http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

PS SCOTT... I seem to be stuck on "82"..posts
?!
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[This message has been edited by oleCC (edited March 20, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by oleCC (edited March 20, 2000).]

[figgby]

Scott I think anything that may be used without our permission is a violation of our copyright, and all of mine are copyrighted. I have done some research on keeping this from happening and have found printshop, I think, has a way to write over anything you don't want reproduced. When you try to send or down load it,it comes up, with whatever message you have posted, written all across the image. there is no way to remove it.

[msue]

I agree with Figgby. I would prefer that the postcards contain something across the image that prevents it from being used by anyone else. A ghost image saying copyrighted that lets someone get an idea of the subject, but makes it undesirable for copying. I know I've seen something like that. Pixel has her name ghosted on her images. Is that something that could be built into the upload or would each artist have to get a program?

[bruin70]

sounds like a cool thing fig....though i don't mind anyone here downloading, i would not like it be abused by someone. what was the software,,,PRINTSHOP???

[scottb]

Gang - it is important to keep in mind that 72 DPI image, which is what is used on the web, is useless in the printing business. They do not have the resolution needed for decent reproduction.

If you are paranoid, watermark your images (digimarc.com), or use your favorite image manipulation program (i.e. Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) to put your name across it.

Cheers.
Scott

[oleCC]

Thanks for the reply Scott. Makes sense to me now -

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[shair]

Although, I like the idea of sending postcards to promote our artwork, I still can't get them to work. If anyone can get them to send to each other let me know how you did it. The only success was to one of my customers on a cable modem if that makes any difference.



Besides that little problem, there was one other thing, I would like it if there was a link in the postcard to if not that painting directly at least my site. There is a link to art-agent, but it basically just takes prospective customers to the doorstep of all my competition (no offense) The liklihood of someone trying to run a search for me specifically is completely out of the question (as well as it does not work, Shawn and Hair both work, but no matches for Shawn Hair) I expect that most artists would be happier with this feature if it helped to promote our artwork better. I would like to use the postcards to send to my customers and collectors on my mailing list for promotions of new paintings, but I would like to keep them coming back to me and not leave them at a search engine for the rest of the world. I know I am stingy, but I expect other artists to get the same treatment too, your customers should be able to send cards of your work to refer people to you, not to every other artist.



The very stingy artist's wife, agent, and webmaster (not to mention mommy to the beautifulest girl in the world)



Sarah

[scottb]

An excellent suggestion, Sarah - adding this one to the to-do list. :-)

Not sure why the cards don't seem to work for you. What exactly is happening? Are the cards bouncing back, not appearing right, etc?

Scott

[pixelscapes]

Scott's right... (of course!)

If your concern is that people will take your digital images, and print them out... then yes, you need to actually make sure they are unprintable. That digital watermarking software doesn't stop people with certain graphics programs from printing, at all. Only Photoshop.

But as Scott said, images on the site are low res. That might not be a really valid concern to start with. Low-res means that they MAY be too low-res for printing, but, not necessarily. It depends on the print size. A 450x600 antialiased image printed at 6 by 8 has very little obvious pixelation in the final print.

However, if the concern is that people won't know it's copyrighted, or will say they didn't know... then, incorporate a copyright message with your name into the image itself. Add a 1/4 inch border and put it there. Just keep in mind that it's easy to clip that border off.

The fact that borders could be clipped off is part of why I watermark the words across the image itself. I know it might be overly paranoid, but I've seen my images uploaded to various "desktop wallpaper" sites, and I want EVERY PERSON who sees that digital image to know A) where it came from (so they can get back there), and B) that it's copyrighted!

If you did a painting and somebody makes a print-out of it, then yes, obviously it is a reproduction (authorized or not). But, since my images are actually print-outs to START with... I take extra precautions.

If I somehow get insanely famous and somebody wanted to forge my work, they could just buy a reproduction and scan it, and all my watermarking etc. wouldn't matter. The main reason I do a visual watermark is if the image wanders far from art-agent.com or from my site. http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

Meanwhile I can basically freely ALLOW people to spread these marked images (AKA authorized digital reproductions) across the internet. It beats trying to stop people from taking them at all, since they'll do that anyway.

I mean, trying to get the postcard program to mark the images is a little silly considering people could just as easily take it from the website.

BUT... I definitely agree that the postcards should have more links in them. As of my test today it says...


© 2000 - Jen de la Cruz
Purchase this piece, or view more from this artist at Art-Agent.com today

Only the "art-agent.com" is a link. Given that they don't even have any way to know the piece's title, there's no way they could possibly purchase the piece... maybe if they looked up my name and hunted all through my gallery for it. http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/frown.gif

I know that the postcards are free as a way to promote art-agent.com, but since they use our artwork, I would like it if they promoted us a bit more directly, too. http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

-=- Jen / Pixelscapes http://www.pixelscapes.com