Protecting Images

When we publish images on the internet, to show the world, or just some friends or family, our skills and memories, there will be those who come along and steal those images. We have spent a lot of time creating our images and present them in the best possible manner. The question I am always asked is, how do I protect my images? The short answer is, you can't. The long answer is, you can't, but there are some methods you can use to make it difficult for those who want to pilfer them.

There are several ways to protect images….

• You can disable right-click for your site, so people cannot save your images to their computer, but this is easily defeated.
• You can use a transparency image to overlay your image, so when someone saves it to their computer, all they get is the transparency. But this is a pain to implement and involves tables, plus you can get around this fairly easily, too.
• You can watermark your images, which can be removed, but is difficult.
• Convert your images into flash. If you only use images occasionally, then this can be time consuming. But if you are putting up a gallery or portfolio of images, then this would be your best option. You can get around flash, but it is extremely difficult.

So, converting your images to flash is your best protection. People are put off by flash because of load times for those images. To get around this lag is to use a gallery that is XML driven, plus you can optimize those flash images with flash optimization software, that can reduce the size by up to 70%, without deterioration of the image. However, bear in mind, that flash cannot be optimized if there are filters and such in the file.

But if your images are that valuable to you, then simply don't put them on the internet, because there is no absolute way to protect them.