Yakshagana by Diji (www.dijisworld.com)

As you have seen in this article on copyright infringement, I decided to implement watermarking of all my images which are larger than 500 pixels. I felt the watermarking is justified to solve similar copyright infringement in future. Friend of mine Dijiraj has experienced a bizarre twist on this scenario. A few days ago he was visiting the Chitra Santhe at Bangalore and came across a stand of paintings, being sold as original work of art. The only problem was that the painter had made “faithful” (but unattributed) reproduction in paint of Diji’s photographic image which is shown above. If you have a facebook account you can check the photo of the painting taken at Chitrasanthe by Smrithi Kangovi here. Now image resolution or a watermark wouldn’t make much difference here, a painter could nick a photo at screen resolution. The painter had “stolen” friend’s intellectual property and made it his own by interpreting it in paint. The law apparently sees no problem with this.

The rights of copyright holders need to be protected, but some draconian remedies that have been suggested would create more problems than they would solve.
- Patrick Leahy

By definition a written quote is attributed and hence a context. If it’s not attributed then it’s just theft. Whereas a copied photograph from the net rarely, if ever, attributed properly. We obviously haven’t the time, or the capability, to study all the works of art in the world to check whether this is in fact true so a percentage of people will get away with making rip-offs without being caught.

Philosophically, originality is linked to free will. If we are all beavering away in our own corners, minding our own business, creating for ourselves, then anything we haven’t done personally before, is original. And then there is no reason not to do something that someone else has already done. If however, we are all in it together, then originality is defined with respect to the community. And then, it is up to the individual to be fully aware of what everyone else has ever done.

I fully accept that the theft of images from the net does take place. However there is always the risk that whenever you put your images out there that they might be stolen. Does this mean that we should never show our images on the net or in print? No, of course it doesn’t! What’s the point in making images if we don’t share them? Life is full of risks and this is just one of them. One just needs to take the precautions one sees fit – as long as they fall short of paranoia!

For me, My photograph’s purpose should be (amongst other things!) to uplift, inspire, evoke and enlighten – not simply to make money. Though I do need to pay that bill… So I prefer to have my images without watermarks. So what do you think? Should I keep them or remove them? I want your opinion in this regards before I take a decision regarding watermark.

Grey-breasted Prinia

I photographed this Grey-breasted Prinia, Prinia hodgsonii using Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS USM lens. This skulking passerine warbler is typically found in open woodland, scrub jungle, and other open areas with some grass. This prinia is a resident breeder in the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka and southeast Asia.

These 11-to-13-centimetre (4 to 5 in) long warblers have short rounded wings, a longish tail, strong legs and a short black bill. In breeding plumage, adults are grey-brown above, with no supercilium, a black eye stripe and orange eyering. They have a rufous wing panel. Grey-breasted Prinia’s underparts are white with a grey breast band. The sexes are identical.

Grey-breasted Prinia

Non-breeding birds have browner upperpart plumage and a white supercilium, but lack the breast band. Young birds are like non-breeding adults but more rufous above. There are a number of subspecies. The distinctive greyer endemic race in Sri Lanka, Prinia hodgsonii leggei, retains summer-type plumage all year round.

Grey-breasted Prinia

Like most warblers, Grey-breasted Prinia is insectivorous. The song is a repetitive chiwee-chiwee-chiwee-chip-chip-chip.

Watermark

I was shocked to see that one of my photograph was displayed as a hoarding at the entrance of an exhibition, without my permission. As this was copyrighted image and the person(s) who were exhibiting this did not take any permission whatsoever from me and have displayed it without even informing me. The photo was obviously taken from my web page as I had not distributed the original elsewhere. They had cleverly cropped out my copyright info at the bottom left corner. Blown it up using software and then printed on a 15×20 feet sized large format print.

I was able to find out the copyright violators and asked them to comply to my term of copyright or face legal actions. They realized their mistake and readily agreed to my terms. So the whole matter was settled amicably. But the question that remains at large is that my pictures are source of attraction for others to steal. What should I do to safeguard them? I was thinking of several solutions which are possible.

Let us examine different methods to prevent such copyright infringement of photographs which are published on the website like this one.

• Reduce size of images I can show only preview of my images which are 500 pixel in size which can be easily copied but since it is so small it will be useless for anything but a preview.
• Reduce quality of images This will result in ugly preview of my images. Reducing quality of images is not a good idea. Why put ugly photos on photography site which will show me in a bad light.
• Use javascript to disable right click and save Not fool proof. It will not stop web page saving and making screen shots. Does not work on the Mac OS. But it is a smart way of telling people the images are copyrighted.
• Adding a transparent gif over the top of your image in a web page. This is what Flickr does. You can show original images. Gives the wrong image when saving by right mouse click. But does not stop screen capture programs and saving web page.
• Adding visible watermarks to images Big non transparent watermarks do not allow restore original images. But small watermark can be easily cropped out . Transparent watermark can be repainted or cloned out (but the work is very difficult). Often people do not care who owns the image. This is the most popular way to protect images. Use several big transparent watermarks for improving protection quality. The image will look uglier than the pristine original.
• Digital watermarking adding invisible watermarks Hidden, so thief will not know it is there. You can prove your copyright. But since it is hidden, how do people know it is copyrighted? Finding stolen pictures is dependent on the thief actually posting the image online AND getting that page indexed at the search engines. Newer services like TinEye help to find such stolen pictures without having to resort to digital watermarking
• Making images into Flash or Shockwave objects No right click, no drag and drop, no web-page saving. But it does not protect against screen capture. Flash is not universally accepted format and is a time consuming way.
• Making pictures Java Applets
  You can show original image or part of your image as you want. No right click, no drag and drop, no print, no web-page saving. But does not stop screen capture programs. Mobile devices may not show image. Java is not as good as it could be. It also slows the web page rendering somewhat.
• Last but the best one is not to show your images at all Nothing lost or gained

I usually downsize my image to maximum of 1200 pixel at 100 dpi. I found that even using simple image viewing software like irfanview or FastStoneViewer this JPEG file can be blown up easily to 5 times its original size without drastic change in quality. Modern algorithms of resizing make this easy. If you use dedicated softwares which can enlarge photos like onOne Genuine fractals 6 or Alien Skin Blowup 2 you can get very large format picture with fantastic quality.

Till now I was publishing such photos without watermark. I felt that my pictures need to be enjoyed without the blemish of ugly watermark in the background. From now on I’ll be putting watermark at the center of the picture so as to prevent people from stealing my work without crediting me. I know this will look ugly, but leaves me with no choice. If you notice all my photos in the blog have gained watermark by now. I will be using watermark only in the larger version and smaller version will still be watermark free.

Long Horned Beetle Nymph

Chimping refers to the act of shooting a photo, then immediately hitting the preview button on your camera to see the how it came out on the camera’s LCD screen. Much like a curious chimpanzee will hold and examine any new object. The term was coined by USA Today shooter Robert Deutsch in a story for the website SportsShooter.com. As defined by the Urban Dictionary: ‘What one does after taking a picture with a digital camera and looking at the result.’ Derived from the words they speak when chimping: “Ooo-oo-oo!”

Wikipedia adds, “the sounds and actions some make while reviewing images and those of an excited primate (Oooh! Oooh! Aaah!), or when a photographer is completely absorbed in the act of analyzing, admiring or proudly displaying a shot to others.” A wasteful ritual? Just a bad habit? Perhaps, but luckily shared it’s shared by many of our photo brethren be they professional or amateur.

You may be wondering why all this introduction about chimping and what that got to do with this photograph of young longhorned beetle. Please read further.

It was early morning of Wednesday. Coffee had not yet reached my bloodstream to wake me up, but I was greeted by the news that ootheca laid by some unknown praying mantis on the widow glass has hatched. I rushed with my trusty Canon 5D Mark II & Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM along with Rayflash on my Canon Speedlite 580EX II to get the glimpse of these newly hatched mantids.

The ootheca was laid high up on the window glass pane and I was able reach there only with a help of large wooden stool. All around the ootheca the newly hatched mantids were gathering. Previous day it had rained and the ground was unstable. I tried taking photographs so as not to disturb mantids away from the ripped egg sac. The glass of the window pane was not helpful as it was reflecting my flash light emitted from Rayflash. I took few unsatisfactory shots and was thinking of setting up a nice lightbox around the ootheca so that I could capture mantids on all their glory.

Just Hatched Mantids

Just then I noticed a very young long horned beetle on the window frame. I was able to get a beautiful closeup from the elevated vantage point I was in. Wooden background helped to highlight this little beetle. I was curious to see how well I did in focusing, and as a usual practice I started chimping at the preview. I was so engrossed in appreciating the shot at the back of my camera, that I did not realize that the stool underneath me sank in the soft mud and was tilting. Next thing I knew that I was out of balance and was rushing towards ground. I was able to save my camera and the rig from harms way but got few bruises along the hand and shin. My dream of capturing young praying mantids in light box went down with pain and agony.

So even though chimping is good to improve your photography skills it is bad for your health. Have a safe chimping.

Besra

On that busy Tuesday afternoon I took a break from my patients to have a quick sip of coffee. As I was entering home, I saw a Shikra(Accipiter badius) like bird on the huge Silk Cotton (Bombax ceiba) tree with some thing in its claw. I rushed and got my Canon EOS 7D & Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS USM lens. The bird was too high up on the tree and I did not have a good view because of dense irregular branches. What I saw was not Shikra but a Besra, Accipiter virgatus. It is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae with a meal of large lizard which I could not identify as its head was devoured by the bird. I was not happy with the results of 7D which was coming out all mushy and soft. The light was too contrasty and totally unfavorable.

Besra with 7D

So I went back and grabbed Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 1.4x II Extender added 300mm lens and tripod. The bird was curious about me and it stopped eating and started watching. I also became spectacle for all my patients who were least interested in my hobby. Despite all that commotion the bird was quiet and composed.

I also saw a resident Red Whiskered Bulbul family which laid eggs in my backyard started coming near the half eaten lizard so that it can get a piece for its chicks. This was unusual as Bulbuls are one of the delicacies on their menu of a Besra. After a few minutes Besra took off with Large lizard carcass to go some peaceful place. I was lucky to get few good shots.

Besra with 5D Mark II

The Besra is a widespread resident breeder in dense forests throughout south Asia from Pakistan and India to south China and Indonesia. It nests in trees, building a new nest each year. It lays 2 to 5 eggs.

This bird is a medium-sized raptor (29 to 36 cm) with short broad wings and a long tail, both adaptations to fast manoeuvring. The normal flight of this species is a characteristic “flap–flap–glide”, and the barred underwings are a distinction from the Shikra, A. badius.

This species is like a darker version of the widespread Shikra, but all plumages have a dark vertical throat stripe. The adult male Besra has dark blue-grey upperparts, and is white, barred reddish below. The larger female is browner above than the male. The juvenile is dark brown above and white, barred with brown below. It has a barred tail.

In winter, the Besra will emerge into more open woodland including savannah and cultivation. Its hunting technique is similar to other small hawks such as the Sparrowhawk and the Sharp-shinned Hawk, relying on surprise as it flies from a hidden perch or flicks over a bush to catch its prey unaware.

The prey is lizards, dragonflies, and small birds and mammals.