Let`s be On the Lookout For Picture Kidnapping!!

**White95Max** · 12-02-2004, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by gto78

or charge them to use em.... this could be a money maker.. charge them .01 for every site visitor, or something like that.

I had a problem on this web forum a few months ago, i wrote several messages to the webmasters and they replied but never did anything about it. I was then locked out of my account for two months. But what happened was I saw a picture of my 350z that I had taken in orlando at the car show, and someone else was using it in their thread. They were talking about how good there car was shining after waxing etc. I pm`d them with no response. I tried reposting MY original picture again in another thread but it wouldnt work... what a PITA. I don`t knw what was going on but i was pissed and quit surfing the forum for a while since noone here cared enough to solve the problem. not that anyone cares but I`m over it and still love this site. theres not another one like it.

They posted a thread on the same forum with your car? Didn`t anybody recognize it?

**gto78** · 12-03-2004, 04:36 AM

it was on this forum about 3 weeks after my first post on the site, since i was new noone really knew my car. One of my first posts here was the pic of my car at the car show. Then to my amazement i found the same pic in someone elses thread weeks later. i had never had that happen before. people do some strange things.

**TortoiseAWD** · 12-03-2004, 07:40 AM

gto78,

It`s a forum bug. Here`s the response I posted earlier in this thread (which you probably missed if you took some time off from the forum):

The forum software has had problems recently with attached images getting switched around. The problem only affects attachments; if you put your images into the Autopia gallery (or use a photo hosting service), you can use the IMG tag to post pics and avoid the bug. Using the IMG tag also has the added advantage of allowing you to post multiple pics in the same post (as opposed to one attachment per post).

You`re not the first to get bitten by this bug; sorry for the inconvenience . . .

It`s not that no one cared enough to solve the problem; it`s that the only only fix is a major forum upgrade (moving to vB 3.0). To my knowledge, we haven`t had any problems with users intentionally lifting photos, but there have been several misunderstandings when the attachment bug rears its ugly head.

Good to have you back, though . . . if you ever send one of us a PM and we don`t respond for whatever reason, please, feel free to be persistent. Re-send if you don`t hear back, and if that doesn`t work, pick a different moderator to PM (the one you tried to contact may be out-of-town, or otherwise out-of-reach for a while).

Welcome back!

Tort

**gto78** · 12-03-2004, 03:59 PM

cool at least I know what was going on. thanks

**30x** · 04-05-2005, 08:35 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scottwax

[B]I think I now have all the pictures on my website marked. Now I need to go through my photohost gallery too.

What do you think?

I am a complete n00b at photoshop and I managed to steal a photo good enough to put one on a business card etc... I strongly suggest putting them in a complex part of the picture if possible

**Anthony O.** · 04-05-2005, 09:45 AM

Yeah you are correct as I placed my business name/watermark right in the middle of my pictures but it really messed up the overall appearance. I am going to see if fading it looks better.

Anthony

**paco** · 04-05-2005, 10:43 AM

Scott,

I`d actually go about it as a watermark that`s repeated through out the picture but very opaque so that it doesn`t effect the quality of what you are trying to show.

Paco

**Bill D** · 04-05-2005, 10:59 AM

Reminder: Photos that have watermarks with commercial URLs are not permitted

**NewOwner FL** · 04-05-2005, 11:09 AM

I work in the Ad/Publishing biz and the best advice I can offer is to add to Paco`s post. Put your watermark in several locations. If its on a vechile, put it over a curved line. Curves present a challenge when removing and cloning the underneath. Another good place is an obvious color blend/change.

For that awesomely detailed vehicle in question, I would recommend a watermark that spans the rear-window, trunk and down over the back of the car. The reflected bricks will present a challenge to clone as well.

If you look at 30x`s touchup work as a "noob" you can see that the black line separating the trunk and the brake-light is no longer straight. It is broken slightly. (Good job overall on your work there 30x)

Summary: 2 or 3 strategically places watermarks will discourage your average wannabe picture theif. If they are facing an hour`s worth of work to remove your personal info, they will look elsewhere.

**30x** · 04-05-2005, 06:10 PM

hopefully scott you werent too offended by what i did - i`m quite a fan of your work and would just like to help avoid this from happening. That picture took me about 20 minutes to edit out roughly.

I`ve just began this as a business also - and would like to seek a proper resolution to the problem & to implement this to my own work.

**ICANDY** · 10-15-2005, 12:57 AM

Hi guys, I had this problem as well, I do top-end detailing for a living and post alot of pics on an Australian Detailing Site, someone came along and stole a few of my pictures over a few years until I caught up with him and I mean hundreds of high quality photo`s and was passing my work off as his own.

Thread Link

Damian.

**Anthony O.** · 08-31-2006, 11:30 PM

Has there been any incidents of picture kidnapping lately or is everyone being pretty good out there??

I haven`t had much time to surf around these last few weeks.

Anthony

**imported_Ivan Rajic** · 09-21-2006, 09:53 PM

i didn`t do it :usa

haha sorry just finished reading this whole thing and it`s a very good sticky for this forum

**Superior Shine** · 10-22-2006, 02:03 AM

I guess this RV came out so nice that this guy thought it would be OK to steal the pic from my web-site or MOL.

RV detailed by me

www. armstrongdetailing.com and

www. armstrongdetailing.com/rv-detailing.html

I thank Mr A. STERN FOR BRING THIS TO MY ATTENTION.

Also copy is being stolen as well.

These two are kind of local to me. Over 6 others have been found as well.

Check these out -

www. barrydetailing.com/Services.htm

www. sparklesautodetailing.com/

Straight from my site, I wrote that copy over 6 years ago.

If they see nothing wrong with stealing pictures and or copy they see nothing wrong with stealing items out of a car.