How to stop scan and blowup ?

KIPAX

KIPAX

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KIPAX Lancashire UK
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If someone buys a 7x5 print off me and wants to scan it and either reproduce bigger or even on canvas... Is there anyhting I can do to deter this apart from my T&C such as dpi? Sorry print is my weak point :)
 
Not as far as I know but will watch this thread with interest. as I've seen a 30x20 canvas made from a 8x6 print I sold, couldn't believe it.
 
I've seen an A1 print made from a 1024 pixel wide image. Not the best print in the world but not dreadful either. As long as it's enlarged properly beforehand rather than just printing it bigger it's surprising how good a print you can get from a small image. So I think the answer to your question is 'No'.
 
Customer asked me for original files so they could have a canvas done.. they didnt like my price and now want to buy a 7x5 (£5) of the picture.... the cheek :(
 
KIPAX said:
Customer asked me for original files so they could have a canvas done.. they didnt like my price and now want to buy a 7x5 (£5) of the picture.... the cheek :(
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What are you going to do Tony, I get this all the time. I think the only way to do it is to up the pricing on the smaller prints or not to offer anything smaller than 10x8 or 12x8....I know a lot of the event guys are looking at this too.
 
I have offered 6x4 prints of a District RU games I covered, but I think this will be the last shoot that I offer the smaller sized prints. If they want them they will have to pay for the larger sizes.

I feel the way things are going within this financial mess the country is in, that prints are a luxury item and as such they will be the one of the first cutbacks that people make when reiging in the purse strings.
 
7x5 has always been a good seller for my line... i know its happened before... Unbelievable I got one customer email me thanking me.. saying the photo was superb and blew up to an a4 perfectly.... i sell a4s!!!!!

I think for the amount of times it happens I will just have to live with it... I get a good steady flow of sales and dont want to break soemthing thats working.. I guess a small percentage.. bit like a shop that knows they are goint to have a percentage of stock nicked..
 
KIPAX said:
7x5 has always been a good seller for my line... i know its happened before... Unbelievable I got one customer email me thanking me.. saying the photo was superb and blew up to an a4 perfectly.... i sell a4s!!!!!

I think for the amount of times it happens I will just have to live with it... I get a good steady flow of sales and dont want to break soemthing thats working.. I guess a small percentage.. bit like a shop that knows they are goint to have a percentage of stock nicked..
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It so annoying though ! ! ! lol
 
Do you print yourself Tony or get a lab to do it? Some labs print the filename on the reverse so you could make the filename something like "all_rights_reserved_www.kipax.com_001.jpg" or something.

It won't stop them scanning at home, nothing will, but it might stop them getting it scanned at a lab.
 
There is another way. Try using Permajet oyster paper - the texture of it isn't very scanner friendly so although the original will be crystal loveliness any scans or copies look pants.

The only downside might be the costs, especially with the volumes you guys probably run through. I bought a pack over a year ago and it was about £15 for 25 sheets.
 
Not a lot you can do except have a copyright notice on the back of your prints and send a copyright notice with the receipt.
Even then it's not going to stop them.
Do you offer a digital download option, might be one way to at least get some revenue?
 
Oyster paper...ouch too expensive an option for the amount of times it happens.. cheers anyways:)

Kev_M thats not a bad idea.. I do use labs but the pics come to me then customers as I never let a pic be delievered without me checking it.. i could stamp the back :)
 
or just ask the lab about backprinting? the one I use does one line of text free :)
 
KIPAX said:
Oyster paper...ouch too expensive an option for the amount of times it happens.. cheers anyways:)

Kev_M thats not a bad idea.. I do use labs but the pics come to me then customers as I never let a pic be delievered without me checking it.. i could stamp the back :)
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I have a stamp which states:

" Graham Taylor Photography owns the copyright of this photograph. Copying the whole or any part of by any means whatsoever is illegal under the copyright and patents act 1988."

You do need special ink that dries as ordinary stuff doesnt.

Stramping the backs of your prints doesnt guarantee they wont copy but is all you can do. Selling digital files is allowing customers to print whatever size they want and I know of some who charge upto £30 per hirez image.
 
DVDs and CDs are full or warnings about copyright and thats does nothing to stop copying going on. You cannot stop this - end of! If someone has a print they can scan in and probably get decent results. When I say decent, I mean by their standards . Most people are used to the IQ from a basic P&S and even though IQ is lost it will still be as good or even better than their attempt.

Only way I can think of is to just sell electronic images.
 
PermaJet do a 5" x 7" paper called Ultra Pearl 295 which has exactly the antiscan properties you are looking for. The special coating seems to show loads of dots when scanned and enlarged and basically ruins the image.
Costs about £36.95 for 200 sheets.
 
KIPAX said:
If someone buys a 7x5 print off me and wants to scan it and either reproduce bigger or even on canvas... Is there anyhting I can do to deter this apart from my T&C such as dpi? Sorry print is my weak point :)
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no but if you print on luster paper it does affect the scan due to the paper effect.
 
Cheers.. Personally I am going with the stamp/info on the back.. but not the whole hog as they would just put a sticker over or tipex.. if i just put copyright kipax photogrpahy then any self respecting printers will reject it..
 
KIPAX said:
Cheers.. Personally I am going with the stamp/info on the back.. but not the whole hog as they would just put a sticker over or tipex.. if i just put copyright kipax photogrpahy then any self respecting printers will reject it..
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Need to be a big sticker as my stamp measures 3.5" x 2" ;)
 
I did a test a while back, I could get a very nice A4 from a 6x4 file, they need to be really low res to make it a poor quality enlargment,
 
What you need is a printing method that would create a dual layered image. One that the eye saw which was perfect and another a scanner saw which said 'oy you thieving bugger I sell prints' or similar :)
 
srichards said:
What you need is a printing method that would create a dual layered image. One that the eye saw which was perfect and another a scanner saw which said 'oy you thieving bugger I sell prints' or similar :)
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It would be great of you could get this from the likes of Loxley or DSCL
 
snapzz said:
Stramping the backs of your prints doesnt guarantee they wont copy but is all you can do. Selling digital files is allowing customers to print whatever size they want and I know of some who charge upto £30 per hirez image.
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Do you mean £300 ?
 
KIPAX said:
Cheers.. Personally I am going with the stamp/info on the back.. but not the whole hog as they would just put a sticker over or tipex.. if i just put copyright kipax photogrpahy then any self respecting printers will reject it..
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Surely if you think they'd tipex over a descriptive message, then they'll tipex over the small copyright after the first printer they've tried turns them down.
 
Triggaaar said:
Surely if you think they'd tipex over a descriptive message, then they'll tipex over the small copyright after the first printer they've tried turns them down.
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I dont think theres any way of stopping them.. its a bit like the old stopping people downloading your pics from the internet..if they want to do it badly enough they will... nice to slow them down though... also maybe a decent printer will a sk whats under the tipex and smell a rat? :)
 
snapzz said:
Need to be a big sticker as my stamp measures 3.5" x 2" ;)
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I use small stickers not sure of size but you get 32 on an A4 sheet and my standard sticker includes
copyright/year/name
"not to be reproduced in any format whatsoever without prior written permission",
my website address and phone number
 
Kerioak said:
I use small stickers not sure of size but you get 32 on an A4 sheet and my standard sticker includes
copyright/year/name
"not to be reproduced in any format whatsoever without prior written permission",
my website address and phone number
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Do you superglue them on? :)
 
Hi Tony,

my 2p worth for whats its worth...

Its a pity there isn't a security pen that you can write on the image itself (unnoticeable of course) buts shows up on a scanner when they try to reproduce said images.

Graham.
 
I did a couple of tests with a moire image, it is difficult to get the amount correct for all images. You don't want it to be noticeable on the normal image.

A UV pen might react in a scanner, a slim chance, unfortunately my scanner is bust so I cannot confirm.
 
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