Question for SL Photographers

[xDragonI]

Do sl photographers add water marks or tags to there photos the way artist do so no one steals the photo and claims it as there own? Or does that matter? Yes it is just a hobby but i also do not want people stealing my work claiming it as there. What does everyone do?

[Jordan Whitt]

Some people do or add a signature.  Personally I don't cos no-one would steal mine.  😁

[Ayeleeon]

I don't, I add a signature to those pictures I convert to virtual paintings, but I do that because paintings typically are signed, and not for any type of security. If someone wants to steal my picture they can, I have more important things to worry about. I did have someone steal a picture on a RL website. I don't even do anything to prevent it there, it's not like I was going to make money off of it.

[Rowan Amore]

I've even seen people steal other people's RL photos from their profile and use them as their own.  if it's on the internet, it's not safe for the most part.  

[Nick0678]

I only used to add my signature but not anymore.. They are just SL photos plus you can't do much unless you file a DMCA claim.. which is not worth it.

[Fritigern Gothly]

One word: steganography

 

Edit because @Rowan Amoregot confused 😉

https://www.comptia.org/blog/what-is-steganography

Edited December 2, 2021 by Fritigern Gothly

[Rowan Amore]

3 hours ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

One word: steganography

 

Edit because @Rowan Amoregot confused 😉

https://www.comptia.org/blog/what-is-steganography

I did look it up but not in regards to.internet security.   How would that protect you from people stealing your pictures?  Hide an attack.in it?  Seems kind of harsh?

[Fritigern Gothly]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I did look it up but not in regards to.internet security.   How would that protect you from people stealing your pictures?  Hide an attack.in it?  Seems kind of harsh?

99.9999% of the use of steganography has absolutely nothing to do with any form of attack. You simply hide a message which can identify you are a original creator. Like an invisible watermark

 

[xDragonI]

I honesty just wanted to know what others do with there. I have seen some who always do it and some that sometimes do it and some photo don't do anything to theirs. So I just thought I would ask to get a kinda general idea but thank you all for all the comments. 

[Echelon Alcott]

I just created my gallery, which I have not opened yet - you can visit it here [SLurl], if you are interested. After much thought, I agree with @Rowan Amore, once images are out on the internet, you loose control over them. You can fight through a DMCA claim, as @Nick0678 pointed out. I came to the conclusion that in case my images are stolen, at least they will be relatively low quality.

[xDragonI]

21 hours ago, Echelon Alcott said:

I just created my gallery, which I have not opened yet - you can visit it here [SLurl], if you are interested. After much thought, I agree with @Rowan Amore, once images are out on the internet, you loose control over them. You can fight through a DMCA claim, as @Nick0678 pointed out. I came to the conclusion that in case my images are stolen, at least they will be relatively low quality.

Oh wow I didn't even think about doing a gallery. I was just gonna create a FB page and maybe share some of the ones I take here and then on my fb page and flickr. But giving people a place to go and see them sounds amazing. I will for sure go look at yours. I love things like that so much. Thanks for the LM. ♥

[Aiyumei]

My art style and inworld looks are too unique to be copied or stolen, I consider them to be my signature. Besides, how low can you go to resort to stealing SL shots? 

[Nalates Urriah]

There is no tech way to protect digital art. Even a NFT's can be copied. Protection is simply the RL legal system, DMCA. Pursuing that process incurs a significant cost. The question becomes is it worth your time, effort, and money?

When protection is not the concern then it is purely a matter of personal preference.

Knowing what most people in SL do is pretty much an impossibility. Only the Lab has any idea and then only for things the computers can track, like how many use which viewer (Firestorm is most popular by a huge margin). Or how long the average player stays in SL... about 2 years. Even then I don't trust all the Lab's numbers, not that they are wrong or spinning them... it is just there is usually more to things than straight stats. Its that thing like potatoes cause crime, we know because 100% of criminals in prison eat potatoes.

I do think you can have a good idea of how your circle of friends handles things. I suspect that is usually a dozen or so close people for most residents. That is a pretty small sample size for the 40k or 50+k that are concurrently logged in at any given time. So I never really get concerned about what most of SL does. I do my thing.