Invisible Watermark with Affinity Photo

[DmytroPetrov]

Hello, I`m looking for software that can make invisible watermarks using blue channel. Currently it`s possible with photoshop, but a bit time consuming. (here you can find detailed information about invisble watermark - http://jimchristensenphotography.com/jcp.php?m=502  ).

I`m reading that Affinity Photo have great features and could be nice alternative for photoshop. It offer powerful batch processing option. Just wonder, if it`s possible to add text to images in Affinity Photo software using (blue channel). This would be great benefit.

Thanks,
Dmytro.

[firstdefence]

What Operating System are you using? there is a pretty good app for Mac called iWatermark.

[DmytroPetrov]

I`m using Windows 7.

[Callum]

Hi DmytroPetrov,

 

As far as I'm aware there is no way to do this in Affinity Photo I'm afraid.

 

Thanks

Callum

[v_kyr]

Well it all has pros and cons and also always depends on the effort and benefit of watermarking at all. Related to this theme but here instead an example of removing visable watermarking: Making Visible Watermarks More Effective

Most professional photographers I know don't watermark their images at all, beside keeping the common exif notes etc., since they know the origin of their images either way and there isn't any real easy way of overall fool prove protection. - Further if you don't have an automatic build in secret detection mechanism of scanning for possible misuse of your images on the net (determining hidden text or logos etc. placed inside images) the overall protection efforts are maybe greater than the benefits here.

[DmytroPetrov]

Hello, Thank you so much for your time and information.

I know that watermark can spoil photo, but in our kind of business our photos very often are stolen by scammers and used to trick people and steal their money. We offer cottage houses on sea shore for renting here in Ukraine. And quite often scammer use our photos to place ads like private people, that they offer our house for rent at smaller price. People think that they book summer house, but just got money stolen. Such ads in internet live normally not longer then a week. It`s enought time to rip off 5-10 people. Normally they pay 50-60 usd to book house for a week.We normally monitor manually popular local websites to remove such ads as soon as possible. Here is why we need the way quickly prove to marketplace admins that I`m real owner of images.

So, I`m looking for solution to maximize image protection. But, keep image attractive. Thank you for article, this must be good idea to keep transparent image in the middle of image. This would be hard to remove for most scammers (normally they don`t bother with high end retouching, they just use crop and simple tools).

Thanks again!
Dmytro.

[v_kyr]

There are several tools and techniques which claim to help with this theme, though I can't tell you if these do really work in a foolprove manner and thus will be worth the efforts, but you can give it a try, see ...

• 5 Software to Embed an Invisible Signature to Digital Images

• How To Create Secret Watermarks For Your Photos

• Watermark and Logo Detection Foils Digital Cuckoos

• Steganography: Simple Implementation in C#

• Porcupine

• ... and so on ...

[toltec]

1 hour ago, DmytroPetrov said:

Hello, Thank you so much for your time and information.

I know that watermark can spoil photo, but in our kind of business our photos very often are stolen by scammers and used to trick people and steal their money. We offer cottage houses on sea shore for renting here in Ukraine. And quite often scammer use our photos to place ads like private people, that they offer our house for rent at smaller price. People think that they book summer house, but just got money stolen. Such ads in internet live normally not longer then a week. It`s enought time to rip off 5-10 people. Normally they pay 50-60 usd to book house for a week.We normally monitor manually popular local websites to remove such ads as soon as possible. Here is why we need the way quickly prove to marketplace admins that I`m real owner of images.

So, I`m looking for solution to maximize image protection. But, keep image attractive. Thank you for article, this must be good idea to keep transparent image in the middle of image. This would be hard to remove for most scammers (normally they don`t bother with high end retouching, they just use crop and simple tools).

Thanks again!
Dmytro.

 

If the ad is only online for a few days to scam people, how would a secret watermark stop that ?

 

Some people being scammed would never see the watermark (it is secret) and would lose their money anyway.

 

Surely you would be better off to have a visible brand prominently displayed on each photo, the way image libraries like Shutterstock do, That sort of thing would take ages to remove.

 

A complicated logo and/or your name would be better than plain text.

 

You could explain to people on your website that it is a security feature "for your safety" These days people understand scams and taking their security seriously is an attractive sales point. So make it obvious. It makes your company more attractive too.

 

That would give the customers, and you, protection of a sort, like holograms and things on bank notes. i.e. "Don't rent without the logo". Prevention is better than cure. It would also save you a bit of work. 

 

It would look very suspicious if your pictures with your logo was on a different website and it takes time, software and skill to remove the branding. And if there is no branding, is it a genuine company ?

 

[DmytroPetrov]

On 14.03.2018 at 1:00 AM, toltec said:

On 14.03.2018 at 0:14 AM, v_kyr said:

There are several tools and techniques which claim to help with this theme, though I can't tell you if these do really work in a foolprove manner and thus will be worth the efforts, but you can give it a try, see ...

Thank you. I will take a look at recommended tools.

 

On 14.03.2018 at 1:00 AM, toltec said:

If the ad is only online for a few days to scam people, how would a secret watermark stop that ?

Yes, You are 100% right. I`m normally use visual watermarks. But it`s always good idea to keep one invisible (if visible has been removed), just to prove to admins that photo belong to you. This helps to remove ads of scummers quick.

And yes, good idea to think more about branding images with visual watermarks. This would be correct way. Thanks for tips!

Dmytro.

 

[v_kyr]

BTW it might be easier and better for you to use directly some JavaScript based steganography libs (for encripting hidden/invisable copyright texts into your website images) here, since you can include/embed those directly into your webside code. - There are a lot of JS projects which deal with this too:

• CryptoStego

• Steganography.js

• Steganography in JS

• ... a Google topic search ...

[Danielcz]

i have heard advance way is to use DCT blocks as place where to put steganography information

sometimes i can use ProMotionNG and disable each individual color one by one until watermark pop out  delete it, randomize erased area with rest and re-save it to pure and clean PNG with smallest implementation possible (NO XML, NO TEXT CHUNKS, redone compression) and you can always put it to HxDen for additional checks...