Photoshop Tip Tuesday – 07/20/2010

It’s Tip Tuesday, and I thought I would extend the conversations started yesterday about my last YoutTube video preventing unauthorized printing of your Facebook photos. Lots of people weighed-in on comments, Twitter & Facebook, with suggestions ranging from “Don’t post your photos online” to “That’s why I watermark my images.” You should checkout the article written by Terry White on how you can further protect Facebook content by using Lists. Today’s video tip demonstrates how to make a quick watermark on an image using Layer Styles while adjusting Layer Fill.

Be sure to watch for the #TipTues hashtag on Twitter, and join me again for next week’s video.

Prevent Walmart Printing of Your Facebook Photo Albums

UPDATE 07/22/2010 – Be sure to read the updated information posted below after the video.

Good evening all.

Thanks to Walter Van Dusen who brought to my attention Walmart is beta testing a new Facebook Connect application. This application allows access to your photo albums for printing. Many photographers have been using Facebook photo tagging as a way to generate word-of-mouth referrals from clients. I would assume a lot of folks have their album security set to “Friends of Friends”. Anyone who is listed with Friends access to your Facebook album will be able to print it via the Walmart application.

Before you decide to delete all your FB albums, it is possible for you to make a quick security settings change. Simply go to the Walmart Photo application and block it. Once blocked your albums will no longer show when someone uses Facebook Connect with Walmart Photo. The application ID on Facebook is 181585006811.

Here’s a quick video tutorial to show you how to block the app:

UPDATE 07/22/2010 – This week’s Tip Tuesday demonstrated a quick way to watermark images via Photoshop using Layer Styles. For MORE protection you can use a Digimarc watermark (accessed via Photoshop’s filter menu). Digimarc is like LoJack for your images, and provides Internet tracking. Loyal readers can try Digimarc’s basic service FREE for 90 days; use the discount code FREETRIAL2010. Take 25% off ANY Digimarc service with code MediaCats2010. Join me next week as I’ll have a video tutorial on how to use Digimarc in Photoshop to watermark your images.

UPDATE 07/21/2010 – I wanted to answer some of the questions posed in the comments. I have verified that if you TAG someone the image is NOT collected in a photo album, therefore it DOES NOT appear via Facebook Connect. This is good information for everyone who tags their clients. Photo albums, profile pictures, & mobile uploads appear when using the Walmart photo center. I did not conduct testing against the other apps listed in the comments, but I assume similar behavior. To find all the retail centers, many suggested to search Facebook for “print” then filter by Applications. This worked well for me.

Several folks commented that people can still save the image to their own computer for printing–that is true. It’s also true that by uploading the image to the Internet it can be taken by anyone. The measures suggested for securing your photos serve more as a deterrent and are not absolute controls. Thieves are lazy, and will take the path of least resistance. RC Concepcion wrote two articles that appear in the last two issues of Photoshop User magazine. He has some great recommendations as to why you would or wouldn’t watermark your images online. If you’re a member of NAPP you can access the back issues online. (If you join with my referral link, you’ll get a free DVD on signup)

UPDATE 07/18/2010 – Thanks to everyone for sharing this article. There have been some good comments, including the fact Walmart is not the only retail print option. As suggested by Rachel, I would block other print apps from companies such as Target, Walgreens, etc. If you’re new to the site, checkout the Tip Tuesday series for video tutorial content.

Photoshop Tip Tuesday – 07/13/2010

It’s time for another Tip Tuesday. Today I’ll be demonstrating how you can use Content Aware Scale to transform an image. This is extremely useful to photographers & designers that need to stretch or squash an image for a design or layout. Have a look:

If the embedded video doesn’t work, you can view the video directly on YouTube. Be sure to tag Kevin or I on Twitter with your Photoshop questions, watch for the hashtag #TipTues and join me for next week’s tip.

Announcing Photoshop Tip Tuesday

Welcome to all the KJ fans visiting my humble website today. If you caught the announcement on Kevin’s blog, you know we’re teaming up to bring you a new Photoshop or Lightroom tip on Tuesdays each week. The best part of this series is we’ll be responding to your questions! You can get started by connecting with us:

1. Leave comments on the blog.

2. Follow Kevin and Follow me on Twitter, you can @reply us there.

3. If you missed a video, subscribe to the YouTube channel.

For all the new folks, here’s a primer on why you’d choose Lightroom vs Bridge, my thoughts on Aperture 3 compared to Lightroom 3, and learn how Lightroom manages your image metadata.

I hope you’ll find Photoshop Tip Tuesday to be an essential part of your Internet fare, checkout this week’s episode, and watch next week as I talk about Content-Aware Scaling in Photoshop.