MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => Sites that no longer exist => LuckyOliver.com => Topic started by: StockManiac on October 17, 2006, 18:04

Title: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: StockManiac on October 17, 2006, 18:04
Dear LuckyOliver:

Please change your watermark to be more secure.

While I love the fact that you display extra large thumbnails for potential buyers, your watermark can be very easy to edit out (depending on the image).  The watermark currently consists of a bunch of text areas that display "Lucky Oliver" around the image and then an "Annoying Watermark" at the top right of the image.  While the "Annoying Watermark" is secure, the other areas can be very insecure.

For example, with an image that consists mainly of light areas, the "Lucky Oliver" text areas are barely visible.  The following photo is an example of this (where the image mainly consists of light areas):

http://www.luckyoliver.com/photo/287218/iceberg+%26+climber

Not only does the example image mainly consist of light areas, but the upper-right hand corner consists of blue sky (where the "Annoying Watermark" is located).  This could very easily be removed with any image editing program.

My suggestion is to change the "Lucky Oliver" text from ONLY light-colored text to alternating light and dark-colored text.  This will work for almost any image and will make the image much more secure.

Securing the watermark will help the site in many ways, among them:

- Giving photographers the confidence to submit their photos knowing that their photos will not be hijaaked

- Reducing "lost" sales to those Internet surfers that would hijaak an image if it was easy, but would buy one if it was properly secured

Please note that there is no charge for my consultation services to your company and hope that you can prosper from said advice  :)

Sincerely,


StockManiac
Title: Re: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: maunger on October 18, 2006, 06:35
Non-photoshop expert question... why are you suggesting LO's watermark is bad when I've seen several sites where they only put their watermark in the center of the image one time. Seems to me having luckyoliver spread all over the image about 20 times would be much more difficult to remove as compared to one time in the middle?
Title: Re: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: CJPhoto on October 18, 2006, 06:55
I think he is saying it is good that it is spread out but it is too light.  In some situations, this makes it hard to see.

I have seen photos on there site where I wondered what something was, then realised it was the watermark that was bearly showing through.
Title: Re: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: leaf on October 18, 2006, 15:08
i think it is a pretty good watermark since it is over the entire image, but perhaps a tad lighter would be good.. but ther perhaps it would be a little obsructing.. :S
Title: Re: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: a.k.a.-tom on October 18, 2006, 15:41
Stockmaniac,  you sure have a point with that particular picture, any one of us could clean that baby up in a matter of minutes.You called that one right on!
   But it's tuff to come up with a WM that will be all things to all pix. I'm liking Lucky Oliver alot.  I'm putting a lot of hope into their outfit and its success.      Now, if they'd only review my pix.  I've got 70-80 in the box and some have been there since mid-September. Note to Bryan, "C'mon Bryan, be a pal !"
Title: Re: LuckyOliver Watermark
Post by: pixelbrat on October 18, 2006, 20:02
Maybe if they put a shadow behind the light text?  That way it would show up on light and dark images.  Something like this?

(http://pixelbrat.com/images/shadow_test.jpg)

Just a thought...