Learning To Stipple

 

Well everyone else is posting photos of snow so I thought it was time to get the sunglasses out and sit in the garden awhile. No seriously whilst it's been snowing I've been learning more about Stipple - not an Eskimo term for snow or new handicraft in case you are wondering. Stippling is a method of protecting photographic image identity as well as making photos more interactive. This post will be the test of whether my first attempt at stippling one of my images has actually worked. If it has been successful when you hover you cursor over the image you should see a link to this website and also some details about the photo itself. Please let me know if you can't see them. If that happens something has gone amiss and I will need to go back to the drawing board. Wherever this photo might travel on the internet in the future it will hopefully be linked back to this website. Even if somebody was to crop the watermark at the bottom of the photo the links will still be there.

I have not got brilliant photographic skills and do not make an income from photos or this website but it does annoy me when one of my photographs has been used on another website without my permission. I think that in most cases, that if somebody asked permission to use one of my photographs on their site, I would be so flattered that the answer would be affirmative. This especially applies to the garden blogging community. The incident that incensed me was that one of my photos appeared on a non gardening website which contained some adverts and links to rather dubious products and sites that I would not want to be associated with. Since then I have been trying to put a watermark on my photos even though this does not prevent other people from using them if they are determined to. I am reluctant to spoil the photo by placing the watermark in the centre, so it would still be relatively simple for somebody to crop the photo, therefore removing any association with me.

I came across mention of Stipple when I read this article on detering image theft by Rosie over at leavesnbloom. If you have not visited Rosie's blog before you are missing out. Her posts regularly include her absolutely exquisite plant photos which make me realise that I have got a long way to go. Rosies' article here covers the why and how tos of Stipple in depth and provides an excellent tutorial should you want to try it out. She explains what is involved clearly and with excellent step by step photographic illustrations. She has also written a follow up article here which tells you more about how you can make your images more interactive via Stipple. For instance I could have included some information about the Southport Flower Show i.e. dates of 2013 show, which is where I took the above photo but thought that it might be too ambitious for my first attempt at using Stipple.

At the moment you can sign up to Stipple free. The process of using it seems relatively straightforward and not too time consuming. For professional photographers like Rosie this development will help to protect their livelihoods. Garden bloggers can use it to enhance their  photos with much more information. Do let me know if you have a go and a big thanks to Rosie for sharing her knowledge and  her great instructions. There are of course instructions on the Stipple website, a community forum and you can also get in touch @Stipple

Now here goes - I'm about to press the publish button to see if it works!