For users of the DIgimarc Online Services Portal to enable interactive printed images.

As you get artwork ready for watermarking and a pressrun you have ask "How do I know it'll work"? 

There are 3 items/interactions that effect the readability of your watermarked image when it is printed:

1. How well can the reading device that your user has "see" the watermark, including in low light?
2. Image reproduction e.g. how good is you press at reproducing your artwork?
3. Did you watermark your artwork/image effectively for it's size, color space and type of image?

The good news is that all 3 of these can be determined with smartphone and a good proof.

For users of the Digimarc Online Services Portal to enable interactive printed images.

A first time user sometimes finds that after watermarking an image they can't read the watermark when they print it. Most often this is caused by watermarking the image at a size that is different than the size it is printed. This often happens with digital camera images since these are often at 72dpi, e.g. an iPhone 4 image is 36" x 27" at 72dpi.

One of the really creative things you can do with watermarking is to place multiple digital watermarks within a single image. This creates multiple "hot spots" that your readers can explore within a single interactive item.

Creating multiple hot-spots requires only a good layout application, a Digimarc Discover account to create the web services and watermarks; Photoshop can be used as well. You can find YouTube videos for creating hot-spots with InDesign here or using Photoshop here. Or to see a video of how this unique functionality can be well appled, watch here.

While the image embedded to the left only features a single watermark that you can scan with your smartphone, if you download the PDF with multiple watermarks you can see this same image with 6 watermarks. Each of these watermarks has a pop-up text overlay to tell you where it links to, the vest, the jewelry, etc. and tapping on the screen will take you to that product. In a way the printed page responds to a smartphone with a reader app like a website and mouse-ing over links.

Can you imagine this same image with 6 QR Codes on top of each product to create the same affect? Not something an advertiser would want to see. The really nice thing about multiple watermarks within an image is that you don’t need a quiet zone like a QR code; they can be placed next to each other. If anything you will want to make sure not to put too many watermarks within a small area which may confuse the reader. While watermarks can go down to a 1” x 1” area we recommend keeping the watermarked areas at least 2” x 2” for ease of use.

The following is a guest post from Justin Herbert, an education professional. As such he is interested in how technology is affecting education. His post discusses using "Mobile Response Codes," a term we've begun using internally to group the rapidly expanding print to web options; QRcodes, Microsoft Tags and [most importantly] digital watermarks to name just a few.

Technological advances in cellular capabilities, web applications, and interactive content storage have led to the creation of digital watermarks and quick response (QR) codes. QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that users can scan with a webcam or smartphone app, such as QR Droid or Red Laser, that lead directly to interactive content. Digital watermarks work in a similar fashion, but offer a more aesthetically pleasing layout. Invisible to the naked eye, but perceptible by your smart phone, digital watermarks provide a sleeker, visually pleasing look and can be used by simply pointing your smart phone at the watermarked content of interest and using the associated app.

Camera prints, film and slides ability to survive thanks to the physical nature of their materials is pretty common. Keeping in mind that photography only began in the 1820's and we may find that digital photography could be even more durable.

I loved reading this story about a DSLR that spend a year at the bottom of a bay. Not only was the diver able to retrieve images, but he also found the owner of the camera and images using a social network.

A bit more disconcerting is this story of a woman who finds a family photo in Ikea that she posted to her blog. Ikea bought the image from a stock photography company. I was unable to find a follow-up to this story. Most likely the stock photography company paid their base rate for a stock photo if there's no copyright infringement.

My two conclusions:

1. Make sure you erase that SD card really well before you sell off an old camera.
2. Before posting images to the web consider adding a digital watermark like Digimarc for Images and copyrighting them. If your stolen photos are found and have your copyright you could do better than a base rate for stock photos.