Best Image Optimization for Screen = Awful Print Quality.

[JackJack]

I would like to optimize some large photos for the web so that they will look great on screen at about 900px width, but print out awfully, very bitmapped, and/or not fit for re-distribution or re-selling. If someone were to steal the photos, at least I would have peace of mind that they couldn't re-print them with high quality.

Thoughts?

[djr33]

There's no magic trick here.

Print resolution is suggested to be 300dpi (dots per inch) or higher. For screen/web resolution, the standard (and max, in most cases) is 72ppi (pixels per inch, equiv. to dpi).

So, generally it will look better on the screen than in print.

You can adjust that as desired, I suppose, but it'll look increasingly worse on screen as you make it look worse for the printer. Fairly simple.

You could play with color space some. Screens use RGB, whereas printers use in most/many cases CMYK, but the conversion is usually smooth unless you have some particular insight to give that algorithm problems.

Anyway, there's no solution here. If you put it on the web, people can steal it. Deal with it. (Search all you'd like, but that is the final answer, and the best you'll do is save some time not searching for something else.)

Wish there was something better to suggest.

Remember, you can always use watermarks, if that fits your purpose.

[Medyman]

I would like to optimize some large photos for the web so that they will look great on screen at about 900px width, but print out awfully, very bitmapped, and/or not fit for re-distribution or re-selling. If someone were to steal the photos, at least I would have peace of mind that they couldn't re-print them with high quality.

Thoughts?

If you're that worried about people printing it and re-selling, just remove the images before printing.

Of course, there are ways people will get around it. Like Daniel said...it's just part of putting content on the Internet.

[Bob90]

Just save the photo as a low quality JPEG. This will look fine on the screen, but nobody will pay for it.

Or just re-save the picture again and again as a jpeg to lose quality.

[troberto]

There's a million ways you can use to try (I emphasize try) to prevent stealing of images. BUT
Print screening is always going to get past every thing you try.
All you do is find the image.
Press "Print Screen"
Crop to the image.

Possible answers to the un-printscreening person trying to steal an image could be:
<style>
img-moz-highlight-region
{
display: none;
width: 0px;
height: 0px
}
img:active, img:hover, img:focus
{
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
display: none;
}
</style>

Or you could use media="print"
Or you could write a HUGE JS script to add a watermark or pixelate it.
BUT you can always "print screen".
Troberto

[Minos]

Or just use photoshop to create a watermark. At least then regardless of the case it is there, and you don't have to bother with the JS. Just make sure you don't watermark the original :P. Yeah, seriously, though...that would suck.

[techno_race]

If you're worried about people stealing the image, but do have copies for print/redistribution, here are my thoughts:
1.

<style>
img-moz-highlight-region
{
display: none;
width: 0px;
height: 0px
}
img:active, img:hover, img:focus
{
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
display: none;
}
</style>

I believe this only works with Mozilla-based browsers.
2. If you are familiar with HTML </div> layers, you can watermark using one. If you are using Photoshop, you can go through the following steps to create a watermark image:
2a. Open a new document, about 250x20 - 8-bit RGB with a transparent background.
2b. Go to the Text tool, choose the Arial font face (12pt.), and set the color to black.
2c. Set the layer opacity to 50%.
2d. Enter the website URL, ex wikipedia.org [or any other message of your choice]
2e. Save the file as a transparent PNG. (Options: None)
You can then use a layer to place the watermark image over the image in the page. You should then install a no-right-click script on the page, to prevent people from simply saving the image, and, if desired, ude the styling quoted above.
3. And, the #1 tip, keep seperate copies for web and for print.