Picasa and You

I've just seen this and was shocked, its been posted by an American artist Angela Shogren.
I had no knownledge of this and was most thankful to follow this advice to prevent anyone downloading my photos.

Saturday, February 20, 2010
Picasa and You...

Do you realize that when you post a photo to your BlogSpot blog it automatically goes into an album that's been created for you on Picasa? And that if you don't go in and make sure to adjust the privacy settings on it, it's possible for people to download photos of your work and even pay (not you!) to have them printed and sent to them?

I followed a 'for Dummies' type book to set up my blog and so this was pointed out to me, but I'm realizing that many artists don't even realize this account is out there and viewable by the public...the info was there when you set up your blog, but the print was very fine.

To find your Picasa album, click on the 'My Account' tab of your Blogger Dashboard. In the middle of the page that comes up will be a section titled 'My Products' - under this heading will be Picasa Web Albums. Once you've clicked on that you'll be taken to your Picasa account and may be surprised at what you find - a whole easy access point for downloading YOUR art! To correct this click on each album (you'll have an album for each blog that you've set up) and once there click the 'Edit' tab...a dropdown menu will appear and you'll want to click 'Album Properties'...from there click 'Share' and choose 'Sign in Required to View'.
(at some point of this process you may be asked to set up a Picasa account - just do it...you already have one, setting it up just means you can access it and change things)

This will, hopefully, keep your photos your own and more under your control.

You can also explore the Picasa site and decide if you actually want to use it for marketing your work...it's much like Flickr. I myself already use Flickr and Facebook and just don't have the time or inclination to learn the ins and outs of one more site, so I'd rather keep it private and forget it most of the time...but it only seems fair to add that I've heard good things about Picasa too.

I thought I'd at least point out that it's out there and your stuff is on it whether you've been aware of it or not.

The internet is such a great tool and I love using it - and if you're going to put your work out there it's impossible to let people have a good look at it and entirely keep thieves from being able to copy it...I just accept that and I think the exposure and the ability to really share with other artists is undeniably worth it...but, we should do everything we can do to protect our work.

So, in simple form, here are the steps to take:

Dashboard
My Account
My Products -> Picasa Web Album
Album
Edit
Album Properties
Share -> Sign in Required to View

Another Revisit

I must stop posting things as finished! After a good C&C on my art forum I had another ponder and tinker. I'm still pondering so will still call this a wip!

Finished Ellie

Did the final push on this yesterday. I worked into the bush giving it more presence. I've said I've finished this, but I've put it on my art forum for a critique, so far the comments have been good, but I'm always open to suggestions!