Watermark & Photos

Parents never see your original in the shop. They see a downscaled preview with a watermark. The original stays locked until a digital file is bought. Under Settings → Photos you define how the preview looks.

Watermark

A text, tiled diagonally across the whole image. The preview on the right shows every change immediately.

Text

Default SAMPLE. Short and in capitals works best, e.g. your studio name.

Font size and density

Font size from small to large, default 40 px. Density from loose to dense, default 0.7. Denser protects better but covers more of the subject.

Opacity

From transparent to visible, default 40%. Too weak invites screenshots, too strong sells worse.

Distortion effect

A wave distortion that makes the watermark hard to remove. Default 18 px, 0 switches it off.

Preview resolution

The preview is created from the original at upload. Two sliders define its size.

Longest edge

600 to 1200 px, applies to portrait and landscape. The aspect ratio stays, nothing is cropped.

JPEG quality

Default 70%. Higher values cost storage and make the preview closer to the original. 1200 px at 70% is ideal for most.

The original stays untouched

The original is stored without watermark and in full resolution. It is delivered only for purchased digital files and in the lab export.

Copy protection

Disables right-click, hides images when leaving the page and makes screenshots harder. Desktop only. A hurdle, not a lock: the watermark is the real protection.

Gallery in the customer shop: all previews with the diagonal SAMPLE watermark

Download period

Defines how many days after the order parents can download purchased digital photos. The period starts with the order and applies to every download of that order.

7 to 90 days

Default seven days. Shorter is not possible, longer up to 90 days. We recommend seven days so original files stay accessible no longer than necessary.

Applies everywhere

Single download in the customer account, ZIP archive and the password creation link all expire after the same period. Every notice in the shop and in emails shows your value.

Your privacy policy

You inform your customers about the applicable period. If you change the value, update the sentence about the download period in your privacy policy.

An extension applies immediately to existing orders as well: parents whose period expired yesterday can download again after the change.

Access codes, layout, sorting

Further down in the Photos area lie the settings for the gallery itself.

Photo settings with access codes in the shop, gallery layout and sorting & file names

Several access codes

Parents with siblings in the same photo job combine up to five codes in one session: one gallery, one cart, one order, one shipping. Codes from other jobs cannot be combined.

Gallery layout

Classic grid with square tiles, masonry in original format or polaroid style. Plus 2 to 6 columns on desktop, 1 or 2 on mobile. The preview shows the result.

Sorting and file names

Newest first, oldest first or by file name. File names in the download random or structured. Show group photos first and allow favourites are on by default.

Switch on or off per event

In the header of every photo job sits the Watermark chip. Switching off removes only the watermark, the preview stays downscaled and the original protected. Important: changes apply only to photos uploaded afterwards. Previews already created are not recalculated.

Photos protected. Now your own domain.

Your shop at your address, with SSL from Pixalo.

Next: custom domain