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'censored' pics - how safe???

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

most of us have to censor/blur/pixelate our pics for privacy reasons, but have heard that this can be undone by the determined - is this true??????????? Very nervous pending any thoughts or reassurances

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Yes it can be done, it is not an easy task and the person would have to know what they are doing. However anyone determined enough to do anything with any piece of material you make available over the internet will do so.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Moral being don't put anything on the internet you would not be happy with people seeing.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

Thanks Julie but is any method of hiding faces better than others eg cropping or blurring etc

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Crop.

Solid shapes over faces.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Crop.

Solid shapes over faces."

phew, glad i read that.

was gonna remove all our pics lol

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Thanks Julie but is any method of hiding faces better than others eg cropping or blurring etc"

Crop as then the whole image is never uploaded.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's only the photos where the images are distorted that can sometimes be put back together - blurring, pixelating etc. If the image data isn't there it can't be recovered.

But you can still crop somebody else's face onto the body

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

Cheers all

A little rework to do!!!!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"most of us have to censor/blur/pixelate our pics for privacy reasons, but have heard that this can be undone by the determined - is this true??????????? Very nervous pending any thoughts or reassurances"

Depends what you do. Swirl effects, etc. can be reversed. If in doubt, just blank out the face entirely.

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By *Ryan-Man
over a year ago

In Your Bush

Cover your face in golden syrup that stuff is a bitch to get off.

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By *opinovMan
over a year ago

Point Nemo, Cumbria

[Removed by poster at 18/09/13 09:27:57]

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By *opinovMan
over a year ago

Point Nemo, Cumbria

Don't panic!

If you alter your images in photoshop there are ways of making it harder for people to reveal the parts you obscure.

As suggested above, swirl effects are best avoided as they are easy to reverse. However, by imposing a large scale pixillation effect you can secure it with a succession of techniques...

First of all, outline the face with the Elliptical Marquee or Lasso Tool. Then go to the tool bar and select: Filter / Pixelate / Mosaic (you can adjust the degree of pixelation with a slider on the pop-up).

Then, without deselecting the Marquee or Lasso, obscure further by selecting Filter / Blur / Radial Blur.

Then resize your image by selecting Image / Image Size (in the pop-up, using percentage with fixed aspect ratio is probably the most convenient method).

You can also crop the image by using the rectangular marquee and then selecting Image / Crop

Then select Edit / Purge / All

Then select File / Save for Web - when the first window opens, you can set the quality of the image - when you press Save, the next window comes up where you can rename the image (you'll need to do this to prevent the original image being overwritten) - be sure to go to the bottom of the window and select Format / Images Only.

When the window closes, you'll return to the unoptimised image you've been working on. If you want to keep the original image in its unpixilated state, be sure to close the image and press "Don't Save".

You can now open the pixilated/optimized image and you'll see that even the EXIF data has been wiped and the obscuring is irreversible.

I hope this helps.

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By *iss_tressWoman
over a year ago

London


"Moral being don't put anything on the internet you would not be happy with people seeing."

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By *opinovMan
over a year ago

Point Nemo, Cumbria

... and don't worry - it might seem complicated but you'll quickly find it's very simple.

If you do have any difficulty with this, drop me a line and I'll try to help.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

A paedophile was caught this year. He thought he was safe swirling his face. The police reversed it and he was recognised. The case made the news because he was caught this way

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Decapitation is a good method

But it makes repeat meets a little difficult

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"A paedophile was caught this year. He thought he was safe swirling his face. The police reversed it and he was recognised. The case made the news because he was caught this way"

A straight swirl uses a set algorithm to create the effect. The techniques outlined further up in this thread show how to make a new image with very variable pixel density. The human element in it means its a lot harder to be "undone" and makes it nigh on impossible to know that the original has been recreated.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Yes it can be done, it is not an easy task and the person would have to know what they are doing. However anyone determined enough to do anything with any piece of material you make available over the internet will do so.

"

this^^

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By *risky_MareWoman
over a year ago

...Up on the Downs


"Cover your face in golden syrup that stuff is a bitch to get off. "

Haha!

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By *opinovMan
over a year ago

Point Nemo, Cumbria


"Yes it can be done, it is not an easy task and the person would have to know what they are doing. However anyone determined enough to do anything with any piece of material you make available over the internet will do so.

this^^"

.. can be countered by the method I outlined earlier in this thread.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Decapitation is a good method

But it makes repeat meets a little difficult "

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I doubt most concerned by this will be photoshop users.

The syrup method is more fun.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"Don't panic!

If you alter your images in photoshop there are ways of making it harder for people to reveal the parts you obscure.

As suggested above, swirl effects are best avoided as they are easy to reverse. However, by imposing a large scale pixillation effect you can secure it with a succession of techniques...

First of all, outline the face with the Elliptical Marquee or Lasso Tool. Then go to the tool bar and select: Filter / Pixelate / Mosaic (you can adjust the degree of pixelation with a slider on the pop-up).

Then, without deselecting the Marquee or Lasso, obscure further by selecting Filter / Blur / Radial Blur.

Then resize your image by selecting Image / Image Size (in the pop-up, using percentage with fixed aspect ratio is probably the most convenient method).

You can also crop the image by using the rectangular marquee and then selecting Image / Crop

Then select Edit / Purge / All

Then select File / Save for Web - when the first window opens, you can set the quality of the image - when you press Save, the next window comes up where you can rename the image (you'll need to do this to prevent the original image being overwritten) - be sure to go to the bottom of the window and select Format / Images Only.

When the window closes, you'll return to the unoptimised image you've been working on. If you want to keep the original image in its unpixilated state, be sure to close the image and press "Don't Save".

You can now open the pixilated/optimized image and you'll see that even the EXIF data has been wiped and the obscuring is irreversible.

I hope this helps. "

Great stuff although don't have photoshop may be able to follow in some way - cheers

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