How to Protect Photos for Sale From AI Watermark Removal
If you sell event photos, the free preview is the copy people try to keep. This guide sets up an event in 9Pic AI so the free view is small and covered in copyright text, and the full-size photo only reaches people who pay.
In short: turn on Store original photos when you create the event. In the watermark editor, choose Protect photos for sale and create the copyright text with Recommended settings. Then select Use 300px preview and save. Every overlay is varied, so AI tools cannot lift the text cleanly from one photo. No watermark stops every AI tool, so the small preview still matters most.
Why the setup has two parts
A watermark and a small preview protect against different things.
- The copyright text makes the free copy useless as it is. It also carries a © notice that mainstream AI assistants are built to respect. In our own test, Claude did not remove it in any of 9 requests.
- The 300px preview limits what anyone can take. Some image editors can still paint text out, and in our test one open model did. But painting text out of a 300px image still leaves a 300px image, too small to print or post as a good photo.
Buyers are not affected. After payment they receive the stored original, with no watermark and at full size.
Step 1: Store original photos when you create the event
On the Create event page, turn on Store original photos. It sits just below the event details. You can only turn it on while creating the event. For an event that already exists, contact the 9Pic AI team.
- It is included on Business, Custom and Enterprise. On a Trial you can try it, with photo sales in test mode. On Pay As You Go and Pro the switch is locked. See pricing for the plans.
- Turning it on also turns on 9Pic Checkout for the event.
Stored originals are what buyers receive after paying. They are also what unlocks the protection options in the steps below.
Step 2: Choose Protect photos for sale
Open the event, go to Photo, then Branding, and select Configure Watermark. The first question is What should the watermark do?
- Show my brand puts a logo or sponsor strip on every photo.
- Protect photos for sale, tagged Recommended for photo sales, repeats copyright text across each photo.
Choose Protect photos for sale. The copyright text becomes the event's only watermark, so any logo or strip is replaced when you save. If you change your mind before saving, choose Show my brand again and your logo settings come back.
Step 3: Create the text with Recommended settings
The Create text overlay dialog opens. Type your text, up to 80 characters: your studio name, the event name, or both. Leave the mode on Recommended. It fixes these settings:
| Setting | Recommended | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| © prefix | On | A clear copyright notice. In our test, Claude pointed to it when declining to remove the text. |
| Direction | Diagonal | Diagonal lines cross faces, bodies and bibs instead of running along gaps between people. |
| Size | Medium | Readable, while still letting buyers recognise themselves. |
| Text style | Alternating | Filled and hollow letters in light and dark ink. The text stays visible on bright and dark parts of the photo. |
| Density | Dense | Short gaps between repeats, so no large area of the photo is free of text. |
On top of these settings, every overlay is varied: no two stamps look exactly alike, so AI tools have no single ink colour or repeating pattern to lock onto. There is nothing to set; it applies in Recommended and Custom. The dialog's preview shows the look over your event's photos or a light or dark sample.
Select Generate. 9Pic AI creates a landscape and a portrait version. If you need different choices, switch to Custom, which starts from the Recommended values and shows every control.
Step 4: Keep the free view at 300px
Under Your copyright text, the editor offers Use 300px preview whenever free viewers can open photos at full size. Select it. It turns off Show the large photo at full size, which you can also find in the panel Advanced: what buyers see before paying below the live preview.
- Off (the 300px preview): the large view in the gallery is a 300px watermarked image. New photo-sale events start this way.
- On: the large view is the full-size watermarked photo. Turn it on only if buyers really need to judge sharpness before paying.
Certificates, manual tagging and highlight videos use the same large photo, so they are also limited to 300px while the switch is off.
In the same panel, Create small copies without a watermark saves a small unwatermarked copy of each photo for connected services, such as a results or timing partner. The gallery never shows them. If no service uses them, turn it off.
Step 5: Save and check real previews
- Select Save watermark in the bar at the bottom of the page.
- On the Photo Overview, select Generate Preview, then View Previews. Check a few wide and tall photos.
- Start processing once the previews look right.
The new settings apply to photos processed after you save. If the event already has processed photos, use Re-Process Watermark on the Process Photos card to apply the new watermark to them.
Step 6: Keep your watermark up to date
A saved watermark is fixed. 9Pic never changes it on its own, so the photos buyers see stay as you approved them. When we improve the overlay, an event gets the improvement the next time its copyright text is generated. If you set up the watermark a while ago, refresh it:
- Under Your copyright text, select Change text and style.
- Select Generate. You can keep the same text and settings.
- Select Save watermark.
- On the Photo Overview, run Re-Process Watermark so photos that are already processed get the new overlay.
What this does not stop
No watermark stops every tool, and we do not claim otherwise. In our removal tests:
- Claude did not remove the overlay in any of 9 requests.
- A popular free watermark remover cleaned a corner watermark off every photo, but left the 9Pic overlay in place on every photo.
- An attack that finds the ink by its colour can strip a plain, single-colour overlay from one photo. On the 9Pic overlay, 81 to 86% of the letters survived it.
- Someone who combines about five photos from the same event can still estimate where the text sits and paint most of it out, because every photo in an event carries the same overlay.
- One open image-editing model removed a plain overlay's visible text in its single run, by redrawing the whole photo. We have not yet run it on the varied overlay.
That is why the 300px preview matters most. The overlay stops casual copying and makes removal slow and visible. The small preview means even a successful removal does not give anyone the photo you sell.
FAQ
Do buyers get a watermarked photo?
No. After payment, buyers receive the stored original at full size, with no watermark.
Can I keep my logo as well as the copyright text?
No. Copyright text is always the event's only watermark. Choosing it replaces the logo and strip watermarks when you save.
Can I turn on Store original photos for an event I already created?
Not in the dashboard. Contact the 9Pic AI team about an existing event.
Will buyers recognise themselves in a 300px preview?
Usually, yes. Selfie search and bib search find their photos, and 300px is enough to see who is in the frame. If your buyers need to judge fine detail before paying, turn on Show the large photo at full size.
What to do next
- Create your next sales event with Store original photos on.
- Choose Protect photos for sale and generate the text with Recommended settings.
- Select Use 300px preview, save, and check the event-photo previews.
For the research and test results behind these settings, read Can AI remove your event photo watermark? For selling photos in general, see how to sell event photos online.