Blur images and sell the sharp originals

Blur images and sell is the search after a cousin saved every JPEG from a "just look" gallery. On a phone, a 2400-pixel file already looks finished. If that is what the share serves, payment becomes optional manners. Blur makes the unpaid page obviously not the deliverable, while still letting a couple pick a favourite.

Spike can treat the public view of a folder so stills are soft until checkout. The masters stay in the library. You do not export a second "blurred set" and a "clean set" and hope you attach the right one. One folder. Two views. Payment is the switch. The mechanics sit next to blur and watermark previews.

Why blur, not a tiny logo

A light corner mark is easy to crop. Un-blurring a properly treated preview is not worth the effort for a stolen Facebook upload. Blur is the honest extra when the page is a sales preview and a clean still would replace the purchase. Use a watermark when you want the image readable and obviously yours. Use both when the gallery will be forwarded widely.

• Weddings, portraits, and newborns: blur the unpaid gallery, sell the print files.
• Mood boards and press: a readable watermark may be enough.
• Public samples on a storefront: blur or mark, never full-res.

How to blur images and sell them on Spike

1. 01

   Upload the originals once

   The folder holds the print-ready set. Do not upload a pre-blurred ZIP as the product.

2. 02

   Turn on blur for the unpaid view

   The previews guide has the control. Check a phone screen. If it still looks hangable, increase the treatment.

3. 03

   Price the share

   Charge for a download link if the money is still due. Password it if only the client should open the page.

Blur vs bars vs a sample

Blur keeps the whole frame. Censor bars hide a strip. A sample shows three files and locks the rest. Censor files and sell is the wider rule. This page is the stills case where the whole gallery should be visible, just not usable.

After they pay

The lock lifts. They get the files you stored, not a slightly less blurry JPEG. Leave the link up so they can re-download. Free shares last three days; Pro and Business until you turn them off. Photographers use this as the client gallery. If the ritual is proof then pay, send proofs and get paid.

If they can hang it, you already delivered. Blur is how the window stays a window.

Screenshots will always exist. Blur is not a DRM fantasy. It stops the unpaid page from being a usable export, which is the leak that actually costs a gallery. For a named client, add a password so the soft set is not a public URL.

If the work is design, not photography, you may want a flattened mockup rather than blur. That path is share design files and get paid or sell mockups online.