Separating original photo from its derivative images

[cgc0202]

Hi,

In an old thread, a side comment by either Paver, Gizmo, or one of the dev guys, stated that they have experimented on "photo housekeeping".  In this case, the "author" claimed that he was able to separate the folder for the original photos, and that of the derivative images -- normal, mini and thumbs.  I thought then that there were many advantages to this strategy.  Among them are easier editing of individual photos, and mass backup of original photos, if the originals are not mixed with the derivative images.

More recently, I realized that there is another important advantage for separating the original photo from its derivative  images.

Many flickr participants were hesitant to present their original photos because they could be easily stolen by others.  For this reason, they have employed all sorts of mechanisms to thwart such piracy -- including watermarks,  "gif substitutes" so that no large image appears when someone tries to copy the image, etc.   I am not  too enthused with "watermarking", all  my photos are unmarked, because I believe that a decent person would ask for permission whlle a determined person can always find a way around, if they want to use a photo without permission or attribution.

It turned out  -- if the derivative images and the original photo are on the same folder --  there is an easy way around the "gif substitutes" to get the original photo. Thus,

May the guy who found a way to separate the original photo from its derivative images share the script?  Or, if you know how to do it, please share your ideas. It would help if it also works in a format where the photos are kept outside of the CPG, i.e., outside of the default "albums" directory but within the same server -- which was the topic discussed in the original thread where the side-comment on photo-housekeeping was mentioned.

Thanks.

CGC