Reverse Engineering
I lately had a special event where a photographer took some photos of the occasion and used PhotoReflect to host/sell me them.
The price per photo is 29$ or the whole set (90) 699$. I consider that an egregious amount to charge, considering that her services were supposedly already included with the event.
The following are some instructions you can follow for downloading the non-water marked medium quality images. This assumes that you are running on a Mac however the commands can easily be modified for any setup.
#Install a helpful tool to make HTTP requests - similar to cURL but nicer brew install http #Grab a single image id from the URL (click on any photo) and find the part with "pi=03PD17RD000000". #That ID represents the ID for that photo. #Suppose the store they send you to is http://myfakestore.photoreflect.com/store/ #Execute the following: http "http://myfakestore.photoreflect.com/web/bin/prpv.dll?cmd=photo&s=-3&i=03PD17RD000000&p=1" "Referer:http://myfakestore.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=9729609" > 03PD17RD000000.jpeg
The real magic here is in the s=-3 portion of the request, which I've found returns the image without the water-mark.
I still haven't figured out how to download the HighQuality images, but if you find out please share!
EDIT: I have also found a helpful Gist that can help inject a download button onto the store.
14 archived comments
Humberto · 2016-03-16
Want to try it, but Im not sure whats the name of the http tool. Whit “brew install http” I got an error: No available formula with the name “http”
fzakaria · 2016-03-16
sorry for the mistake:
brew install httpie
ITRIED · 2016-04-14
Hi Fzakaria,
I am having trouble to get the image without the watermark. The picture is no longer available on the order page as shown here: http://holidayvalley.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=1XCZ02PK040011&po=11&pc=20
but i was able to hit the email button and get the image to appear larger here: http://holidayvalley.photoreflect.com/store/EmailPhotocard.aspx?pi=1XCZ02PK040011
Then in the source code I was able to search dll and find the image here: http://www.photoreflect.com/web/bin/prpv.dll?cmd=photo&z=6B790E56EB606419569CD1952112A71156AE5785F4ADAB202384BEAC57EF5AAF862F3A290811DE4009880598DC66F33F
This allows me to save the image but I am still having trouble removing the watermark. Is there anything you can do to help? I would really appreciate it.
fzakaria · 2016-04-14
Looks like they might have solved the bug the exploit. :(
ITRIED · 2016-04-14
I’ve been trying to understand the script they use for the watermark but I am not very good. Anyway, thank you for trying. I will keep searching.
ITRIED · 2016-04-14
I’ve been trying to understand the script they use for the watermark but I am not very good. Anyway, thank you for trying. I will keep searching.
ITRIED · 2016-04-16
Hi fazakaria,
I was able to find the picture by messing around with the web address and got a picture to come up with the s=1. It was very small. Then I have been messing with it and got it bigger by changing it to s=300 and s=400. When I do this is also shifts around the watermark which makes me think that is is possible to get the image without the watermark. Can you take a look and let me know what you think? Here is the address: http://holidayvalley.photoreflect.com//web/bin/prpv.dll?cmd=photo&s=400&pi=1XCZ02PK040011&po=11&pc=20
Thank you!
Humberto · 2016-04-16
Hi again, thank you for the help, the script still works. But you have to change the “e=9729609” of the Referer page for the id of the album you want to download
“Referer:http://myfakestore.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=9729609” “Referer:http://myfakestore.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=##albumID##”
R · 2016-04-16
Tried several times with those scripts, tried to modify it with different ways, the result is - i CANT get photos without watermark :(
ITRIED · 2016-04-16
Hi Humberto,
I can’t seem to get it to work. I have all the information but the script is not working. Can you see if it works for you? Here is the album: http://holidayvalley.photoreflect.com/store/ThumbPage.aspx?e=9662469&g=1XCZ02PK04&gf=true This is the individual picture: http://holidayvalley.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=1XCZ02PK040011&po=11&pc=20
If you can get it I couldn’t thank you enough. I want to give it to my girlfriend for our anniversary. I tried contacting the photographer over and over for the last 4 months and he wont get back to me. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
MILLER · 2016-10-09
Give me your email ITRIED, I will give you the real photo since photoreflect.
Chuck · 2017-01-10
You all don’t get caught. The statutory penalties for copyright infringement are severe.
Skye212 · 2017-05-03
Hello Can someone help me and explain this better
Happy photographer · 2017-05-27
I am happy to know it is difficult to remove the watermark, having 9 separate photoreflect accounts that we do our online sales through. We work hard and go to a great expense to provide online sales only to have them stolen.