1. A method of processing images using a reference in a watermarking application, comprising: receiving a distributed reference at an image processing device, wherein the distributed reference has a reduced resolution, and wherein the distributed reference does not include a watermark; registering watermarked content at the image processing device and the reduced resolution reference such that registration parameters are calculated; warping the watermarked content at the image processing device using the registration parameters; processing the watermarked content at the image processing device using the registration parameters; and recovering a watermark at the image processing device using both the processed watermarked content and the reduced resolution reference.