Watermarks

[ilyfel]

I don't have a website.. Idk how to make one..

i'm not really good w/ computers.. and i don't have spare money to have someone make one for me..

 

[Alex_B]

ok, or some sort of contact such as a permanent email address .... just in case someone gets interested in your images.

web pages are not that hard to do. I think there are templates for free which are good enough if you do not run a business.

 

[ilyfel]

I do run one (kindof). But I'm new to the whole internet thing photog wise.

 

[Alex_B]

hmm, then depending on your clients and prospect clients, a webpage might be very useful. word of mouth these days often means person a sends person b the URL of a webpage by email.

 

[ilyfel]

I'd love to have a website.. But I just can't afford it.

 

[Alex_B]

about less than 5 USD per month is the cost of a domain plus hosting I think.

 

[ilyfel]

I need to take out a loan!! come on guys!! who wants to loan me 5 a mo!?!

lol jk

 

[Alex_B]

I need to take out a loan!! come on guys!! who wants to loan me 5 a mo!?!

lol jk

I'm sure you could even convince a young bloke to build you a webpage and host your site for free

 

[ilyfel]

LOL!! Come on guys!! If you made my site you could, well you would find out.

 

[toteki]

The problem I have, is that her example above can very easily be cropped out without ruining the image. True, any watermark can be photoshopped out by those who know how, but I think what we're trying to do is to keep the average Joe from just cropping and printing the picture to add to their family album at home. Most families don't care if the picture isn't an 8x10. They're jazzed that they got it for free. And that's what hurts us the most. If you're worried about someone stealing your image, placing it in the corner isn't going to make them stop for even a second. I didn't have obtrusive watermarks for a while, until one of my clients told me, "I printed out all of the proofs and put them on my fridge."

Marian

I agree with you, the WM/Logo is very nice, I like the font, but it can easily be cropped out.. the watermark I use for my website is this

Just my name cros the whole picture, in white, and with an opacity of 20%. It is not really disturbing, (asked a bunch of people for their opinion, because I was thinking that it might disturb.. but they said is was just good..) and it's hard (almost impossible) to edit it out.. only the peeps who know their edditing software will be able to do this..

For this website I just use a border, with my name and title of the foto, which can also easily be cropped out, but yea.. I want critics of my real images, not the ones with a watermark.. it might get in way of critical information ..

Just my 2 pennies

 

[Josh66]

and how do I make it so I can apply it to my image w/o having the white background? and how do I make the letters white if I need to put it on something dark??

Make a custom brush of it in photoshop (if that's what you're using).
It's pretty easy to do.

1) Scan it (which you've obviously done already) and open the image in photoshop, then select just the ink/pencil lines.
2) On the "Edit" menu click on "Define Brush from Selection..." (I have elements 4.0, I'm not sure if the menus are the same on other versions)

That's pretty much it. Name it and save it. Now you can select that brush, make it whatever size you want, any color you want and just click where you want your signature.

-edit-
You could make the copyright text part of the brush too. Just use the Text tool to type in whatever you want to say under your signature and select that as well before you create the brush.
Then you could stamp your hand-written initials with your printed name, copyright, or contact info under it - eliminating the step of having to type that stuff in every time.

 

[toteki]

Or you can just use the " Erase Background " eraser.. then you just click around you logo you drew, and the background will go away.. that would be the easiest way i guess..

 

[ilyfel]

WM that go threw the pic are distracting.

 

[wildmaven]

WM that go threw the pic are distracting.

I think watermarks which go through the picture are needed when trying to keep your work from theft.

 

[toteki]

WM that go threw the pic are distracting.

If you focus on the picture, you can almost forget that the watermark is there.. :mrgreen:

and besides, they are needed for theft yea.. unfortunately