To use watermark or not to use watermark?

[tecboy]

Do you guys use watermark? Is that really importance? I have not thought about watermark until someone suggests I should?

 

[SnappingShark]

I didn't use to - although since Lightroom now exports with it, I rarely turn it off.
For me - importance = none - but sometimes, I get that "pride" feeling when I see it on images I've created.
Kind of like kids - they puke and pee in public, but you still have pride, cos they're yours.

 

[sscarmack]

I "sign" my images.

My watermark is my signature.

 

[ronlane]

I've used one and not used one. I think it just lets people know that it's my photo even though it is easy to remove. I went back to using one after spending some time working and coming up with something that I felt was professional and would not take away from my photos.

 

[mmaria]

Do you guys use watermark?

sometimes I do sometimes I don't...

more don't than do

 

[astroNikon]

I've used one and not used one. I think it just lets people know that it's my photo even though it is easy to remove. I went back to using one after spending some time working and coming up with something that I felt was professional and would not take away from my photos.

that's been my issue. Something that looks nice that doesn't distract from the photo.
but then, it's a hobby too and I don't want some misconception that I have a business.

 

[ronlane]

I've used one and not used one. I think it just lets people know that it's my photo even though it is easy to remove. I went back to using one after spending some time working and coming up with something that I felt was professional and would not take away from my photos.

that's been my issue. Something that looks nice that doesn't distract from the photo.
but then, it's a hobby too and I don't want some misconception that I have a business.

That's funny, because the stuff I have been doing as "business" I haven't been watermarking.

 

[Tailgunner]

Do you guys use watermark? Is that really importance? I have not thought about watermark until someone suggests I should?

Everything I post on the net or Instagram is watermarked, re-sized (usually 1000kb or less), resolution is reduced to 72. I also note my information in the meta file as well. These image files are stored in a re-sized folder separate from my high resolution photos used for printing.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I started using one when I noticed that some of the kids on Tumbler, who find a way to repost my images for Flickr, managed to add their own watermark to my images. So after going through the DMCA takedown ordeal with tumblr I just started adding a small mark to the images. It seems to have the added side effect of those kids not using my images anymore.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I do for everything I put online. The only thing I used to not watermark was photos I uploaded to 500px, incorrectly thinking that because they right click protect that photos wouldn't be stolen. Well I had a photo make it to #1 on the popular page (was SO happy) and then a few days later I reverse image searched it. I stopped looking through stuff after 20 pages. Most of it was people that shared it on pinterest or whatever, but a few people posted the photo on their various social media pages as their own, one guy even copy and pasted my description of the photo when he stole it haha.

I know a small watermark is easy enough to remove, but it keeps some of the lazy people from stealing a photo and it directs some people to my website.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't post much online and don't use many sites (Tumblr, 500px, etc.) because of their Terms - trying to protect it when the terms allow usage seems pointless once you've used a site and agreed to the Terms. I have a Flickr page set so only friends can view it.

I don't post much on Facebook either except a waaay downsized lo res crappy looking copy and that's just something fun for friends to see - and I display it for a time then delete it.

So I don't have to watermark much. I don't when it's not going directly online and it's something being submitted or sent to someone for a specific purpose. If I post online I watermark it if nothing else to discourage it being used, and I customize the watermark and place it thru the significant part of the photo. If people don't like it, too bad! unless they're planning to pay me for it, they can look around or thru the watermark! lol

 

[KmH]

1. Register your copyrights to your photos.
Use the IPTC fields that are available in the metadata oas you upload photos to your computer.
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_metadata.pdf
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom * Add and edit IPTC metadata

How to Add Copyright Management Information to Your Photos - Updated! | Photo Attorney
Five Things You Can Do to Protect Your Online Images | Photo Attorney
Registering Your Copyrights Using the eCO System | NatureScapes.Net - The Resource for Nature Photographers
Good Info on How to Protect Your Online Images | Photo Attorney

 

[Gary A.]

It is all a personal choice.

Some that use watermarks thinks that it inhibits theft and promotes the photog.

Others that don't use watermarks feel that using such is all about self-promotion, arrogance and distracting. (Kinda like the arrogance of using HBC's borders.)

 

[Buckster]

I never used to mark my photos with anything. However, a copyright attorney convinced me that it was well worth it to place at the very least a very small copyright notification on my images, which I now do, usually in the lower right corner, VERY small, like teeny-tiny, just enough to see it. I also color it so that it blends in pretty well with that corner of the photo to keep it from standing out like a shout, but can be readily seen.

It informs anyone who sees it that it IS a copyrighted photo, so they can't claim they didn't know. If they remove it, it shows intent to willfully violate my copyright. Those were the main points the attorney made, and they made sense to me. I also register every image that doesn't get deleted with the US Copyright Office, whether I intend to use it or not.

As for actual watermarks, I only use them on images posted to proof pages for my clients, in order to keep them from nabbing the images without paying. Those watermarks are big, they are ugly, they cover the entire photo from top to bottom with a repeating pattern of a copyright notice and "for proof only" in big fat letters. It's very light colored and very translucent, so that the client can see the images well enough to choose which ones they want printed at which sizes, but would be WAY too much work for anyone to successfully remove, and too ugly for them to use anywhere.

I don't post any other versions of those images anywhere until after the client has made their purchases.

My prints have no notifications or watermarks of any kind on them.

 

[Ilovemycam]

Do you guys use watermark? Is that really importance? I have not thought about watermark until someone suggests I should?

I don't use them. Most of my work is readily identifiable if someone searches for it.