When are borders and Title/Name/Location appropriate in prints?

[gatorcruz]

Hello,

I am just beginning to sell my photographs as an artist. I like the idea of having a large white border and my name + Title of the photograph displayed at the bottom section of the border (as I have seen with many fine art photographs). I like this primarily because it does allow for name recognition ... It's free advertising, so to speak.

Of course, on the negative side, to the buyer, it does reduce the size of the image (by adding the border & shrinking the image) or the cost goes up a bit more because I am printing on a larger paper to fit an image with the surrounding thick border. The owner of the print could always chose to mount OVER the border, but maybe they will think they "lost out" in not getting the image edge-to-edge.

Anyway, when is this a good idea? Should I just offer customers TWO versions (one edge-to-edge and the other WITH the border and photo information? OR is edge-to-edge never a good idea -- at least a thin border should always be used even if it has no information?

If you think the border is a good idea then how much information should I include? (Please let me know which elements should or should not be included and why): (A) My name, (B) The Title, (C) The Location of the shoot as in City State or the name of the subject if it is iconic (i.e. Empire State Building), (D) My website (I actually think this is a bad idea ... I don;t want to make this into an obvious billboard!)

Thank you for your help.

 

[maulrat]

That is a lot to write. For me, I do not sell my photos because I am not quite at that stage yet but if I were, I would probably:
1. Not put a border
2. Have my name or company name in the lower left or right corner of the photo
3. Not make it so large and distracting
4. Have it only says ©my name and possibly the year

I've seen many photos with all that stuff you're thinking about doing to it, border, names etc. but unless you are printing poster sizes, then I wouldn't try to take up that much room with the border.

Just my 2bit newbie suggestions

 

[chrisburke]

the best thing i have seen is a embossed logo.. a company who i had some shots done by.. might have been my grad photos... the had their logo embossed in gold in the bottom left corner.. not very big, just enough to know who the photo was by.. i think its TERRIBLE to put ©Chris Burke 2008 on the bottom of an image your selling, such a turn off... and i would never purchase a photo that had that.. as it looks terrible.. when i sell photos, I don't include any logos.. my customers are very loyal to me, and when people look at their images, they always tell them they were done by me, and they give my number.. 99% of my business has come this way.. others just from seraching google.

 

[khallene]

I also sell some of my photos in local shops. I don't have anything on the front of my pictures. I do sign the back of each one with the date. Like 'chrisburke', word of mouth is a great thing and I also have cards that people can grab as well. Good luck!

 

[chrisburke]

if your putting your pictures on display like in a gallery or store where people can buy them, perhaps you can put a label beside them, like they do in art galleries... they tend to go with this sort of:

Picture Title
Photo By "Name"
© 2008
www.yoursitehere.com

this would go on a piece of paper, very small.. no bigger than a business card beside the picture, typically bottom to the right.. at least from all the galleries i've been in.

 

[maulrat]

i think its TERRIBLE to put ©Chris Burke 2008 on the bottom of an image your selling, such a turn off...

so the ©2008 Chris Burke Photography logo or watermark you just use for your portfolio? I'm still new here so I don't know any better. I've never really looked at photos for sale, just painting and of course they almost always had a signature. Like Bob Ross

 

[mrodgers]

..... others just from seraching google.

Ok, so I tried that....

I had no idea!

http://www.chrisburke.org/

:mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[chrisburke]

LOL at that link... the people who have found my photography stuff usually have google "quinte wedding photographer" or quinte photographer.. as i live in the quinte area... no, I'm not the Chris Burke who played Corky in Life Goes On.

as for the © Chris Burke 2008 I ONLY use those for web publishing.. my book that i use as a portfolio doesnt have it.. just my flickr, my personal site, and any site i might put them on... this is just a smart practice, and one that really makes sense where I live, because there is a local photographer in my area who has been stealing peoples images, and hosting them on her site, claiming them as her own (this is why i always put © Chris Burke 2008.. so this doesnt happen.

as for the paintings... yes they always have signatures.. and i would say this is something that you CAN do in photography, but it has to be done with class.. hense the mentioning of the gold emboss that i've seen some photographers use... one sec i'll go snap a pic of an example....

sorry for the crap quality, i just used my webcam.. kinda hard to see what it says but it says The Station House

 

[maulrat]

...as for the © Chris Burke 2008 I ONLY use those for web publishing.. .. and i would say this is something that you CAN do in photography, but it has to be done with class.. hense the mentioning of the gold emboss that i've seen some photographers use..

I see your point. Thanks for your help. Personally, that gold foil is really bothering me. I would have been a little less than happy if my senior photo had that big advertisement on my gown. I guess that is classy because of the foil wrapper.

 

[chrisburke]

yea, i wouldnt do it to my pictures, but if you MUST put something, this is what i would suggest