RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

I notice alot of folks put watermarks or signatures on their photos. I have figured out how to do the later and now wonder if it is necessary. Thoughts?

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

We photographers get possessive of our favorite shots. Sometimes, we fear that if we post it to the web, someone will use the photo in some way that we (as the photographer) did not intend. Putting a watermark on the photo is distracting, but it does allow us to share our work and worry a bit less about someone using it. Secondly, when someone sees the shared photo and says, WOW!!!!, your watermark is there to let them know who did the fantastic work.

Is it necessary? No. But, for what it's worth, I'm evaluating watermarking software right now so I can start the practice. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm listening.

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

Hey Bruce...if you find something you like, let me know...I can get my name and blog site on with Paint...but have not figured out how to watermark with Adobe...so complicated with all those layers. Thanks for your thoughts on this matter.

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

I put my watermark on the back of all my digital pix, but then you have to peer onto the backside of your monitor to see it...

They are ok if you want to IDENTIFY your photo, and have enough information on your watermark for people to find you. "pix by joe" is not very helpful. But a larger watermark is often obtrusive and annoying, IMO.

They offer no real protection against copyright infringement, since they can often be cropped right off if they're along one edge, or 'de-layered' otherwise. They offer the same protection as those stickers advertising alarm services when you don't have an alarm itself.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

If you're looking into a watermark or signature for security sake only Digimarc embeds your information into the file itself. For my signature I simply scanned my written signature off a piece of paper and converted it to a brush in Photoshop. That way I can size it as well as customize it's opacity and color.

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

thanks Ill give that a try

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

Lightroom 3 with embedd your megadata into your photo automatically for you (just set it up). I use both a watermark (just for idenification purposes for my blog) and megadata for security purposes.

tinosa Loc: Grand Rapids Michigan

Here's a link to a technique I use. It results in a mostly tranperant copyright that doesn't hide much of the image. Once I have created the watermark I save the image as a PSD.. Then it is very easy to resize, change the text , or repostion it.
or,if you use the same watermark often, save it to a file that can then be dropped into an image any time you need it. Remember, it's always editable!


Ihttp://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/apswatermark.htm

RiverNan Loc: Eastern Pa

I found this site just a few weeks ago and am so glad I did. thank you thank you everyone for all your suggestions. It might take me a few weeks to even figure them all out, but it is a grand goal. Betty..:-)

SladeCalhoun Loc: Oxford, MA

I've been wondering the same thing lately. Most of the time I find them to be very distracting (and often put onto pics that probably wouldn't be stolen anyway). I love the signature suggestion that Bob made above.

Julie Loc: Northeast

I also would like to know how to do the watermark…and if it really makes a difference?

Scout

I use EasyBatchPhoto. Anyone know if this can be removed and my photo used anyway? EBP is not expensive but not free either. Easy to use.

JohnnyRottenNJ Loc: Northern New Jersey

There are a lot of watermarking plug-ins in most photo software, but it is more for putting a symbol (of their choice, not yours)into a photo. There are watermarking programs that are quite inexpensive, and although an experienced Photoshop user could probably remove something that is embedded, it will stop probably 95% of those who would use a photo without permission.

I relayed an experience I had in another section of this site. Basically, a guy asked (through a friend) if he could view some aerial photos that I took. I was a little uneasy about it, but foolishly I sent them to him. I got a reply a little while later saying "Hope you don't mind, but I forwarded the photos to some people that I know. The next morning I called my friend to express my concerns, during the 10 minutes that I spoke to him on the phone, I got 4 emails and 2 phone calls (call waiting cut-ins) from people asking permission to use my photos. I said yes, with the caveat that I get a credit line if any photos were published. I found that very unsettling.

As it turned out, this clown moved to the USA right after WWII, and it appeared that he forwarded the photos to virtually everyone he met since coming here. What really pissed me off, is that the man writes a weekly column in a local newspaper, and he would have attorneys all over you if you "borrowed" just one sentence from his column. I hate people who think that their "intellectual property" is so valuable, but think so little of the work of someone else. I purchased watermarking software that very night, and although I don't use it often, I have it. Needless to say, that guy burned a bridge that will NEVER be re-built.

Dee01

How do you put watermarks or signatures on your photos? I would post more but even being an amateur I would not want someone using my photos.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

I posted two links on how to create and use watermarks in, elements, photoshop and Lightroom directly above your post.