Comments on: Watermarking – How I Utilise this Advertising Opportunity

By: Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:06:56 +0000

I use Photoshop CS4 where I create my watermarks then make them into brushes so I can easily put them on my photos. I have to do each photo individually, but I don’t really mind, I have gotten pretty good at it so it doesn’t take me that much time.

I have a question. I have gone through a couple different watermarks now, changing the sizes and overall look of them. Right now it looks like this:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=279824765396672&set=a.279824565396692.66867.234361449943004&type=3&theater

I’ve had a butterfly in all my watermarks because I really like them and I would like them to sort of be my trademark, but as I was watermarking some event photos I had taken I realized that the butterfly doesn’t really look that good with even photos. Then I thought if I had a male subject a butterfly would be kind of girly to put on his photos. So my question is: should I have another watermark for event/male subject photos, or should I just keep mine?

By: April Andy

April Andy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:15:41 +0000

Perfect!I like this blog .. All the photos must have their photo rights for its protection i think!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:25:38 +0000

I’ve seen some great watermarks and think that they add to the image. Need to do some work on mine though.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:23:11 +0000

People buy the copyright for all the photos I take when they get my services. Why? Becasue digital photos, and even printed photos will end up on the net and sent around the world regardless of what you have written into your contract. So why fight it.

So, I do provide a full set of watermarked photos for the net – resized to fit inside 600x600px, and quailty reduced to 10. Completely unusable if someone wants to print it. But a great marketing opportunity. I even upload some of them myself (once they’re paid for) on my facebook fan page (they are going to end up on fb, trust me.)

I created an action in Photoshop to do the watermarking, which does everything except the actual placement of the watermark. It takes a while to large batches of photos, but I do find that there are the odd times when the watermark really does need to be placed somewhere else.

By: Dan B

Dan B — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:02:02 +0000

Excellent idea Elizabeth! Thanks for the link too.

By: photokunstler

photokunstler — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:29:55 +0000

Perfect, Chris! Just downloaded Border FX and will give it a whirl!
Thanks!

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:28:04 +0000

Great Article.

The comments also have given me a lot to think about as well. I actually got an email from visitor of my website asking if I was worried about my images getting stolen. My response was like many on here. I either share it or keep it on my hard drive.

I am an amateur and would love to make some money from my work but at the same time I enjoy taking pictures and listening to the comments from an audience. If I keep photos on my hard drive I lose the audience.

So, I post small images with a watermark in the corner like a lot of other posters on here. I never thought about advertising. So my watermark might change now from my name to my website.

I use Apple’s Aperture 2 and export using Border FX where I can chose size of image and my watermark. It is pretty simple and not a chore to do.

Again great article and thanks for the food for thought!

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Umm, it’s called a “watermark” because they used to be made by a printer with water on their paper, not because they look watery. A carved, damp block of wood was pressed lightly against each page staining the pattern gently on the surface.

The watermark image was visible if you held the paper up to the light, but did not interfere with the readability of the page once printed or typed upon. The original intent was to brand a particular brand of paper so people know what kind of quality they were getting.

IMHO, Mogrify is the right way to go for LR plugins. Much less work that blogging tools.

The idea of a value-add brand on images as opposed to a subtle (or unsubtle) watermark is very nice. Thanks for the good suggestion, it’s something that I will use immediately in my own work.

Michael

By: Brian P

Brian P — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:21:20 +0000

Another reason for a watermark on the theft angle is enforcement.
1) having a WM on an image (if formatted right) serves the notification need in copyright law.
2) there are services that you can use to search for your images. If you standardize your logo WM, it’s easy to search for that image signature on any image you put up.
3) if a thief removes your WM, then you get extra $$$$ when you sue for wilful removal of your copyright notice.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:56:34 +0000

@Kerri – A good way to overcome your problem with people cropping for their facebook profile picture is to provide them with a pre-cropped profile picture, with your watermark in the crop. You could even label it “profile picture” so they know what its for.

@Elizabeth – I like that you’ve had a problem where they cropped around the water mark and instead of thinking “I need a bigger watermark” you’ve gotten creative and used it all to your advantage.
It seems to me that there could be a problem if someone did print your small sample-size images, complete with watermark in a large size. The crummy looking expansion could make people who look at it think you’re a cheapo photographer. Have you considered watermarking those smaller images with “sample” or “web size”, perhaps incorporated into the current watermark.
If you had sample on it, they might be ashamed to stick it up on facebook though, so they might go back to cutting.