Must we put our initial/watermarks on every photos that we post online.?


WanFancy

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May 11, 2011
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Must we put our initial/watermarks on every photos that we post online.? What about portfolios.? Must our portfolios photos have our initital/watermarks.? Isit necessary for it.?
 

Up to you, no hard rule. Question is rather: what do you expect from using it?
Feel free to use the Search function (upper right hand) to find previous discussions.
 

Must we put our initial/watermarks on every photos that we post online.? What about portfolios.? Must our portfolios photos have our initital/watermarks.? Isit necessary for it.?

It is not a must.

The initial and watermark is in some attempt to prevent people from stealing your work to pass off as their own. They still can crop it off unless you plaster it across your whole picture, which would make it really ugly and pointless.

My way of approaching the matter is to ensure that not too large a size is posted. Even if they use it for monetary gain, the scope is limited.
 

I do it for 2 reasons.

1) The watermark feature is very convenient to implement in LR3 during exporting. I use 40% opacity so that it can be seen but will transparent enough not to have a huge impact on the image.

2) You never will know when someone out there will use your images. Even if it is not for monetary gain, it will be good if someone who wanted to use your images contact you and let you know where it will be used. Below is a good example of image used without permission.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/thre...-dollar-corp...what-would-you-do?goto=newpost
 

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I do it for 2 reasons.

1) The watermark feature is very convenient to implement in LR3 during exporting. I use 40% opacity so that it can be seen but will transparent enough not to have a huge impact on the image.

2) You never will know when someone out there will use your images. Even if it is not for monetary gain, it will be good if someone who wanted to use your images contact you and let you know where it will be used. Below is a good example of image used without permission.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/thre...-dollar-corp...what-would-you-do?goto=newpost

I empathised how he felt when a giant company like Avis pinched his pic without giving a hood. Avis may not aware of it if its done by their advert agent. Because of rampant cyberspace theft, I normally post to a max of 650 resolution on the long side for pic which I reckon is of good value. With powerful photoshop, watermark is quite redundant unless you spread it across the pic which will impair any viewing pleasure.
 

Must we put our initial/watermarks on every photos that we post online.? What about portfolios.? Must our portfolios photos have our initital/watermarks.? Isit necessary for it.?

to include a watermark in your images will not protect you from anything like misuse of your photos, the best way to protect your images is do not put it online.

However, having watermark will serve the following purposes.

  • easily identifiable image origin
  • brand promotion
  • warning intended to reduce potential misuse and easily resolve such
 

I guess if you are insecure, go ahead and put one on every pic. =)
 

I guess if you are insecure, go ahead and put one on every pic. =)
sometime it is not about insecurity, more of complicated legal issue behind it, especially for the professionals, it might get yourself or your clients into a messy situation.

but I guess for most casual shooters has not much things to worry about.
 

No.
but sometimes i got extra time or got the mood to do it ..
 

And I'd like to add a personal note to everyone reading this.

If you want to use a watermark on your photos, please at least design/use a decent looking one. Don't let it destroy the image with a lousy design/font/placement. :p
 

And I'd like to add a personal note to everyone reading this.
If you want to use a watermark on your photos, please at least design/use a decent looking one. Don't let it destroy the image with a lousy design/font/placement. :p
:thumbsup: If the first thing people notice is the the watermark then it was done the wrong way.
 

Must put a watermark big big across the picture so no one will think of taking it to use for any reason.

Even if it's a crappy picture, if people think it's worth sharing they will take it and use it and you won't be happy if you find out they've been using it without your knowledge.

You'll never know. :bsmilie: