What's your opinion on watermarking?

[DanielJames]

morning snappers

just wondering what everyones opinions on watermarking is?

I enjoy the fact of seeing my pictures shared about on Facebook and whatever, but I sometimes feel as if the credit is sometimes lost when the reposter makes no effort to praise your work

For example I always take pictures when I'm at meets, and my pictures always get reposted by certain groups on FB and Instagram (yeah I know lol).

Now half of these will tag me in the post, half wont.

BUT any watermark I've ever put together as a test was always ugly, I hate them, or perhaps I just need some inspiration.

Can you share your subtle watermarks or examples of such?

Comments appreciated

Dan

[Simpo Two]

I do ths:



But easily cropped or cloned out if somebody wanted to.

[MartinP]

I'm not a fan of watermarks and don't use them on my website or blog. I do add them to any of my work images that I post on social media though - you never know, it might just just get you another client. Here's an example of one of my watermarked pics:



At the end of the day anything unobtrusive can be easily cropped/cloned out and anything posted to the internet is going to be copied.

[Miguel Alvarez]

I'n not a photographer in the slightest but I like Martin's style of watermark. It must work because a friend does similar and when someone wanted a photographer for an event he was the first person I thought of.

[S47]

Difficult call me I always put a simple mark on the shot:-

>
But has been mentioned previously, if someone wants to PS it they can, but in this instance the shot becomes useles since the watermark covers an important part of the bird
If you post a shot online then someones gonna nick it for sure.
Hope this helps

[Otispunkmeyer]

I use it for online things and started doing it after the student union mag kept attributing my shots to someone else or not giving credit at all.

[flat-planedCrank]

Think it all depends what you want from the watermark, if it's credit for the image then something small in the corner may suffice.

I use:


by motion-images, on Flickr


Unless you pepper the image with logos / text (like a stock image site might) then it won't 'protect' the image. Better to go by the adage that any image you upload coud be stolen - so pick resolution and compression quality to suit.

[paul911]

I’ve never really been a fan of overpowering watermarks, but I keep getting my picks nicked for blogs, and websites. (I always upload low res small images too). Is the following watermark subtle enough to not detract from the image?


Penny Rock Wood Weir by paulsflicker, on Flickr

[ecsrobin]

I've never been a fan of watermarks especially as 90% of the time they're on photos that are just no better than holiday snaps.

Watermarks can generally be cloned out or cropped if someone really wants the image. And any photo with a watermark bang across the image just gets ignored by myself.

[dele]

I was going to start a thread about this topic, but I found this and decided to just bump it up instead

Any new opinions to add? I took some photos this weekend of a meet and decided to omit a watermark to see if it would affect how "viral" the images would go, already less than 48 hours later ive seen them on reposted on Instagram and Facebook with no credit back to myself or in one case credit given to a totally different person!

[Mr Will]

dele said:

I was going to start a thread about this topic, but I found this and decided to just bump it up instead

Any new opinions to add? I took some photos this weekend of a meet and decided to omit a watermark to see if it would affect how "viral" the images would go, already less than 48 hours later ive seen them on reposted on Instagram and Facebook with no credit back to myself or in one case credit given to a totally different person!

Have they spread more widely than they usually would? How much do your watermarked images usually get shared?

[GetCarter]

I know I'm left field on this, but I would never dream of watermarking. I don't do it with my music, and I don't do it with my photos. If someone steals from me, and if it bothers me enough, they are told they will end up in court. Every time this has happened, and it has a lot, it has ended well.

[rottie102]

The worst thing is when watermark is distracting. I believe in low opacity, "barely visible" and simple...

Molly by WoofSnap, on Flickr

[...Mole...]

Hate watermarks and whenever I see them I find them quite distracting, never used them on my photos.

Then again I don't do this commercially and have no interest in making money from photography.

[markmullen]

GetCarter said:

I know I'm left field on this, but I would never dream of watermarking. I don't do it with my music, and I don't do it with my photos. If someone steals from me, and if it bothers me enough, they are told they will end up in court. Every time this has happened, and it has a lot, it has ended well.

Exactly my approach.