I’m back again with another Gurushots tip this time lets look at watermarks.
First of all, what is a watermark? They are text or graphics that are placed on top of a photograph in an attempt to protect the image from copyright violations. The text or graphic generally contains the name of the photographer. The creator of the work is then clearly visible and known and can, therefore, be contacted if anyone wants to use the photo commercially. It is also thought that it is a good way to promote the photographer.
I have to admit I don’t use watermarks nowadays.
Sure, we all want to protect our photographs and I understand that and for many, that includes adding a watermark. I get it. But let’s think why we want to protect these photos. Usually, it’s because we’re proud of them, we don’t want anyone else to use them without our permission and they’re our property, so why shouldn’t we write our names on them?
The problem with watermarks is they detract from the photo. Having text, a logo or anything stuck on your photo draws the eye away from what you want to say in the photo and towards something else. Something outside of the photograph.
If you want to use a watermark you’d better make sure it’s as good as your photograph. I’ve seen some really bad watermarks on Gurushots, there have been Gurushots players, with great photos, who have missed out on my Guru Picks simply because of a very bad watermark.
It’s worth remembering that watermarks are also often easy to crop or remove using Photoshop, so they don’t really offer that much protection.
WATERMARKS, WHAT MAKES A GOOD ONE?
Basically, something that is well designed and discrete is the best way to go. I would avoid colour totally and stick to either black, grey or white. As for the content, I’d probably stick to just your name followed by either the word ‘photographer’ or ‘photography’. Remember, keep it simple.
This photo to the right is the first photo I uploaded to Facebook, I think you’ll agree that the watermarks (yes I added 2!) detract from the image. What I’m saying is don’t do what I did.
Parts of this article are taken from The Gurus Secrets ebook
I agree with you, watermarks aren’t very useful, aside for the ego. Lets imagine that I stole one of your pictures, and sell it as mine.
“Wow that’s a nice picture you did here, may I see some others that you took please ?”
“Uh… Yes, yes, of course… Uh, ah, it’s just too bad by my HD died and I had all my pictures on it…”
Yeah, I could pretend maybe that one picture I stole is mine, two maybe, but I would get caught easily and quickly enough. And If I’m good enough to make pictures as good as yours, well, I don’t need to steal yours to begin with.
I agree 100%. My problem with watermarks is I added them to work that I don’t want to associate with anymore. Now I just don’t do it. It’s a typical newbie thing to do.
In terms of Gurushots, when I see a watermark I immediately pass it up. First off, I think it adds an unfair element to the voting by causing favoritism to photographers who rack up a number of followers. Second, I think they are tacky and take away from the overall picture, as you suggested. Finally, I don’t see any reason to put them on a picture in the first place since technology can make them a moot point anyway.
I make it a practice to never vote for a photo that has a watermark, no matter how good either the photo OR the watermark is, mainly because it nullifies the anonymous voting system and makes several opportunities to rig the voting in your favor. I have also seen many quite horrible images with watermarks… images that a decent photographer would not want their name on.