I’ve been meaning to post about this for ages.. just never got round to it. But Diane’s post reminded me of it!
This will be a short series on watermarks and adding them to your photos.
Maybe you have noticed that I always put a watermark on my photos? Maybe you haven’t? I’m actually curious to know if it is something you notice?
I add watermarks for several reasons.
1. It’s your photo, you made it. By the simple action of creating it, you own the copyright to it. But not everyone knows/cares/respects that this is the case and just use any old image in any way they like.
– Obviously, if you’ve borrowed a photo from someone else, hopefully with their permission, you shouldn’t put your watermark on it. And always credit and link back to the original source.
2. Because content on the internet is more or less fair game. If you put your watermark on your images people are (a bit) less able to steal or pass your stuff off as their own. Especially if you place the watermark in the centre/near the ‘action’ in the image where it’s more difficult to crop out.
– On several occasions I’ve come across blogs which have stolen my tutorials and passed them off as their own. And cropped out my watermark! That’s when I used to put it along the edge, because I didn’t want it to distract people looking at the image. Obviously, that’s a mistake.
This is how I used to watermark my photos (I’ve actually been doing it for many years, but not with as much thought as I do now): along the edge and in a pretty font (that’s almost illegible, yikes!) But look how easy it is to crop that out! And it doesn’t take anything away from the action (a tutorial shot, for example).
Now take a look at how I do it now. Right next to the action! Sure, you can crop it out, but it will be a lot more obvious that it has been cropped.
3. Using watermarks dots your name/blog name around the internet as well as connecting your name with your photos. Think of all those images being pinned lazily (i.e. without a link to the original source!) every day and the never ending chain of un-credited images on Tumblr. If you put your watermark on your images people can see which blog the image originated from, even if there isn’t a direct link to a specific blog post.
4. With a watermark there is also the chance that someone will type the name into their browser and check you out. It does happen! On a few occasions people have emailed me after they’ve visited my blog by typing in the name in my watermark. Those people are awesome! :-)
I must admit that I used to feel that putting a watermark on my photos would make people think I’m terribly full of myself. And maybe some people do, but I’d rather that than having my photos floating around on the internet without attribution.
This is my watermark in its current form. It took me a while to get to one that was fairly simple but also includes a bit of information.
The main bit is the URL (link address) to my blog. I’ve used the same font as in my blog header + the flower which I use in both the header and my favicon. It’s a sort of logo and ties different things together.
I’ve also included my Twitter@. Not because I imagine that loads of people will check it out, but someone might. And it’s a quick way for someone to get in touch – no need to send an email.
And finally the copyright symbol and the year. Adding the year also helps someone who might want to look up a particular post on my blog if they have found my photo some random place. Atleast they will have the year to go by.
In the next post I’ll show you how I add watermarks to all my photos in just one (and a half) easy step!
