|
Forums >
Newbie Forum >
To watermark or not
Do stunning photos need to be watermarked to prevent theft? If watermarking my photos does not prevent this, why doing it and how do I let the world know that I pressed the shutter when the picture was taken? I'm curious about what experts think on this issue thanks Don Sep 20 16 09:21 am Link DonBodat wrote: It doesn't prevent theft. And in USA it has almost no legal significance. Sep 20 16 09:46 am Link Eagle Rock Photographer wrote: Removing the watermark demonstrates conscious intent to infringe. Sep 20 16 09:54 am Link The watermark can be transparent. (can still be tracked) Include copyright information in the EXIF data Sep 20 16 11:54 am Link I just see it as an exercise in futility, and it clutters up the images. Sep 20 16 12:00 pm Link I generally put my logo on the edge of the pictures I post on here and the ones I pass to TFP models. However, one of the models I shot on here, has cropped the photo, added her model name scrawled on the picture and managed to put the picture out of focus, before reloading it to her portfolio! Firstly, one wonders why?  At first I was annoyed, as she does not give me credit for the picture! But on reflection I'm glad she does not give me credit for it, as the butchered picture does not reflect the original! The moral is, if its TFP and your watermark gets removed, it cost you nothing apart from time and you still have the original for your portfolio. In my case, I have removed the model from my future shoots list. Obviously, if a stranger has taken your shot, cropped it and claimed they shot it. That is a different matter, but not sure what you can do about it, apart from complain to the mods on here? Sep 20 16 10:45 pm Link It can be beneficial in the US but beyond that I really have no idea. Either way, people will and do still infringe on your images watermark or no watermark. There even comes a point where it becomes common place and you are no longer shocked when it happens. It's more or less business as usual when you discover that it's happened. If an image is taken and goes viral then you really do loose complete control over it and will never get that control back. If that happens you have to fight the fights worth fighting and pretty much ignore the rest. Few photographers will tell you that. Many will get all puffed up with indignation and want to take every kid that uses their image for an avatar on Facebook to court but it really doesn't work like that in the real world. Basically if it's not being used for profit then --- well, there's little that you can do or rather little worth in the effort of doing anything. Anyway, I use to watermark my garbage but no longer do. Though there is good reason to do so here in the US it's really just a personal choice that each of us has to make. Happy hunting! Sep 24 16 11:29 pm Link In the USA the three keys to protecting/enforcing photo copyright are: 1. Timely registration; 2. See #1 3. See #1 Although only tangentially related, a good model release is also often useful and sometimes vital. Sep 25 16 09:56 am Link Sure because people can't wait to steal a low res image. I find it amateurish . Sep 25 16 11:24 am Link Barry Kidd Photography wrote: Nailed it. Mostly its my event photos that get shared and once the internet takes over their circulation, there is no coming back. I feel like leaving the logo on those kind of photos is like leaving a business card in case someone is interested in bookings. But I understand the argument of a watermark being distracting as well. Sep 25 16 12:29 pm Link Ironically, I often find that the bigger the watermark, the crappier the photographer is. In my area there's a few 'photographers' that post a huge, nasty looking logo across the whole photo. If the logo wasn't displayed at all I don't think anyone would steal 'em because the photos are pretty bad to begin with. Sep 26 16 04:46 am Link Some people think that anything on the internet has been entered into the public domain and copyrights, usage rights, and royalties do not apply. If you have a winner, don't post it any where. Then there are derivatives and fair use claims. If you don't know a lot about copyright issues, the forums are a good place to learn some facts which will point in the right direction for doing some research; and there is massive amounts of misinformation. You can do a search of old threads. There is some good stuff and there are some very qualified and knowledgable people who participate. Or you can start new threads. Be aware that a lot of the info is about the laws in the United States. You may have to remind people where you are located. Sep 27 16 07:27 pm Link |
