Civilian Aviation

I've been discussing this subject off the forum and wondered what peoples' opinions are.

I started watermarking a couple of years ago after I found that somebody was sharing my photos from the facebook page without asking me, mainly because I was a bit miffed that it could be done so easily without asking
normally if somebody asks me for a copy of one of my photos for personal use or for a publication I let them have it freely and always ask if they want it unwatermarked, I'm happy to do that. however I have read of many instances of peoples' pics being lifted without asking and I frankly don't like them doing that.
BUT how much security does a watermark give and is it worth the effort? My pics also have my name on the exif data which theoretically give some protection but I'm not so naive as to think that a determined person with the right knowledge and software would be unable to remove either or both.
Watermarking takes a small amount of time but also the watermarking programmes all appear to reduce file size considerably and hence lose a bit of quality so it's a bit of a balancing act.

I'm thinking of giving up applying text watermarks and just relying on the exif data to save time and then posting at smaller file sizes on flickR and particularly FB where it seems to be the biggest problem (it's happened with some wildlife pics as well). I always think the the loss of detail in a small size pic will put off the pic-lifters.

what is your thoughts on this then please?
andy

I would do if knew how!

I know it's military, but I had my pictures of the Queens diamond jubilee rehearsal over RAF Mona (Which was to be performed at RIAT that year) lifted and put into a certain publication. (Not too bothered as it was for charity)
How can I be certain it was my pictures? because I'd photoshopped one of the Hawk T2s into it's correct position in the formation as it was a good bit 'out' as it flew over the top of us.!
Not even a credit or link to my Flickr page was forthcoming, I even complained and got the response "We're afraid we couldn't credit you Mr S.......... as we don't know who took the photograph, it was given to us in good faith."

as a norm i don't watermark my pictures but i will do it on certain pictures that might have a wider appeal and could easily be lifted for use in advertising of commercial use





a couple of my shots with a very prominent water mark which should render the picture unusable commercially but it spoils the picture, that is an extreme example and i use the same watermark but less visible on some of my other work

A discreet watermark in the corners tend not to obscure the image but they can be very easy to crop out or Photoshop out so defeating the object of the watermark in the first place, it is a sad fact that that if you want to protect your images from unauthorised use then you have to deface them to the point where it spoils the image

beefsteak wrote:I would do if knew how!

I know it's military, but I had my pictures of the Queens diamond jubilee rehearsal over RAF Mona (Which was to be performed at RIAT that year) lifted and put into a certain publication. (Not too bothered as it was for charity)
How can I be certain it was my pictures? because I'd photoshopped one of the Hawk T2s into it's correct position in the formation as it was a good bit 'out' as it flew over the top of us.!
Not even a credit or link to my Flickr page was forthcoming, I even complained and got the response "We're afraid we couldn't credit you Mr S.......... as we don't know who took the photograph, it was given to us in good faith."

There are several 'fee' watermarking programs available on the web although some only offer the free version as a trial, most are quite easy to use.
the alternative is to use a photo editing programme to add text to your photos but you can't normally do that as a batch so takes a bit longer. I have used the TSR one for some time (it used to be free and I never accepted the invitation to upgrade ) but now only the trial is free but it's not expensive anyway.

HTH

Andr

I use FastStone Image Viewer, lets you put a text watermark anywhere on an image at any level of transparency and will do it to a batch of images too. Also batch resizes.

I generally just put a small text watermark on the corner, so if anyone just copies them online it will still have my link on it. I also generally only upload in 2000x1200 resolution, so the images couldn't really be used in a publication.

I would only put a bigger watermark on if I had taken an amazing image that I felt people might readily steal (not got one yet!). When people link galleries with mundane photos covered in watermarks I just turn-off completely, in some cases they are just absurd and I think people think far too much about their photography skills...

I've took to putting more of a "signature" on my photos (just text along the edge of the image) a couple of years ago.

Was glad I did, as a photo I took of XH558 at the Shoreham Airshow in 2014 was used by the VTTS in one of their newsletters - without any request for use - or even acknowledgement of it in said newsletter. The only way I knew about it was recognising the photo, and seeing the watermark in the corner!!

The thing is that, if they'd asked, I would have provided a higher res copy of the image, and would have been a lot more pleased about it being in there, rather than it being "nicked"!!

Dan