watermarking photos - do you or don't you?
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 3:29 pm
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 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