I'd just like to get people's opinion on visibly watermarking on images that you upload to the Internet (Flickr etc.) I've noticed that some people do it while others don't. Is it a good idea to place a visible watermark on your own images, or is is just the first sign of paranoia on behalf of the photographer? .
I don't mind if someone puts a little signature or something inconspicuous in the corner; I completely understand wanting to take credit for a given work. I really don't care for the giant watermarks that detract from the picture. Even the ones that are supposed to be subtle with very faded text across the center of the image end up drawing my eye once I've seen them. What has been seen, and all that. I think it defeats the purpose of putting an image up for people to see. If I spend more time trying to look past the watermark, then the image fails in my opinion
THB, once you put an image up online, it's out there. There are ways to go after people when money is involved, but it has to be worth it. Watermarking stops nothing. If you are worried about this, don't put the image online, simple.
So a tag in the corner to identify the photographer is considered okay, but don't think of it as a security measure.
I tag all my images now when there online as A: gives me piece of mind & B: Helps idetify that i've taken the shot. There are always ways around copyright etc... crop it out, clone it out etc.. if people want to go that far to use my image then be it, most of the time i upload a small 1024 image and if they want to rescue that then sure go for it.
I add a watermark just as a form of identity... It's a bit like an artist signing their work - it's simply identifying that it's mine. It's not really to protect copyright, but it would stand up in court as a sufficient attempt to warn users that the image is copyrighted. The best form of copyright protection is image size though - I limit my uploads to 1024px, which means they're not going to be a decent enough size to print. I'm considering reducing this further (down to 900px) in light of the fact that Flickr now seemingly gives fairly open access to anything you upload.
