Photo Theft : Watermarking can help prevent your photos from being used without your permission
Watermarking your photos is a great way to protect yourself from people claiming your work as their own. Plus, it helps build awareness for your brand–so it’s a win-win, right? Hey, it can even help boost your brand in a post-COVID world. Ideally, a watermark should be a method to reach out to consumers and fellow photographers to let them know who took this astonishing shot. It is not to suspect everyone for wanting to steal your work, and thus divert their focus from your great work.
Here are some tips to remember when watermarking your images:
Choose Watermark Areas Wisely
The placement of your watermark can be tricky. You want to place it carefully and protect your image, but you don’t want the viewer to get distracted by it.
Ideally, it would help if you put it in the centre of the image, but never on a solid or smooth background. Otherwise, it’s going to be too easy for someone to remove it completely.
Unfortunately, the centred watermark will be “too much” for most of the images. Your audience will definitely point this out. Of course, unless you’re hosting a photo stock website. Oversized watermarks are usual practices in this business.
The second thing you need to acknowledge when watermarking your photos is the size of the watermark. Make sure it is large enough to protect most of the details of the picture. It would be best if your watermark could not be erased without significantly damaging the photo’s quality.
Opacity Matters
You can make the Watermark semi-transparent – it’s still going to protect your photo, but the watermark will seem less obtrusive. Using the right software, like Watermarquee, you can easily tweak the opacity when watermarking your photos.
Always Watermark Hi-Res Photos
A lot of photographers put watermarks on hi-res photos only. These photos can be used for wide-format digital printing, and thus it is very important to protect them. On the other hand, they leave low-res photos with no watermarks.
However, you can use a batch watermark maker if you want to place a watermark on a bunch of your photos at the same time. Photo editors like Photoshop do not allow you to adjust the size and position of the watermark for horizontal and vertical photos. So, you need to use a batch watermark creator, like Watermarquee.
Watermarking Protects Your Rights
Experts suggest that you put your watermark on each of your images. The official copyright notice contains three key elements:
The first part is the © (or the letter “c” in the circle), the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copyright.”
The second part is the date of the first publication of the document.
The third part is the owner’s name.
The final copyright form should be as simple as: “© 2013 Your Name.”
Copyright notices in the U.S. may be used without registering your images with the U.S. Copyright Office. The removal of a watermark is a law-restricted activity with fines starting at $2,500 per image.
Let Them Know How To Find You!
It is a good idea to provide your website address and/or other contact information. It helps to promote your work. Your potential customers need to know how to locate you!
When people share your photos, they rarely bother to mention where they took it. Your contact info on your watermark will help to find you. However, don’t place everything in your watermark information. The website address or a phone number is fine.
Make Your Watermark Logo Clear
Using your business logo is a great idea. However, if the logo is too creative or the info is impossible to read, it makes no sense.
Use a Free Watermarking Tool
There are a lot of watermarking apps that will require you to download and install their software. Not only is this a waste of your precious time, but it will also take a toll on your device’s memory storage. Don’t get me started on costs too. If you want to make the most out of watermarking without breaking the bank, there’s Watermarquee.
Watermarquee is an easy-to-use online tool that lets you watermark multiple photos at once. Here’s how:
1) Open Watermarquee and click “Start Watermarking Now” to start the process.
2) Click the “Select Photos to Watermark” button and add up to 5 photos that you want to watermark. The free version of Watermarquee allows up to 5 photos at a time, but you can get the Pro version for 19USD to go unlimited. You could also drag and drop your images directly if you do not want to browse them.
3) Once you have added your main images, add your logo by clicking on the “Add Logo” button at the bottom of the page.
4) Once the watermark logo is added, you can adjust the position and change the opacity.
5) That’s all. Once done, just save them all or click on “Save as a ZIP” to download them in a ZIP file.
Summing Up
In conclusion, the key benefits of watermarking your images are copyright notice and brand recognition. It notifies people that your work is copyrighted and that it also identifies you as the author. Plus, if your images have a watermark, other people will have a way to link it back to you or contact you to request permission to use your work. Here are 5 more considerations when using a free watermarking tool like Watermarquee. For unlimited watermarking, you can sign up to WaterMarquee Pro here.
