Why is watermarking important in the wedding photography niche?
For a lot of photographers, wedding photographers, in particular, a watermark is a lot more than a way of protecting their photographs from being stolen or used without consent.
Digitally watermarking your photos before uploading them online is one of the best ways to protect yourself from other people claiming that they took your photographs, from having your artwork seen without people knowing who took them, or from downloading and using those images for free.
Watermarking is putting a mark on photos you took with your logo, name, or web address so that the audience knows that the photographs belong to you. Watermarking is a much-debated topic among photographers. Nevertheless, if done correctly, watermarking can benefit you beyond just protecting your photos.
When tastefully done, watermarks could be a wedding photographer’s most potent advertising and marketing tool. If you are a budding wedding photographer, here’s the lowdown on how to watermark your photographs to help you attract new customers.
Watermarking Before
Watermarks have conventionally been used to avoid images and photos from getting stolen and used without the photographer’s permission. When it comes to wedding photography, they have discouraged coupled from printing their own wedding photos—therefore making sure that the wedding photographer gets appropriately compensated for the services and photographs they provided. So, if the newlyweds wanted an extra print, they would typically have to pay for it.
However, a few years ago, a couple of technological innovations have made watermarking less effective at making sure that photographers get paid for their hard work. First, different software programs have made it possible for people with just basic photo editing skills to remove a watermark. Hence, it is almost easy for newlyweds to remove watermarks and print their own wedding photos.
Next, couples, and people in general, have become less attracted to physical prints as the influence of social media grows. Newlyweds would rather upload their wedding photos on the internet or send them via email to family rather than send photo prints in the mail.
Watermarking Now
The revolutionizing model of wedding photography has not made watermarking completely obsolete, however. By continuing to wedding photographs, you could turn people’s tendency to upload pictures online into a wonderful marketing strategy for you and your business.
Whenever someone uploads a picture with your watermark on it, their friends and family they share it with would also see your brand name. If they like your shots, they would likely think of you and your business if they’d ever need a photographer.
Hence, your shared watermarked photographs are a visual recommendation of your skills and how you work. These types of testimonials and recommendations are usually more effective than other marketing and advertising strategies, because:
• they are from trusted friends and family
• they are usually shared with bridal party members, as well as other friends who might also be having celebrations and weddings soon
• they organically reach more people through email or social media
(Nevertheless, some people may still try to remove your watermarks before uploading the photos. However, not everyone would go through the hassle of removing watermarks out of each photo they post, so you would still get some exposure on the internet.)
Make Watermarks Work for You
To make watermarks an effective form of marketing and advertising, you would need a watermark that effectively conveys the important details about your services and business without being too invasive. An ideal watermark designed for advertising will:
• include details like your name and your website
• look professional
• not distract the focus away from the newlyweds
It is of utmost importance that your watermark does not detract from a photo, because this method only works if your pictures look good enough to be shared online. Newlyweds will not want to share photos if your watermark is distracting and more prominent than the subjects in the photo. A faint, faded watermark in a corner is usually the best way to blend your name and logo into the photo seamlessly.
Watermarking as Advertising
As a wedding photographer, branding is critically important. Your watermark is an extension of your brand and should be designed with a specific purpose in mind: to guide potential clients to your website.
It is rather frustrating when you find a lovely picture and you want to see more from the owner or photographer, but you are unable to find their details or website. Suffice it to say, that’s a failed chance for that photographer to obtain a client and exposure.
Instead of capitalizing on your interest and drawing your attention to more of their art, you have both missed out.
They have missed out on a potential client, “word of mouth” marketer, social media shares, and loyal subscriber, while you have missed out on seeing more of their work, potentially buying a product from them, reading their blog, etc.
A watermark with their website and contact details would have been all it takes to benefit both parties.
Watermarking with Watermarquee
Water Marquee is an online-based application that photographers could use to put watermarks on their photos easily and quickly. You need not download and install any programs that could use up your storage space– you can access and use Water Marquee directly from your web browser. Watermarquee features a simple, user-friendly interface so that you could easily alter the color, font, and location of your watermarks to get the effect that you want.
Here’s how to put watermarks on wedding photos using Watermarquee:
- Go to the website then click “Select Photos to Watermark”.
- Select an image to that you want to use, and click “Upload”.
- Edit the image by clicking the “Add logo” or “Add text” button at the bottom of the interface.
- When you’re done, hit the “Save” button to save and download the watermarked image to your device or computer
Final Words
Keep your watermark simple. Don’t make it too big or too busy; there is a good reason why the most prominent brands worldwide have logos and watermarks that are amazingly simple: it is what the audience will remember. Putting something intrusive or distracting and busy on your photos will more than likely develop a negative view of your photography as a result of your audience disliking your watermarks.
