Watermarks

Should you? Shouldn’t you? If so, what are the “rules”?

When it comes to this topic I’ve been down most roads. From the oversized-making-a-statment watermarks, to the overly-creative-looks-like-shit ones.

These days, I still do stamp my work, but its much smaller and much more subtle. Furthermore, I have tried not to constantly change the look my mark. It needs to be uniform. It needs to be recognisable and not overpower the image.

Once upon a time, long long ago, I even had a watermark that was stamped down one side of the image and read: “All images copyrighted to Catchlight Creations and DHV Developments. No unauthorised copying or usage.” Yep… I shit you not.

So, if you’re going to watermark your work what would the rules be?

• It has to contain your name
  • Whether it’s your actual name, photography name, business name, whatever. People who see it need to know who you are.
• It needs to be eligible
  • It’s no use having something that’s so big, pretty and creative that the person who views your images can’t read it or understand it.
• It must not be overpowering
  • Some of my past stamps spanned the entire length of the image and were massive. Personally, I don’t think this is a great idea. It not only takes the emphasis off the image, but spoils the overall look.

There are loads of photographers that don’t watermark/stamp their work. Scott Kelby appears to be one of those big names that don’t. But… He’s a whole corporation of people. Kelby Media is not a small little shindig. Chances are he’s got people on the look out and I read a snippet from he’s Google+ in 2011, he registers all his images for Copyright Protection.

Another photographer who doesn’t watermark his work is UK Based Architectural Photographer, Nicolas Adams. He’s shot for Nine West, Aston Martin, H&M to name but a few. And, as mentioned, he doesn’t slap a stamp on his images.

I guess, what it really boils down too is choice. I’ve spent loads of time on 500px and some of the internet’s most well known photographers watermark their work. One of those guys that I follow and admire his work is Simon Bolz But he keeps its small, simple and direct. simonbolz.com

How do you do your watermarks? At the moment, I use Photoshop. What I have done was create a New Brush with my logo. Almost all the time I will refine my image in Photoshop, in which case, that allows me to create a New Layer, Rename it – logo, then using the brush tool just stamp my watermark on.

If at some point in the future I need the image without a logo, I can re-open it in Photoshop and either delete or disable the logo layer.

Of course there are other ways of adding watermark and for bulk processing I would probably not stamp each image individually. I’d just create a new Watermark in Lightroom and then add it to a new Export. It all depends on my requirements.

And there you have it… My view on Watermarks. The images above are a taste of some stamps I’ve used in the past. Below, is my newest and most current watermark. I hope to use this one for awhile, unless I decided to get a Professional Designer to mock one up for me.