A watermark is a text or image placed on a picture to show who owns it. A watermark can have a different look, like a logo, company name, website address, email address, telephone number for communication, or other contact information. Watermarks are not only applied to photographs. It can be any other content – videos, documents, etc.
Below, we’ll explain how to add a watermark to photos and why you should use one. There are many reasons why you should put copyright labels on your material.
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Why Do Photographers Watermark Their Photos?
The simplest way to indicate your copyright on a photo is to add a watermark. It is important to have contact information to help potential customers quickly find you online. Removing a watermark from an image is punishable by law. So, the attacker violates your copyright. You could go to court and sue for damages to the photo and the alteration. In most cases, the court sides with the content’s author and makes the attacker take down the content they stole.
Currently, the only legal way to get rid of the watermark is to ultimately buy the rights to the photo from the content owner. Most often, content is placed on stock photo websites in order to familiarize yourself with watermarks across the entire image surface. The buyer receives the original picture without additional marks when closing the sale and purchase transaction.
Why Watermark Your Photos?
If earlier the watermark mainly performed the role of protection against theft, now the functionality of such labels has been significantly expanded.
Presently, there are seven main reasons for watermarking your photos and other content:
- The presence of a watermark stimulates the sale of photos. By watermarking, potential customers can track the necessary information about the photographer on the web. This point will lead them to other content that may also interest them.
- Protection against theft of content on the network. Stamping your photo in the right place is the best way to protect content from theft. You can remove the label, but it requires a significant amount of time. It is easier for attackers to look for other free images on the web.
- Retention of authorship when sharing or reproducing. The development of social networks has led to the fact that it is difficult to identify the actual author of the content. When people share pictures, they rarely remember to credit the author. With a watermark, this problem will not arise. All recipients will know to who precisely the photos belong.
- Strengthening the brand of the photographer or studio. It is extremely important to stand out from the competition in the modern world. Now almost everyone has the opportunity to purchase an inexpensive camera for photographs. You must be able to identify your brand among inexperienced competitors and amateurs. A watermark perfectly fulfills this function.
- Exposing thieves. Applying a watermark in a hard-to-reach place is an excellent opportunity to indicate that a particular resource is stealing content.
- Prevent the theft of production files. It is essential to protect not only photos, but also any production and RAW files. Otherwise, you may face a situation where the client receives all the necessary files and refuses to pay for your photos.
- Advertising. A watermark on your photo is an exceptional way to promote your brand. Many bloggers, photographers, and models gathered millions of people thanks to watermarks linked to their social networks.
How to Watermark a Photo
At the moment, there are a large number of services and special programs that allow you to work with watermarks. In this case, the user determines precisely how the final stamp will look. There are several label options:
- Logo;
- Image;
- Text.
You can make the protective sign as visible as possible or reduce the transparency to the maximum. Also, the photographer can change the size of the label, its color, writing font, and other parameters. When applying a watermark, it is important to ensure that the stamp is not over important elements of the photo. Otherwise, it will spoil the overall impression of the image.
Don’t avoid watermarks. These labels will not only protect your content from misappropriation. With the right sign, you can promote your brand online and tell everyone around you that high-quality, rousing images are yours.
