"Unless you're sneaking behind Apple's closed doors to photograph their next supersecret prototype and you're desperate for the credit, watermarks are just tacky. If you're concerned about people stealing your photos, don't post them on the internet.
The photography game today rewards openness and exposure. The watermark is either the sign of a newbie who doesn't know any better or insecure photographers who simultaneously thinks their photos are better than they are and that everyone is out to steal them.
Yes, it sucks when someone steals your photo when they should have paid you for it. Send them an invoice. Don't ruin your photos for everyone else who wants to enjoy them.
For photo editors looking for potential photographers, the watermark is usually just a sign of someone who will be difficult to work with. Either because they've been burned in the past and they're paranoid, or they just have an inflated idea of the market value of their work."
I have to agree that watermarking photos is a crude and desperate attempt to force a solution from an age past on to a modern problem.
excerpt from Wired | Raw File » 10 Photography Pet Peeves We'd Throw Down a Black Holehttp://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/08/black-hole/
10 Photography Pet Peeves We’d Throw Down a Black Hole - Ras-x
Wow! Do you have an inflated idea of what photography is about! I have had almost as many photos copied and presented FOR SALE as if the copier had owned the original, as music copied. Sometimes I'm happy for film, vid or sound to be sampled/copied - sometimes I'm not. It's my call and i appreciate the watermarking so my work doesn't get ripped off. In an ideal world where everyone 'played the game' it would not be necessary - this aint such a world.Viva watermarking!
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Saturday, September 19 2009 @ 02:29 AM PDT