For those of you that sell your photos

[F-16_fixer]

I usually include my signature and copyright on every photo I post online.  Let's say someone sees your work and would like to buy a print or two of an image.  Do you remove your signature or watermark?  Or do you keep it to help prevent the photo from being scanned and reprinted in mass production?  Part of me wants to remove it and part of me want to protect my work from being copied.  Thoughts?

This is a sample of the watermark I use

[Dave S.]

Chris,

Still waiting for my first sale, but I would tend to think it depends upon the type of sale.  If it's for a publication (online, print...) I would remove it (after you've negotiated the terms of use).  If it were for an individual, I would think of leaving it on there, but maybe in a reduced size.  That way, if they want to purchase additional images, they know how to get in touch and/or it can be 'free' advertisement.  Those viewing the image will see who/where it's from and they may be inclined to contact you as well.

- Dave

[Joe Copalman]

I'm personally not a fan of watermarking or signing photos.  They're aesthetic aberrations and I've never seen one that added anything worthwhile to an image.  I certainly see the utility of them for marketing purposes, but they really don't give you any more recourse in the event of copyright infringement than if you didn't include one.  They're more speedbumps for thieves than a real deterrent.  

Personal taste aside, if you're selling an image to someone, there's really no further need to advertise to them.  They know who you are and how to contact you.  If you're getting the feeling that someone who is willing to pay you for your work is going to reproduce it and sell it without your authorization, you probably shouldn't sell your work to them.  

[Jay Beckman]

If someone pays to have a print, then (IMO) there shouldn't be a watermark or signature on it.  If someone really wants it signed, I'd sign the matte or maybe sign the backing board under the matte.

If you do the print yourself, put your contact info on the back via an Avery Label...If you have a lab do the job, ask them about putting your info on the back.

[jslugman]

Ditto the advice of him of the tilted horizon.

[Jay Beckman]

My horizon is level .. it's the rest of the world that's in a shallow bank!

[wingsnstuff]

I've not sold anything yet...just gifts, but I always put a small digitial signature and date in the corner.  Any framed give aways/sales have my card attached to the back of the framed image.

[cpasley]

Hey Vance thats a good idea ,instead of buying folks gifts this year ill just give copies of my pictures ,genius

[Joe Copalman]

This brings up an interesting point that I think we touched on in previous threads on copyright - is there a way to digitally "mark" you photos in a way that is permanently embedded in the file?

[jslugman]

Photoshop comes with the Digimarc system that is supposed to do exactly that but I don't have any experience with it. You have to subscribe to get a digital ID that gets embedded into your image.

[Jay Beckman]

This brings up an interesting point that I think we touched on in previous threads on copyright - is there a way to digitally "mark" you photos in a way that is permanently embedded in the file?

Yes there is...

All the information displayed on the right panel in Lightroom is embedded in the file.  It's the EXIF but it's also the IPTC Data which includes all my contact info, Title, Location, Date, Copyright Status, my web URL and a copyright usages statement...  I have a preset template that I use for every import that at least hits the highlights of Who and When.  I can modify the What and Where before uploading images.


That IPTC info being stripped when hotlinking photos from Zenfolio is what I was squawking about a couple months back.  There is data in there that will read COPYRIGHTED, NOT COPYRIGHTED or UNKNOWN when checked in Photoshop.  Stuff from Zen keeps coming accross as unkown (unfortunately)

Now, the question becomes, if someone takes a file somewhere to be printed, will they bother to check any of this?  Apparently, some do and some couldn't be bothered.