To Watermark or Not to Watermark, That is the Question

Recently I posted this question to my fine friends on Threads. I included a poll, so we could easily see the results. After 24 hours, the results are in!

At the time of writing this, the post had been voted on by 720 people in that 24 hour period.

As you can see, at the start of this “experiment”, I admittedly rarely used watermarks or signatures identifying my work. Have I changed my stance? Possibly. Let me explain.

For the purpose of this article, we will refer to any type of identifying mark or marks as a watermark. Essentially some type of mark used to identify one’s body of work. I am also not referring to images sent to clients for proofing, etc. These are images shared on socials or personal websites.

Starting out as a new photographer, I was a bit watermark crazy. My mark of choice was the name signature (see above) that we so often see throughout our industry. Since then, I have also created a round logo seen throughout my website. I often choose this when wanting to mark something as it tends to blend in better and looks a little more professional in my opinion.

As I have developed and spent more time sharing on social media, I have tended to watermark less. This is likely a combination of both laziness and not wanting to take away from my photograph when being viewed. Generally, I have been fine with this.

A few weeks ago, I had a photo go viral. I have had photos do well in the past, but this was like 1.5 million views in just a week’s time. This can quickly cause you to get your ducks in a row, as far as copyrights, watermarks, website, online store, updated socials, etc. When the initial boom started, I had a few people suggesting that I watermark my photograph. I quickly followed their advice and switched out the existing one. I guess I always thought metadata would protect me in the worst case scenario. I also had figured that if someone really wanted to “steal” an image, they could simply crop out a watermark. Although this is true, it can be more complicated than you think!

Often times when posting on social media, that precious metadata is not included. So, this is not likely a fool proof way to suggest that you are protected. Again, for the sake of this experiment, I am ruling this out as a protection for me.

When reviewing law and copyright, which I am far from an expert and nor do I claim to be, this all can be tricky. In fact, in some cases it comes down to intent and the initial sharing of a photograph. It’s not too difficult to do a reverse search on an image to develop a timeline. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop . From there, it is in fact helpful to be able to show the initial posting clearly disclosed a watermarked image. This then shows the artist’s true intent was to protect the image and that it does in fact belong to that person. Obviously there are many “what if scenarios” that this can generate, but in basic context, this is applicable.

The second point that was eye opening to me was the thought that by providing a watermark or other identifying signature, it can allow others to find you! This is so basic, yet it was not even a thought for me. I admit it. Sometimes I feel like if I post an image on social media, then it will always just remain there and if someone wants to “find me”, again it’s all right there. Well, what if that photo ends up in someone else’s blog post? Or social media post? Snap? When quickly sharing something that captivates us online, we often grab a screen shot and send. Not with mal intent per se, but it happens. I don’t know about you, but as that photo goes from device to device, I would sure wish that it contained my identifying mark! Just think of all of the potential “fans” that you could develop by seeing your name or mark and deciding to further explore your other images. Quite a missed opportunity.

So, in conclusion I intend to use my watermark moving forward. You can do what you want, but to me it is justified. Would it make me look like an amateur? Possibly, but to me I would much rather make my images a bit harder to steal and most importantly make my other body of work easier to find. After all, Lightroom makes it simple to add your own watermark when saving. You can change the position, size, color, and most importantly transparency. So, there are certainly ways to do it without looking amateur in my opinion.

Feel free to leave your comments below on this topic. Artist or not, let me know your thinking. I am very curious.