Photography signatures.

AnimalRights

How long where you doing photography for or more importantly when did you feel you were ready to add a signature to your pics?
I myself feel I'm nowhere near this stage 'cept for my gig shots, I'm noticing more and more of them being used and its not about the money but I would like people who see my pictures on various sites know who took them.
As I said before Punk is 100% DIY and its most def not about money.
I'm also interested in the non selling people who just thought a signature added something to the progress they've made.

Morrisseeee

whooops, i read it wrong!
/deleted

Masada

I always put the signature on my pics even though i would sell very few of them. i think its more so to protect it if someone wanted to copy them and print them somewhere really, although it gives little protection.,
you can take a photo of your signature and scan it, then white out the background and save it as a pen tool so you can just click them on really quick.,:)

Dragan

AnimalRights wrote: »

I'm noticing more and more of them being used and its not about the money but I would like people who see my pictures on various sites know who took them.

Good stuff and i completely agree with you, it's nice to know that you will be associated with the picture that you have taken.

I don't use them, but have realised i will have to start, if only because i need to take more responsibility for promoting myself as a Photographer if i hope to be able to make a proper go of it.

peter1892

I started adding a signature (well, copyright text) when someone stole a couple of my photos from one site & put them into a group I was a member of on flickr

melekalikimaka

I hate them, the nearly always detract from an image

AnimalRights

melekalikimaka wrote: »

I hate them, the nearly always detract from an image

This I very much agree with and people round here must be fed up of me saying that...if I was going to try one it would be very small.
No disrespect to paulW and I know he sells his pics so its important for him but his new round sig in the middle of the pics are very very distracting.
Sorry Paul!

smelltheglove

ooohh I started using them pretty much straight away, reason was people copying without permission, may only be on bebo but it was irritating me, if someone likes your picture and wants to use it they should give you credit for it. Also one person downloaded a low res image from bebo and edited it cropping out my sig shortly afterwards, I now feel that if people do tyhis when they have 5 of my shots and edit one it is more obvious that the low quality bad editing is not mine and I'd like to think it would reflect badly on the person doing it.

I'd be like you about the gig pictures though, I would like other musicians to know that if they want good quality shots that they come from me! I dont make much money from music as I enjoy it but its nice to have people contact you about your pictures.

Borderfox

I dont do it at all, maybe once or twice but soon got out of the habit. On some of the other forums you would see people's first post with a border and sig on it, thats up to themselves.

Eirebear

I used to do it with every picture i uploaded, and then stopped as i felt it was detracting from the image.

I am however looking at ways of doing it again at the moment as over the last few weeks i have found a few of my images popping up in places where they should not be.

Paulw

AnimalRights wrote: »

No disrespect to paulW and I know he sells his pics so its important for him but his new round sig in the middle of the pics are very very distracting.
Sorry Paul!

No disrespect taken at all. Far from it. I want to develop a watermark that is almost invisible, but is yet still there. I want something that can be seen at 100% and is just visible when printed. I don't want to distract from the image, but do want it to be identified as my own. Now, I guess I better do some more work on my watermark.

I really started putting more of a signature/watermark on the images when I started seeing some of my picts appearing on blog and other sites.

For me, it's not mostly about the money at all, but it's about respect and recognition.

John

I hate them so much that I'd rather people saw my photos uncredited without the text than having more control and the photos looking cack. This is purely a hobby and the fact that someone nicks the photo is enough to make me happy as it's usually because the person thinks it's a good shot!

That being said, any photos of mine that I have seen been used have all been credited and most people have been very polite about it.

Stephen

All the stuff I put up on Flickr is creative commons licenced anyway, so I don't bother watermarking or anything. I've never sold a picture. I honestly don't think any of my stuff is so good that someone would be willing to pay for it

Balfey1972

Stephen wrote: »

All the stuff I put up on Flickr is creative commons licenced anyway, so I don't bother watermarking or anything. I've never sold a picture. I honestly don't think any of my stuff is so good that someone would be willing to pay for it

I am with you on this one Stephen. Exactly my thoughts.

kensutz

I resorted to doing exactly what Paul does. A very subtle watermark with the business name on it to put my ownership of the photos on it.

melekalikimaka

I do see the point of making a watermark for commerically viable images... a watermark to protect your income is a different kettle of fish to a signature that it 99.9 % of of cases detract from the image... frames with image tiltle grind my gears also... I really should watermark a few of my more profitable images...but it really ruins the photo and my main purpose it to make purty pictures at the moment...

challengemaster

I did it for a while until I realised I couldn't be arsed doing it for all the pics I take :pac:

Suppose if i created some sort of nice-looking sig/stamp (kinda like PaddyC@IRL has) and used a program to batch-sig the lot.....meh

Masada

You can do that with photoshop.,:)

Stephen

Stephen wrote: »

All the stuff I put up on Flickr is creative commons licenced anyway, so I don't bother watermarking or anything. I've never sold a picture. I honestly don't think any of my stuff is so good that someone would be willing to pay for it

I'm the same aswell,never sold a photo in my life.I wouldn't view my photos as good enough to need a signature yet.

whyulittle

Just my football stuff. Not a case of thinking it's great or anything, but some of it can end up on football forums and the like, and I prefer to have my name on it if it does.

challengemaster

vtec wrote: »

You can do that with photoshop.,:)

The custom brush thingy? still means opening every one in PS to do it. I mean batch-process programs. eg. iWatermark or whatever.

Also still leaves making the damn logo :P

Bui

Unfortunately it's a bit of a catch 22 in my opinion... Watermarks and signatures distract from the image overall and take away from the overall impact of the photograph, and are a pain in the ass to bother with, yet at the same time are some way of stamping your ownership on the image if you are going to make it available on the internet.

I think it all comes down to how strongly you feel (a) you want your name associated with the image and (b) the likelihood of it being used and you not being accredited. I find any time my images have been used I have always been contacted first and accredited accordingly... catch: that is of course only to the best of my knowledge. That said, I know one or two people who have come across their images being used without their knowledge. Either you're going to take the chance or not.

Calina

It depends on the photograph. Some of them I custom brush sign, some of them have a printed link back to the website.

I haven't really decided on one straight way. If I've put a frame on them, occasionally that will get a signature on it.

I don't watermark.

kgiller

Was just messing around in photoshop earlier and came up with some signatures for prints. Just thought they might look cool.

Any takers?

Balfey1972

like the black one Kieran.

smelltheglove

Yeah I like them, I should work on one really that stands out rather than just my name.