Border and Sig help...

[Pruddock]

I'm in the process of building a site to display/advertise my photography and I'm trying to decide how I want to display my images. I'm not going to include either on a print that I actually sell (if I sell any), but for copyrighting purposes and just as a display purpose I was wondering what your thoughts were on adding a border and a signature vs. just watermarking the image. I don't like how watermarks can really distort an image and I think that it can lead to deterring some people away from an image that they may have liked otherwise, and I'm building the site in Flash so I've got some protection with that already. Is the added border and signature a good idea? How do ya'll feel about it or what are your experiences with it?

[ssim]

I have no idea how a watermark will distort an image if it is done properly.

The various methods of watermarking your images have been discussed at length on here and there are many ways of doing this. Each photographer will have their own favorite method. If you plan on posting images online I strongly urge you to put some sort of watermarking in your image.

I use the method shown in this Russell Brown tutorial (http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/BrandingSM.mov). I have taken it a step further and broken this action down into several short tutorials so that I can easily change sizes, apply different watermarks depending on its final destination. While a watermark in one of the corners of your image lets viewers know its origin but does little to inhibit people from stealing the image. These are easily cropped off. I add the word P R O O F across the middle of the image but reduce the opacity so that it is noticeable but does not deter from effective evaluation of the image. If someone wants to take the time to clone this out then they really need it more than I need the money from it. Essentially putting anything online is putting it at risk. Inhibiting the right click is little value as you can always get the image.

The actions that I have are run from Bridge where I highlight/select the files that I want and then run them through the image processor. I have done folders of more than 1000 images and it has never failed me. You can walk away from your computer and come back and they are all done.

Putting a signature line in a border has no deterrent value other than letting the viewer know its yours, same as putting it in the lower corner of the image as I said before. In fact in this case you have made it easier for them in that they can just crop off the frame and get to keep all of the image.

If you take the time and build your watermarks with the right opacity levels it should not make it so that the viewer cannot evaluate the image. I have seen some that throw huge letters across the image at 100% opacity and in that instance I would agree with your assessment of this.

It is a personal preference thing. What do you want to show, where to show it, etc is all a matter of your liking.

[Pruddock]

Thanks a lot for your opinion and the tutorial ssim. I'll have to reconsider the watermark and try to work one out this weekend.