Wet Boards Reflection

[costisefu]

this is what I would call an elegant, discreet and well put watermark, in this case.

[John B.]

this is what I would call an elegant, discreet and well put watermark, in this case.

That is extremely well done! It fits well with the boards. Still, that would be an easy one to edit out by a determined person.

I never upload anything bigger than 800 pixels tall to the websites. This would enable somebody to print only a 5" x 7" but still be able to use it on a website at full size. Hence the watermark.

I recall a discussion on another photography website where there were literally hundreds of reports of theft. I guess people are going to take what they want. It's the kind of world we live in where some folks believe downloading illegal material is a right. I don't value my photos so highly that I fear losing money, because I don't sell them. It's nice at least to have recognition, though.

[ChicagoJohn]

Thank you all for your advice on the watermark. I really don't like it, myself, and I really wouldn't be hurt unless somebody used my photos for financial gain.

A couple of years ago, I did a favor for a friend. She sent me a black and white photo she had taken of an old shed with dead vines growing around it. She asked me to put a "ghost" in the photo so I pasted one of an elderly gentleman from the 1800s, holding a top hat in his hand, and changed the transparency so you could see through him. She liked it so much that she had a large print made and exhibited it at a county fair photo contest. I had also sent her some of my own photos for the exhibit. A problem arose when my friend also posted the photo in her Facebook. At the end of the day, the judge disqualified the "ghost" photo and all the other submissions. She said she had seen that same photo on her granddaughter's computer as wallpaper. The explanation that her granddaughter had stolen the photo didn't sit well with the judge. Even so, that did not cause me to start putting copyright notices on my photos. It was the lesser offense of taking one of my photos of a large photo of the moon which I had given a blue tint, and using it on his Facebook page.

I know Facebook isn't a good place to display serious work, though. I do have photos displayed in other places and I'm going to redo them without the copyright.

Incidentally, I am not receiving any e-mail notifications when people comment on my posts. I have checked in the account setup and see nothing wrong.

Here again, John B., I really like the story. It definitely makes our sense of rectitude recoil when there is an injustice like this. The older we get, the more often we can see the occasional event like this that's just not right, no matter how you slice it.
I think you took it much more calmly and diplomatically than I would have, probably.

And yet, when I really stop to think about it, not speaking for anyone but myself, what I'm doing, and what I will do from here on out, not only with respect to photography but also in my day job in science and technology, is really not at all easily compartmentalized in terms of what "I" did in and of myself versus how I was acting in a complex causal chain of causes and conditions at any given moment, often with pure "chance" a major factor, that produced a positive result. And in saying "chance", I mean that dimension that is theoretically explainable yet beyond our capacity to understand.

And that is why I ascribe to the conclusion of Seneca; that everything is the product of one, universal creative effort. I feel so much better thinking that way than I do thinking "me, me, me, mine, mine, mine". I feel better thinking of myself is a transitory part of the chain of events in photography in particular and the visual arts in general.

So, as I've said elsewhere, I really appreciate the time you take to write about your experience, John B. It always makes me stop and think. I appreciate it.

[Wirefox]

I love the colour and I love the texture. However if fear of image thieft starts to interfere with your own and others enjoyment of your work its time to re-examine if the web is the best place to showcase your work. Image theft will happen regardless of watermarks no matter the size. Personally the only concern I would have is if someone were making money from my work...highly unlikely if you have seen my work but I might get a little disgruntled with that

[bert]

I need to change that thing about editing. I don't mind anyone giving my photos a new look and posting them here.

I am often keen to edit photos, but in my opinion, it looks good just as it is.

And I also vote for the copyright bit* to get more than a tad smaller

(Well, hey, it's spoiling a great picture !)


*The original one, I mean, not the subtle one that Costisefu made.

Nice one, Costisefu


Also : the facebook theft !

It's a personal thing, as Dazza says, it's free advertising for you.

But that's only if they publicly acknowledge on their page that you took that photo !


Anyway, great pic

[John B.]

I am often keen to edit photos, but in my opinion, it looks good just as it is.

And I also vote for the copyright bit* to get more than a tad smaller

(Well, hey, it's spoiling a great picture !)


*The original one, I mean, not the subtle one that Costisefu made.

Nice one, Costisefu


Also : the facebook theft !

It's a personal thing, as Dazza says, it's free advertising for you.

But that's only if they publicly acknowledge on their page that you took that photo !


Anyway, great pic

Thank you, kindly, Bert! And I agree with all that you say.

I just opened an account with Smugmug because it seems the best place to display photos. I am not using watermarks but if I wanted to, Smugmug has a feature of built in ones. I can prevent them from being right-clicked and downloaded but I am aware that screenshots enable people to take what they want. Apart from the one incident where my friend (and I, by extension) were accused of theft, and it was the judge's granddaughter who took our photo, I haven't had any problems. Okay, there was the one with the blue moon that somebody took, too, but it really has hurt me, financially. Now if I was relying on selling photos, it would be a different matter.

[John B.]

I love the colour and I love the texture. However if fear of image thieft starts to interfere with your own and others enjoyment of your work its time to re-examine if the web is the best place to showcase your work. Image theft will happen regardless of watermarks no matter the size. Personally the only concern I would have is if someone were making money from my work...highly unlikely if you have seen my work but I might get a little disgruntled with that

You're right, and I'm not going to let it get to me. There are bigger things to worry about. I guess we just need to accept that if we put something on the Internet, and somebody takes a liking to it, they will take it, no matter what.

I haven't posted anything big enough to print larger than a 5" x 7", and I don't think anyone will make much money from those.