But, there are a few reasons. It occurred to me to list/discuss them after this past Wednesday's post, wherein many of you commenters said you did or did not.
1. Copyright. My pictures are mine. I might not be a good photographer, but I own that. And, watermark or not, pictures I produce are mine, and I don't want to just hand 'em out. You can look at them, that's what pictures are for. But use them? Represent them as yours? I'm pretty much not okay with that.
2. Protection against misrepresentation. I love Elka. She's my pretty girl, she's very striking, and the sight of her frequently stops people on the street, for better or for worse. But her conformation, so far as champion Dobermans go? Not so good. However, this does not stop less than reputable breeders from stealing pictures of other peoples' dogs off the Internet and using them on websites, to mislead puppy buyers. This has not happened to me (that I know of) and most of these photo thefts are of actual titled dogs, but I don't want a picture of Elka to be on some breeder's website as one of "their" dogs who's pumped out puppies. She is mine, she is spayed. The end.
3. Traffic. If somebody sees my picture, even through a Google search and without knowing "who I am", they might go "Huh, what's the Elka Almanac?" and search further, and end up here. For a blogger, more readers is always a good thing!
Do you watermark your pictures? Why or why not?
I absolutely watermark my photos, and for most of the same reasons as you. In the misrepresentation column, though, I know a fellow blogger whose photo of her pit bull was stolen and used in an article SUPPORTING BSL, saying how horrible and aggressive pit bulls are. That is the kind of thing that scares me- I never want my dog's picture associated with something like that. Not to mention another friend who had photos of her dogs stolen and actually used on product websites and packaging (multiple times by different companies!).
ReplyDeleteOh God, that's a nightmare, isn't it? The face of your dog supporting a thing you're deeply against? I'm sorry for your friend :(
DeleteIf I found my dog being used marketing products without my say-so, I'd be looking for a copyright lawyer I daresay.
I know I should, I just haven't gotten around to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's just one of those things. It took me awhile to get to it!
DeleteI do and started doing so very early on. Not sure why. I'm not a particularly good photographer, Bella certainly is uniquely marked enough to know darn well who she it and where I put the copyright wouldn't even deter someone who does want to use it. Still, I guess I feel at least if I have it and find her pictures elsewhere, I can point out to the folks using it that it was indeed marked and they knew they were breaking the rules in using it if they cut the copyright out.
ReplyDeleteElka really is a stunning beauty though. :)
It's probably good that you started early! I also try (mostly) to place the watermark such that cropping it would crop part of Elka as well. There's always photoshop (As Ruby comments below), but that's a step that somebody looking to make a quick image grab might not take.
DeleteMa knows she should, butts if someone really wanted to use it, they can always photoshop it out very easily, and since the blog is copyrighted anyway (which includes all the content/photos), Ma usually doesn't do it. Some people suck, and they will do what they want to do. I guess makin' it that much harder for them to do it is a good thing....
ReplyDeleteKisses,
Ruby ♥
They could photoshop it out, but somebody willing to steal pictures of other peoples' dogs might not even want to go to the effort.
DeletePeople do what they want, though, that is true.
I don't because I am lazy
ReplyDeleteStop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com/
Really, if I faulted laziness, I would be hypocritical indeed!
DeleteYes I do, after I found a bunch of my pictures on a free wallpaper site! I figured, if people are going to take my pictures, they're at least going to do advertising for me!
ReplyDeleteOn a wallpaper site? Well that's...bizarre.
DeleteYou do take very nice pictures, though ;)
I agree - my photos, while not professional, are MINE, of my adoptable and personal dogs, who I don't want elsewhere without advertising Silverwalk Hounds if someone chooses to purloin them. Saying that, I'm not always consistent. I currently use iWatermark Pro. What watermarking device do you use?
ReplyDeleteI understand, perhaps incorrectly, if I include a caption at the bottom of my photo, it works as a watermark. Easitly cropped off, though.
I typically just use the "text" section of Photobucket to type "TheElkaAlmanac" on the pictures I intend to use for a post. I also have "Gimp", which is a free for mac photo/art thing, and can put text on a picture using that as well.
DeleteThis is something I need to do. I only have on a few posts, but I recently found someone using a picture of Cooper... Sigh. Lesson learned!
ReplyDeleteSee, using other peoples' pictures (other than a "hey, this dog needs a home context") just wouldn't even occur to me. It's such a shame so many people are willing to go ahead and do so.
DeleteWhen I remember too it's because like you I don't want someone using them without giving me the credit. Sometimes though, it's so much work that I just don't do it.
ReplyDelete