signature on photos

[Gloria Wilkowski]

Even though I'm an amateur photographer, should i put some kind of signature on my photographs, to keep them from getting stolen?

[Shades of Grey]

I would suggest it, soley for that fact. I guess it is pretty easy to put a watermark in using photoshop or another peice of sofware. Here is a link to a discussion on how to do it in PS. I have not made time to make mine however, I am planning on doing it this weekend. Your photo's are your photo's, they should stay that way.

http://365project.org/discuss/tips-n-tricks/2798/create-a-custom-brush-for-watermarks

[Michelle]

Add a text box using Picnik.com.

[Lynn M. Watson]

Even without a signature or watermark it is improper and in most places illegal to steal them . . . you still own the rights to your own work. It's your personal preference and a reflection of how worried you are they will actually be reproduced without your permission. You can also adjust the size of your downloads to prevent anyone from stealing a "quality" download.

[☮Lee Gordon☮]

it is not essential,as copyright of any image remains the intellectual property of the photographer unless that photograph was taken by an employee of a company in the course of employment, then copyright rests with the employer, watermarking is just a means of letting people know who the copyright belongs too (besides which the majority of watermarks can be removed with the right experience and an editing suite anyway.

[Gloria Wilkowski]

thanks for the replies, i did go to picnic.com and made 1 there. :) thank you again!

[Marinade Spatula]

You can do it in Picnik, which is very inexpensive and has a lot of options for editing. You will find the text facility under 'Creative'.

[Michelle]

@gwilkowski ~ cool. did you use your own actual signature in Picnik? If so how did you do it?

[Gloria Wilkowski]

i used their features. i like that the * turned out to be a heart. that was interesting.

[Sara]

I've been pondering it as well, but as a newbie to this site (and new at developing an "eye" for anything other than my kids) I decided against it because I guess I feel silly... like I'm trying to be a professional when my pictures clearly don't reflect that (yet!) ...

[Judith]

I have decided against putting signatures on my shots.
I find them really distracting whenever I see them. I especially dislike them when they go all the way through the middle of the image. Besides that it's not much use as they apparently can be removed quite easily.