Is this a good time to think about watermarking your pix? Well, lets talk about it for a bit and discuss some of the options.
Que es un Watermark?
Obviously there are no fluids involved in the process of watermarking digital documents. The term likely stems from the stain water can leave on paper documents. While the stain may be visible it may not interfere with your ability to read the text (unless the text was printed with water soluble ink, then, well, good luck). Said stain can be unique and some bright person figured that if you could purposefully make a stain then the authenticity of the document can be verified. The stain can also be associated to a particular person so if the document was rewritten then you'd know it wasn't the original written by the original author.
In photography a watermark is meant to keep photos from being copied or, at the very least, indicate who the originating photographer is. Think of it as a signature, a way of letting people know that the photo of that cool sunset, cute bunny, or horrific accident scene was taken by you. Many professional photographer watermark their work. Their photos are their livelihood and unlicensed copies are a ding to the bank account. Another benefit of watermarking is a bit of free advertising.
To Mark or Not To Mark? That is the Question.
Let me say right up front that the vast majority of you will not want to bother with watermarking. It can be time consuming and unnecessary if you don't care who downloads your pix. For those of us who are concerned about what people do with our photos then watermarking is a good option and, for some, necessary.
If you intend to make money from your photos (yes, even photos taken with your trusty iPhone can turn a buck or two) or if you are concerned about how far your photos are propagated over the Internet then marking them up before postings is, again, a good option.
If you don't want your work to be reproduced at all without your permission then there is watermarking techniques called steganography that embeds a watermark in the photo so that it can't be seen except under certain conditions and can either hinder copying or carry information forward even if the photo is copied. For most of us that's a bit overboard.
I'm Gonna Mark It, But How?
There are many ways to watermark your shots. You can put a big old graphic across the photo like this…
This may be effective, but may not be the best way to watermark
I wouldn't recommend it. The graphic ruins the integrity of the photo. On the other hand anyone looking to copy it will likely look elsewhere.
You could put a more subtle graphic on your shot, sort of like a signature on artwork.
This is a common way to matk up your shots
This is a good option because it leaves your photo largely unaltered, but some find even this small marking intrusive.
Some put frames around their work and put the mark there.
This is stylish, but the mark can be cropped out
Many people like this because it leaves the photo intact, but putting the mark in the margin defeats one of the purposes of marking your work in the first place, the photo can be copied and the marked margin cropped out.
The app I use when I mark is iWatermark+. It offers plenty of options including the ability to scan in your signature and use steganography to mark your pix.
iWatermark+
Another option is EZ Watermark Free. It has all the amenities and includes the ability to add a signature by using your finger to sign. As with most freeware, EZ Watermark Free is ad ladened, but it gets the job done at no cost.
EZ Watermark Free
You'll also find that many post processing apps have built-in watermarking options.
There are also many other apps that will serve this purpose if you decide to watermark.
That's a wrap! More iPhoneography 101 coming. Stay tuned.