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What if....?

marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
edited July 24, 2005 in SmugMug Support
What would happen if I moaned and groaned once a day about how I want a custom watermark ability? Would I be banned, would I be ignored, or would I see results?
http://davidson.smugmug.com

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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    marlinspike wrote:
    What would happen if I moaned and groaned once a day about how I want a custom watermark ability? Would I be banned, would I be ignored, or would I see results?

    you'd be whining too much :D smugmug knows that you and others want this feature. they bring out new stuff all the time... hang in there.
    Andy

    Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    I know they know it, but I also know they keep saying it's not on top of their list and gosh darn it I want it on top of the list.

    Let me put it this way, I'd give $40 if that would get it done. Now you're thinking "Well, that's not much money" but keep in mind that would leave me with nothing.
    Richard
    http://davidson.smugmug.com
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    Ok, I think this is a good example of what I mean. I'm Canonfan btw (why is this italics???)

    http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/256146
    http://davidson.smugmug.com
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    marlinspike wrote:
    Ok, I think this is a good example of what I mean. I'm Canonfan btw (why is this italics???)

    http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/256146

    i agree with the posters, why are you watermarking these pics anyhow ne_nau.gif

    i can see watermarking for event shooters and portraits, but why shots like those you linked? are you trying for protection? what are you protecting against? an 800px wide 72dpi image won't be usable for much of anything.... so i'm wondering why the watermarking?
    Andy

    Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    Well, I watermarked these out of habit, but for the sports pictures people really were printing the little medium photos (I used to not do watermark, just blocked larges instead) and it really ticked me off. Fine, y'all win, I'll unwatermark them, BUT I've seen people watermark pictures and not have every comment be some variation of "your watermark sucks" and all it would take is a tool to set font size, opacity, and text (and I think diagonal is better than across but that's just me).
    Richard
    http://davidson.smugmug.com
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    onethumbonethumb Administrators Posts: 1,269 Major grins
    edited July 23, 2005
    andy wrote:
    i agree with the posters, why are you watermarking these pics anyhow ne_nau.gif

    i can see watermarking for event shooters and portraits, but why shots like those you linked? are you trying for protection? what are you protecting against? an 800px wide 72dpi image won't be usable for much of anything.... so i'm wondering why the watermarking?

    Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion. Obviously, as evidenced by all the work we do in this arena, we know not everyone feels this way.

    I suspect that people who watermark their photos lose more sales that way than they do by people "stealing" their work anyhow.

    I know I wouldn't buy work that was obscured or seemed to be from someone so paranoid.

    (Yes, even with a more subtle watermark :) ).

    Don
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited July 24, 2005
    You might be on to something there Don now that I think about it. I'm going to have to do some experimenting this upcoming soccer season, now that I won't be plagued by equipment failures (1 broken shutter 1 broken mirror 3 severely misfocusing lenses, 1 broken af motor). My thing is that I was hearing from many excited athletes about how they were able to print the files, and I'm sitting there thinking "You're supposed to buy the damn things...and why are you telling me about this?"

    My thing is that they can definitley turn the large into something of a 4x6 (but I think I'm moderately safe with the medium), but the larges look somehow better than the mediums, I suspect simply because they are bigger.
    Richard
    http://davidson.smugmug.com
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    onethumbonethumb Administrators Posts: 1,269 Major grins
    edited July 24, 2005
    marlinspike wrote:
    You might be on to something there Don now that I think about it. I'm going to have to do some experimenting this upcoming soccer season, now that I won't be plagued by equipment failures (1 broken shutter 1 broken mirror 3 severely misfocusing lenses, 1 broken af motor). My thing is that I was hearing from many excited athletes about how they were able to print the files, and I'm sitting there thinking "You're supposed to buy the damn things...and why are you telling me about this?"

    My thing is that they can definitley turn the large into something of a 4x6 (but I think I'm moderately safe with the medium), but the larges look somehow better than the mediums, I suspect simply because they are bigger.
    Richard


    Yeah. IMHO, if I were making money off my photos, I'd disable Larges and Originals and turn on image protection. But under no circumstances would I watermark them.

    It's sorta like those stores which have amazing return policies and will take anything back (Costco, Wal-Mart, etc). Sure, there's the occaisonal kook who returns too much or abuses the system, but in general, people feel like they're being treated right so they tend to buy more and stay satisfied longer.

    If you trust your customers a little bit, they may reward you. :)

    Don
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