Watermark Placement / Style

chipj

I'm looking for advice and best practices on where to place watermarks on photos, and not negatively impact sales of those photos.

The SmugMug Help section shows examples of watermarks placed in the middle of the image, but to me it's too distracting and makes it hard to "see" the overall image.

I've played around with setting my watermark transparency to a 20% transparency, and then placing the water mark in the middle of the image, but again it's still too distracting (IMO). I'm playing with the idea of placing the watermark at the bottom of the image. The challenge I have with this is that it opens up the possibility that someone will screen capture an image, and then crop out the watermark.

I'm curious if anyone here has advice in terms of the placement of watermarks, transparency settings, styles, etc, AND not impact sales of that image.

Art Morgan

I don't think there's anything to do that you haven't already looked into. If you want each image to show a copyright notice, it's a matter of striking a balance so as not to impact the view (sales.) Seems to me you already have a good balance between the two opposing forces. You have placed a statement to prospective purchasers that their copy will not have the copyright notice---there's nothing more you can do. You have also limited the size available on screen, and if these are at 72 dpi, you are doing everything you can to prevent internet theft.

Andy

I don't use them on all of my photos, but here's one I came up with that I like, effective and you can still see the photo
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale/634937_kBmgdb#138586521_hS5Hk-A-LB

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Philam-School/1415906_FG8DdN#111118721_jGuWQ-A-LB

chipj

Thanks Andy. I've seen this watermark before... I personally have a tough time (visually) with having a big X across my images. I'm also not a big fan of positioning the watermark in the middle, But I do appreciate the reply.

Andy wrote: »

I don't use them on all of my photos, but here's one I came up with that I like, effective and you can still see the photo
http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Landscapes-for-Sale/634937_kBmgdb#138586521_hS5Hk-A-LB

http://www.moonriverphotography.com/Galleries/Philam-School/1415906_FG8DdN#111118721_jGuWQ-A-LB

chipj

Thanks Art... you know I had never though about reducing the DPI as well. I've got a pro account, so I do have the option to replace any of my portfolio images with a much high quality one if/when an order is placed, so the lower res idea will work.

I believe that the Apple line (iMac, iPad, etc..) is able to display a higher resolution (above 72-75 dpi), and I want to display the best image I can. Do you (or anyone else) have any insight into what the display resolutions are for an iMac, iPad, SmartPhone, etc..?

Art Morgan wrote: »

I don't think there's anything to do that you haven't already looked into. If you want each image to show a copyright notice, it's a matter of striking a balance so as not to impact the view (sales.) Seems to me you already have a good balance between the two opposing forces. You have placed a statement to prospective purchasers that their copy will not have the copyright notice---there's nothing more you can do. You have also limited the size available on screen, and if these are at 72 dpi, you are doing everything you can to prevent internet theft.