Why watermark?

Bill_M

Hi guys,
Just signed up a few days ago...love the features.

Quick question, with all the security features in place (right-click protection), why would there be a need to watermark the images?

I just want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious here. Currently I do not have watermarks enabled...but should I?

Thanks,
Bill

denisegoldberg

I still am not using a watermark - tried one, didn't like the way it looked. But - I know I need to revisit that.

Right-click protection is enabled only within your SmugMug gallery. If you link to an image from outside of there, right click will be enabled from that location. You can set up your galleries to not allow external links, but that means no links at all. (I still allow links because I want to be able to link to my photos in my blog.)

Even if you don't allow links and set up right click protection - people can still use a screen capture program to grab a copy of your images. If you watermark your images their screen capture will include the watermark. Of course if you only watermark the edge then the "thiefs" will be able to cut the edge of the image to remove it. (If - or maybe I should say when - I watermark my galleries, I will still only place a watermark on the edge. Why? Because I find watermarks very distracting, and I can't be bothered to even look at photos that have watermarks all over the image. If I feel that way, how could I do that to my own viewers?)

I would recommend disabling access to the originals. The other sizes are pretty small, and while they still can be useful at least you'll know that they won't produce a decent quality print.

--- Denise

dogwood

Advertising!

Seriously-- even with decent prices and all the right-click "protection" enabled, people still swipe photos. In my case, I see them on myspace frequently. My water mark includes my url-- at least I get a little free publicity from them.

bham

Here is just one good example of why to watermark. If you search under Mind Your Own Business sections I know will you find alot more.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=62279

Bill_M

Thanks Denise, I agree with your reasoning for not watermarking...they are very unsightly & I'm less likely to browse images that have them...howeverm bham's post is an eye-opener.
I think I'll mull this over a bit more. Appreciate the input.

Thanks,
Bill