Those pesky watermarks

[heather]

ASC is my first venture in displaying my art on the internet, and I am not technically savvy. Having successfully avoided computers until now I am teaching myself as I go, and the watermarking process is time consuming and frankly, booooring. Plus, I was under the impression that the whole point was to keep your image from being easily copied, which i'm assuming means that if your watermark doesn't cover the essential part of the image whats the point? As well, most people seem to skip the process completely!? Please help me! To watermark or not to watermark- how shall I know?;)

[heather]

Is the answer really obvious or does everyone just guess? I thought surely some one would know! Anyone????

[Singular]

I personally don't care for watermarks. Some people have really good water marks that create a subtle overlay on large images and for small images, usually on the bottom right of image. Others put them on for the sake of having them. I think they are overkill. If someone wants to steal your image, they will find a way. No big deal. As long as you don't post extremely high resolution images, they can't be printed with any type of quality. Just post images on the web that are made for the web, between 600 and 800 pixels.

[pia]

A lot of great questions and very helpful answers on this forum!

Edit
I realize I've been using 960 X 720 pixels which is over what you suggest. I too am a technological neophyte and am just wondering if that is too much for photos? The reason I use the 960 X 720 is because that is what the Cambridge Art Association requires for photos of paintings, mixed media submissions, etc.

[Singular]

A lot of great questions and very helpful answers on this forum!

Edit
I realize I've been using 960 X 720 pixels which is over what you suggest. I too am a technological neophyte and am just wondering if that is too much for photos? The reason I use the 960 X 720 is because that is what the Cambridge Art Association requires for photos of paintings, mixed media submissions, etc.

There is nothing wrong with uploading large images such as 960 X 720. And you are right; many sites require it. As long as your images are not to large, like 2400 pixels, you should be fine. You figure acceptable print resolution is about 150 pixels per inch. Good quality is well over 200, perhaps 240-300. So if you you had an image that is 960x720, the largest size high quality image someone could produce would be 4x3 inches. That would not be very useful to someone interested in stealing your work. Otherwise, they will be printing your image larger, with not such good quality.

all the best,
Joe

[heather]

Thanks for the feedback, this has been plaguing me!

[Amigone]

I do not use watermarks when I post my work on the web. I find that one, I am less likely to look at piece that has a water mark posted right in the center, and two, that if they were going to steal it, they could do that anyway. My feelings are that the more my art is seen the more likely it is that someone will buy it. I do post lower resloution pictures.

[Artisit10]

I think to too much resolution or too much low resolution will help you in saving your work from stealing. Only Watermark is not so secure...

[pia]

Thank you for the explanation Joe. I really appreciate it