Good examples of logos on photos (sorry if this has been done before)

sirch

sirch

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The other Chris
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I’m sure this has been done to death on here and elsewhere but it turns out to be a hard thing to search for so apologies but I’m asking again. I always thought that logos, watermarks, etc. were pointless for me because I am not a pro, don’t expect to sell an image and if an half decent outfit choose to steal my work they could remove any reasonably sized logo or watermark anyway. Add to that getting a pirate copy taken down would be more trouble than it was worth, I just never bothered.

BUT, I recently shared some photos and friend put a couple of them on her facebook with no credit to me. I’m sure it was a genuine oversight she corrected the oversight as soon as I mentioned it but I am now thinking that in some circumstances I might want to add a logo in case someone forgets again. My issue is putting together a logo that is not too obtrusive but that can be used against different backgrounds and I am looking for suggestions for what you think makes a good logo, size, shape colour etc.

Please, I am really not interested in a big debate about the merits or otherwise of using logos or whether you think they are pointless and spoil an image. I would just like suggestions and examples for size, shape, colour position, etc of what works well in terms of simply giving some attribution to the photographer.
 
i always think the size should be in context with the image it is going on, with my watermark i just followed an online guide on how to make a new paintbrush in photoshop and it works essentially as a stamp. It takes time to go through a batch of photos to do them individually but the beauty of it is that you can configure the colour, opacity and size to suit each photo. I do also have one that just goes right across the photo that i can run as a batch script too for things like kids football matches which i occasionally get asked to shoot.
 
Mine's just done using the text tool in PaintShop with a transparent background (png file format). Like Col I can configure it to suit. It does have to be pasted into each image but I don't take so many that it matters. Most of the time it's applied so it's barely visible, which is the point. If anyone did use one of my images, although that seems highly unlikely, the watermark could easily be overlooked by someone who didn't know it was there, so might not be removed.
 
Thanks for the replies so far, some things to think about.
 
If you want to retain attribution and also give people a way to contact you without the mark being so intrusive they will want remove it, then just add your email address in a small font near one edge. It won't spoil the image and you could be contacted.

Oh, and always put you email in the meta data too.
 
sirch said:
BUT, I recently shared some photos and friend put a couple of them on her facebook with no credit to me. I’m sure it was a genuine oversight she corrected the oversight as soon as I mentioned it ...
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And this was a friend? I don't insist that my friends give me credit when they share my photos ... am I missing something?
 
viewfromthenorth said:
Grove Rake by Andy, on Flickr

Mine:)

It's not there to prevent theft, it's there to show that it is mine, and where I reside on the web.
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I'm afraid that the font you've used is problematic. I first read it as www.tpeviewpromtpenortporg The "worn" look that's applied to the text wipes out the legibility of it.
Each to their own, but you do need to be able to read the words, particularly if it's an email address or web address as being one letter out or missing a dot will mean they can't find you.
Legibility also means making sure the text doesn't disappear into the photo, ie if the colour of text is the same as the part of the photo it is placed over.

On the odd occasions I want to add a watermark, I just use the watermark function in Lightroom's export process. It'll add text to all the photos as you export them, which is great for big batches.
 
ABTog said:
I'm afraid that the font you've used is problematic. I first read it as www.tpeviewpromtpenortporg The "worn" look that's applied to the text wipes out the legibility of it.
Each to their own, but you do need to be able to read the words, particularly if it's an email address or web address as being one letter out or missing a dot will mean they can't find you.
Legibility also means making sure the text doesn't disappear into the photo, ie if the colour of text is the same as the part of the photo it is placed over.

On the odd occasions I want to add a watermark, I just use the watermark function in Lightroom's export process. It'll add text to all the photos as you export them, which is great for big batches.
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Granted the font is a stylised one and so there are some compromises in the legibility, however it doesn't take too much of a leap of imagination to realise that that the URL is the same as the (much larger) The View From The North text in the rest of the logo?
 
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StewartR said:
And this was a friend? I don't insist that my friends give me credit when they share my photos ... am I missing something?
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So if it was me, I would always add a "thanks Fred for the photos" if I posted someone else's work on a public forum, each to their own I suppose.
 
sirch said:
So if it was me, I would always add a "thanks Fred for the photos" if I posted someone else's work on a public forum....
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Sure. But if you forgot, and if Fred was a friend, would you expect him to call you out for it? I wouldn't; that's my point.
 
I made my logo and then apply it to the export settings to images where needed when i export them from Lightroom. (not saying it's the greatest logo, but that's what i do)

Chic feat Nile Rodgers @ Indigo2 by Danielle, on Flickr

I don't do it on all my photos, and it kind of bugs me when people i know whack an obstrusive logo right across photos they post on social media (not in a portfolio way, but in a 'friends' way) as it affects the enjoyment of the photos, but perhaps some of them do them for the reasons Sirch/Chris is talking about. It also bugs me when people put their logos/watermarks on 'happy snaps' that really don't need such a thing on it, i wouldn't put a family photo on my social media with my logo for example, but perhaps i am missing something.
 
dan_yell said:
I made my logo and then apply it to the export settings to images where needed when i export them from Lightroom. (not saying it's the greatest logo, but that's what i do)

Chic feat Nile Rodgers @ Indigo2 by Danielle, on Flickr

I don't do it on all my photos, and it kind of bugs me when people i know whack an obstrusive logo right across photos they post on social media (not in a portfolio way, but in a 'friends' way) as it affects the enjoyment of the photos, but perhaps some of them do them for the reasons Sirch/Chris is talking about. It also bugs me when people put their logos/watermarks on 'happy snaps' that really don't need such a thing on it, i wouldn't put a family photo on my social media with my logo for example, but perhaps i am missing something.
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Not related but I love the lighting in that image. Great job!
 
@Liam1901 thanks mate - it was really really great lighting for that show! (and a brilliant show too - Nile is a legend)
 
dan_yell said:
@ Indigo2 by Danielle, on Flickr

I don't do it on all my photos, and it kind of bugs me when people i know whack an obstrusive logo right across photos they post on social media (not in a portfolio way, but in a 'friends' way) as it affects the enjoyment of the photos, but perhaps some of them do them for the reasons Sirch/Chris is talking about. It also bugs me when people put their logos/watermarks on 'happy snaps' that really don't need such a thing on it, i wouldn't put a family photo on my social media with my logo for example, but perhaps i am missing something.
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I know what you mean about logos on friends photos but the thing that got me was I emailed some photos taken on a group event to that group and then a day later I see on face book “Fred has posted some photos” and some “great photos Fred” comments. As I said it was a genuine oversight but it is the way it came across that bugged me. I still haven’t decided what to do though, I don’t want a great big logo but on the other hand if you can’t read at say 400px wide it seems fairly pointless.
 
@sirch if it was event phots i can see your point - these are my friends happy snaps and in general not photos people are going to share and wish they had the credit for them.

its a tough call on whats best - but its easy to do in lightroom once you decide what you want to put on the photo
 
rjbell said:
I don't think you're gonna get away with starting this thread without a debate! :)
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Quite right.

Logos on images are always naff and when the picture is from a non-commercial source, pretentious as well.
 
Sejanus Aelianus said:
Quite right.

Logos on images are always naff and when the picture is from a non-commercial source, pretentious as well.
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I dunno, it largely depends on how it's done. Lightroom's default abomination of a style '© Joe Bloggs Photography' in solid white across 75% of the image, when Joe Bloggs is nothing more than a happy snapper who wouldn't know composition from compost, fair enough that's both naff and pretentious.

I watermark all flickr and facebook uploads, unless it's a happy snap of course, nice and unobtrusive. In fact, due to the nature of my work recently it's as good as invisible in a lot of images. It doesn't detract from the image, and if anyone wants to come and see more then hopefully it'll point them in the right direction.
 
I love what Alex Penfold does on his (presumably oft stolen/copied) photos, very, very subtle watermark incorporated/hidden individually on each image.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexpenfold/

A corner watermark or one on an area of blank space can easily be removed if somebody really wanted to, I like that it's more than likely that these will go unnoticed until it's too late. e.g. a number of my images have ended up on commercial canvases in China without my permission. Pretty much nothing I could do about it but would have made me feel better if I knew my watermark was still there, or at least caused the first batch to be written off when they noticed.
 
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