Watermarking a Photo Before Publishing It on the Internet: All The Pros and Cons

The first watermarks appeared in Italy in 1281. The images did not allow the copying of documents and banknotes. With the advent of the Internet, watermarks have experienced a new birth. Now such marks are applied to video and photo content to protect copyrights and prevent illegal copying.

A watermark is a translucent image applied to photographs, illustrations, documents, videos, etc. Thanks to it, data about the author or owner of certain content is written. Adding watermark to photo needs to exclude theft by those resources that do not indicate the author of the content.

The watermark also performs another critical function. It helps to identify the author of the content and popularize it on the network. Watermarks help illustrators and photographers gain popularity on the Internet. If you take high-quality pictures, but they are quickly copied and shared on the Internet by others, it hurts your reputation. Below we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of watermarks and whether they should be used now.

Benefits of Watermarks

Nowadays, authors very rarely use watermarks to protect and identify their content. At the same time, such translucent inscriptions and logos have several advantages:

1. Image theft protection. Defending your copyright in court is a complex and costly business from an economic perspective. You will spend money on hiring a lawyer while not the fact that you will win the process. Watermarking is the easiest way to deal with content thieves on the Internet. Removing the stigma on the photo will be complicated if you correctly position it. It will be easier for attackers to find another picture than to steal yours.
2. Free promotion on the Internet. The watermark will become a free advertising method if your image is placed on an extensive resource. Bloggers often use this promotion technique. They put logos or text blocks on their photos with a link to social networks. Photography, bloggers, and models have gained worldwide popularity precisely due to this method.
3. Company branding. It is believed that logos can only be applied to flash drives, cups, umbrellas, and other items. At the same time, company photos are also a great way of branding.
4. Aesthetics of photography. Modern programs and services for applying watermarks allow you to change the logo’s transparency, color, placement, size, and other parameters. A properly configured watermark will not repel people.
5. Minimum time costs. You can add a watermark using modern services in 5 minutes. They have the most simple and intuitive settings. Even if you have not worked with such applications before, it will not be difficult to master them. Most programs support batch data processing. You can also save a watermark template.

Disadvantages of Watermarks

The watermark on the image also has disadvantages. The most common include:

1. It can be erased or cropped. Try not to place a watermark on the side of the picture. It can always be cut off. Then there will be no trace of the mark. Watermark removal can be implemented only on single images. But large data packets will require significant time investments. Even AI ​​will not help to get rid of the stigma completely. This is due to the peculiarity of the service’s work – on each picture, the watermark is slightly modified.
2. Lack of legal protection. Watermarks will not help you defend your copyright in court.

Serious publications prefer not to steal content from authors. They purchase stock images or provide a link to the author. For this reason, many photographers and illustrators have stopped watermarking their content. At the same time, one should not forget many other sites whose owners seek to save on purchasing copyright content.

Even if your image is copied and not bought, site visitors will still learn about your authorship, thanks to the stigma.

Adding a watermark to a photo is easy. The process will not take you much time. It is enough to find a reliable service and figure out what your watermark will look like. Then things will go quickly.