Your name as watermark?

[Ralph Thornton]

I presented a slide show a number of years ago. My last photo was an evening photo of a mountain with a dark sky behind and brilliant sunlight on the mountain. There was a beautiful rainbow arcing onto the mountain as well. After the show a guy came up and complimented me on the program. Then he asked where I got that shot of the rainbow on the mountain. He then told me that he had it as a screensaver on his pc. Hmmm! Now I wonder where he got it? I know he didn't purchase it from me.

I think the best way to keep thieves from stealing your work is to present the photos in relatively small size. That way they cannot be printed from the file stolen via a web browser. Some photo hosting sites store full sized images but prevent the copying of anything larger than a preview image.

I used to use watermarks on my images but they get in the way too much for me. On the other hand I feel good enough about my work to sign it. So I usually put my signature, the copyright year and the words Ear Mountain Photography in the corner of the image. Here's an example,

 

[Aleks Isachenko]

Well, I can say for myself. In my country a photographers work does not so highly payed. Magazines, newspapers have one photographer but usually prefer to post pictures sent by readers without any rewarding, just mention something like: "photo by Mr. X".
Internet media usually buy photos from freelancers (like me) but they pay not too much.
The funny thing sometimes occur - some media bought 3-5 pictures, but took from blog or site of photographers 2-3 pictures more.
Thats why, me and many of my friends place watermark.
Unfortunately in my country it's quite difficult to win a suit concerning the copyright. The Court system is not perfect and any law can be interpreted in many ways.