Why I love watermarks in social media

I spend a lot of time looking at photographs, paintings, illustrations, really art in general. I also spend a lot of time on Facebook, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and social networks similar to those. I love inspiration, I have binders with tear-sheets from all of the magazines I read with images that move me. With magazines and books is easy to have your references right there, because if I want to look up the photographer who shot a picture I like, I just look at the photo credit. Not the case with the websites I mentioned above.

Watermarks help people find you and your work. Watermarks are helpful, because when I see an image I love, I am that person that goes and finds everything that artist created. I fall in love with the body of work, with their process, I like looking at every image available and then I go and like their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Behance, you name it.

There are millions of pages created in Facebook dedicated to photography, most of them share the picture, but not the creator and that drives me crazy. Same thing goes with Pinterest and even StumbleUpon. Pinterest is generally good because if you click on the picture it takes you back to the website that posted the picture initially, however, that website may not include a photo credit. Moreover, sometimes StumbleUpon pulls images off the web when you are “stumbling” but it’s just that, the image, no credit attached to it.

Why is it okay for painters to sign their work and not okay for photographers? If you have a Flickr, 500px, Facebook account, etc., watermark your work, sign it! Watermarks do not have to be intrusive, they can be include it tastefully without distracting from your image. I know that many disagree with me, but I also think is personal choice. If somebody likes your picture and wants to share, they will do so with or without the watermark.

When I first saw this picture above I was hooked, I loved it. I immediately wanted to see if the photographer had more! I checked the picture, and in the right corner, almost falling out of the picture, there is a tiny almost transparent name, Elena Kalis. Turns out, she is a super talented underwater photographer and this picture is part an amazing body of work including a series called “Alice in Waterland,” now, that’s cool! Had she not included a watermark, I don’t think I would have found her, or least not as easily.

Another example is this cartoon above. When I saw it, I was laughing so hard because it’s true for me! Anyway, somebody had shared it on Facebook, on their wall, so no link going back to his facebook page. However, this artist, Sebastien Millon, knows about watermarks and the power of them! Now I follow him on Facebook, and even have purchased postcards on his Etsy shop!

I’m not advocating for watermarks in the images on your website, I’m advocating for watermarks on your pictures on social media. You never know who will see your work or who will buy it because they were able to find you. Unless you are Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle, Mario Testino, Jeremy Cowart, Mark Seliger or the like, I think you could use a little bit more promotion.

One last thing, watermarks are important in social media settings because one day Jeremy Cowart can tweet about how much he loves a picture you made, but he doesn’t know who took it! And also add the picture to his "Photography inspiration" Pinterest board!

So do yourself a favor and SIGN your images, you never know what's going to happen!