Editing Social Media Photo Watermarking?

You can do that, but that sort of watermark is very easy to remove with basic photo editing skills. You can use a bigger watermark, placed so that it covers something more than flat black, which would make it slightly harder to erase.

There's also, if you're so inclined, ways of hiding a message in the binary text etc which proves the image is yours, but even that can be modified/thampered with.

Also, a weird tip I once recieved: always post slightly smaller/lower resolution images, not the original. The original, high res image is in your possession only and thus proof that it's yours. Or, crop the image slightly and keep the un cropped one as your proof. You can also report photo thieves to most reputable sites to have them removed if you can prove they're yours, and of course you will have posted first!

Unfortunately, the only sure fire way to stop people stealing your pictures is not to post them. Those who are so inclined will get around most methods to do so. However, you can use your strategically placed watermark to annoy them into giving up.

Ask said person for another photo of the doll if they're not fullset/company faceup!

 

I watermark my photos, but do so discreetly.

The unfortunate reality of the matter is that there's really no way to police people who may steal your photos. I think that if someone is interested enough in your dolls, they'll do their research and be able to figure out if the photos are stolen. You can always report accounts on IG that use your photos without permission, as well.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend making your IG private - especially if it's a BJD focused account. I don't even bother trying to follow private accounts, because I find new friends/photos by searching the tags or looking at comments on public photos. That's the whole fun of it, IMO!

 

I don't post much doll-related pictures, but usually I never post the high-resolution version of something I made. I keep those for myself. That way if anyone tries to sell my work illegally they'll always be stuck with grainy pictures when printing. The same thought process could be applied to your instagram photos.

I sign most of my drawings and never remove a photographer's watermarks for good measure (and out of respect). However, like it was said before, watermarks are usually very easy to remove (even if it can somewhat dissuade people from using your pictures), so I don't rely on those. You could add very large watermarks but it will hide a good part of your work, which probably isn't what you want. Either way, people who really want to steal your photos will always find a way to do so. The best you can do, in my opinion, is to prevent them from having the best quality product.

In any case, if not for preventing theft, watermarks and signatures are great for people to find you later.

 

I made a watermark few days ago but then found myself too lazy to watermark every photo... so I gave up...

 

Heh. Yeah... that's me! I've made watermarks before, but I'm too lazy to put them on all my photos. It would be nice if there was an easy way to do it. But it's too much of a bother.

I think it's a good idea if you worry about such things. Lazy photo-thieves might leave them on and you can at least still have a claim on your stolen photos. But it's hard to keep people from stealing photos. The best way is to use lower-res files, but you don't want to go so low that the pictures look bad... and those files still look good for the thieves...

 

I also go the discreet route with the watermark but if someone is really determined to get rid of it, they will. What I’ve found is that when I file a claim/dispute over my pictures, it helps.

I have a premade “stamp” on mobile for ease. Just throw it, arrange in sweet spot on and post.

 

I just have my name in the lower left corner as a watermark. I have a preset export setting in Lightroom so adding it to the output file is no extra effort.

It could be cropped off without affecting the rest of the picture if you wanted. I limit the output resolution to about 1 megapixel, so they still look good on screen but it's limited to what you can do with it.

Putting the watermark across the middle of the image will stop someone stealing your image, but it will look like garbage so why bother posting it in the first place.

 

Saying the same as the other people here. I upload a fairly low res version of the image (Iargest side 1000px at 72 dpi), which is large enough to view well but too small to print off in any acceptable way. I also watermark. As has been said, anyone who is determined enough can and will remove a watermark. So, I don't ruin the image by plastering my name across it. The purpose of the watermark for me is so that my images can be traced back to me, once they have been ripped from source. If you Google the name on the photo, you will find me. I therefore make it discrete but legible, like a signature on a painting. It is easy to add a watermark layer on your image in Photoshop and you could do with any other software that enables layers. Don't stamp it permanently on your final image, in case you want to print it off one day.

Example of my watermark. It is visible, if you want to look for it, but it doesn't hit you in the eye.