I work in an industry where I am pretty dang particular about copyrights, but what I cannot stand is when people don't respect what we do and take everything for granted. You can see photos of myself being shared all over the net without permission, you can see people grabbing each other's photos without crediting. Yes, that is an offence, but ultimately, who are you to blame other people for grabbing what's your's when you don't even mark your name on it?

So to counter such unethical people, some genius of a human decided to create this thing called the, "watermark".

I guess most humans don't quite get what it means so I shall spare a minute of my time explaining.

"Watermark", is basically an overlay that you place over your own artworks/photos to mark that it is your's. Just like how your teacher always tells you to "PLEASE WRITE YOUR NAME ON YOUR WORKSHEET." Do I need to explain more?

Some photographers probably don't understand that "Watermark" actually exists..... Okay, they are probably super new to the industry, so I shall forgive and let live. But what infuriates me more is when they decides to claim legal fees when they are the ones who did not credit their own products. My bad because I forgot all about crediting, but you know how a casual email to remind me could appease everything rather than sending a threat to claim your big name?

Photographers these days need to know that if they want to establish themselves as professionals, please learn to work like a professional. Not everyone with a camera is a photographer. Not everyone who takes photo is a photographer. And not everyone who knows what is a camera is a photographer! Just because you have minimal knowledge on how a camera works, which I believe most people do, you know point and shoot that kind of shit(Most of your phones have camera these days anyway....), you are not a photographer.

Quality photos aside...

We all know how important a branding is to a brand isn't it? If you have that basic integrity to respect your career, you would have made sure your brand looks good enough to uphold your reputation. Okay let me put this in a simpler context.

What makes Nike, Nike?

Oh c'mon, we all know Nike's slogan and logo. Just do it ✓.

And why? Because Nike bothered to market their image and make themselves known to the world. The moment you see the logo, you know it's Nike. Same goes for every other branding in every other industry in this world.

You know Chanel is Chanel, because all of their products has a CC logo on it. You know Mont Blanc is Mont Blanc, because they have their classic 6 edge star(Actually a snowflake) logo on every single one of their products.
Rule of thumb: If you want people to know you, write your name.

The worst part? They're not even decent shots with proper post-production! You don't just point and shoot, and send photographs out in mass email and then claim you are a photographer. No bruh, that's not how the industry works. Please take pride in your job.

If you don't even take pride in your work enough to spend some time editing and watermarking your stuff, I don't see what rights you have to collect claims from people who uses the photos of them you took. Or should I put it this way..... Am I supposed to claim some legal fees from people for taking photos of me? Or should I collect some advertising fees because I showcased the photos they took on my blog? Does that level your brain up now?

Some photographers really need to know. If you don't watermark your own photos, you have zero rights to claim legal fees from anyone who uses your photographs. Especially when they are the subjects in your photographs. Not that I refuse to give credits, I am just really annoyed when someone threatens me with legal issues that doesn't make any damned sense.

Also, to fella bloggers... To prevent people from grabbing your photographs for their personal usage, watermarking what you take is essential.

I repeat; A rule of thumb: Always write your name on your worksheets.
Or at the very least, install some brains.