Senior Portrait Branding

[Wil_Bloodworth]

When I was in high school, the guy who did ALL the photography for a 50-mile radius put his business name on all the photos. It didn't matter what they were for. I think he's still doing that today. Each one of his prints has "Mauldin" written in the bottom, right-hand corner.

Do any of you do that or is this a dying fad?

- Wil

[Ropinamoment]

My Senior portraits were the same way. I'm curious to find out if anyone still does it too.

[brad]

I put a tiny b2pix.com at the bottom of wallets... those are the ones going to be given out to all the friends. :)

[DeLeon]

I do on proofs, but I havent figured out a smooth way to do it for every photo. If I put it at the corner, it gets chopped off on an 8x10, and partially chopped on a 5x7. So its just a matter of me taking the time to figure out the cropping issues and I would be doing it.

[Dsheree]

I sign 16x20 and larger. Not very big but if the painters can do it then so can I.

[CobyPhoto]

It is common place for studios to mark every image coming out of their studios in this manner. Many use gold or silver foil hot stamps to do this, but it is becoming more and more accepted to use photoshop and text to do the same thing.

The reasons are two-fold: Name recognition and copyright. If your name isn't on your work, how is some one going to know who did it and know who to find if they want you to work for them? Copyright...if you don't take steps to prevent theft of your image, by placing your mark on it, you won't win the fight if someone steals your image, if it comes down to that.

I mark all my images coming out of the studio...one of two ways: my top of the line finish, get the gold foil or silver for B & W and the event and school work I use photoshop.

CJ

[jchooper12]

Can you all show samples of how you mark your photos?

[Michelle Allmon]

I don't. If I ever did it would probably only be on wallets.

[brad]

The question to ask yourself is why you want to brand it? Once you answer that question, then you'll know which sizes to brand.

[Aric C. Hoek]

I don't think car makers will ever take their logos off their cars, no matter how small the industry pushes them to produce their vehicles.

Every print leaving our studio is branded with a photoshop stamp. We do not use foil on anything.

[brad]

Originally Posted by Aric C. Hoek

I don't think car makers will ever take their logos off their cars, no matter how small the industry pushes them to produce their vehicles.

Going back to my latest comment.. Why do car manufacturers do that? Because other people see that car driving down the road and say .. "ooh, I want that Chevy" or whatever... every car on the road is a rolling billboard for the car company.

If this is your goal with prints, then yes.. by all means, brand every one, no matter what size.

For me, I decided to only brand the wallets because I liked the compromise between getting my name in front of other people seeing them and being obtrusive on the larger prints... I've never cared for seeing that large logo from Olan Mills or wherever on 8x10s and 11x14s, so I decided not to do that myself.

Its a personal choice... as I said, answer the question of WHY you want to put the brand on there and the rest will come naturally.

[Aric C. Hoek]

I think that you are right.

The branding that I put on is usually at about 20 -30 percent opacity.

[jeffkohn]

The reasons are two-fold: Name recognition and copyright. If your name isn't on your work, how is some one going to know who did it and know who to find if they want you to work for them? Copyright...if you don't take steps to prevent theft of your image, by placing your mark on it, you won't win the fight if someone steals your image, if it comes down to that

If Congress ever actually passes that orphaned works bill, this could become especially critical because they can legally treat the image as if it were in the public domain, as long as they can say they tried to find the copyright holder and couldn't.

[CobyPhoto]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

If Congress ever actually passes that orphaned works bill, this could become especially critical because they can legally treat the image as if it were in the public domain, as long as they can say they tried to find the copyright holder and couldn't.

Exactly, it is becoming more and more important as technology progresses and people have more access to the capabilities to scan and print, that you mark your images in a manner that if removed, it becomes obvious.

You have to find a way of marking (copyrighting) or "branding" your images that isn't the first thing that is noticed. If you don't, and the orphaned works bills passes, the client can then just buy a single print, copy it as many times as he wants and claim it wasn't copyright. (A little oversimplified, granted, but you get the picture.)

If you are pursuing this as a career, it is only wise you mark your images...every image...that comes out of your studio. Then your rights are protected.

CJ

[Clayton Wallace]

Then your rights are protected.

Minor point, it might be more accurate to say that our copyrights are somewhat easier to enforce. Besides the branding, the stamp adds one small level of discourgement to those who are not absolutely determined to make unauthorized copies (because those people just can't be practically stopped).

I added a watermarked (reduced opacity) stamp to the bottom of all my images.