Is Watermarking a must?

[Kamesh]

I am not at all a solid photographer, leave alone renowned.
But, I have a query here.
Is Water-marking necessary when you upload your pics in public domain, for e.g. 500px — World's Best Photos or flickr?
I have uploaded few without watermarks. But, at 500px I had come across an option to buy the pic. It served a bit of caution :eek-new:

 

[Phillydog1958]

Well, we like to think that watermarking prevents unauthorized use of our pics, but truth be told, watermarking can be removed. It helps . . .

 

[Kamesh]

Hmmm, yeah, could be possible. Thanks Philly
So, let the world see my pics

 

[pedroj]

You can let them see them with a mark something like this and not easy to remove it all..

 

[Dooku77]

I was actually thinking about this today.

 

[Eye-level]

I don't do watermarks. If I did they would probably be like Marcel's. Marcel has a nice system.

I have also thought about doing something similar to what Pedroj posted but on a smaller scale perhaps. But I don't do watermarks.

 

[Photowyzard]

I post my images at about 1000 pixels, small enough you can't do much with them. I put a copyright statement on the bottom of a frame, not the image.

On 500px, I put it on the picture. What are the thieves going to with a 1000 pixel image?

If I can't get rich on the image, how will they?

I do check every so often with Google image and Tineye but nothing has come up.

There are sooooo many better photographers than me and so many better pictures than anything I have taken, I don't lose too much sleep over it. However, I would take action if I did find someone stole my image, I just don't worry about it.

 

[Marcel]

I don't do watermarks. If I did they would probably be like Marcel's. Marcel has a nice system.

I have also thought about doing something similar to what Pedroj posted but on a smaller scale perhaps. But I don't do watermarks.

It's not a system Jeff, it's just my workflow. It's a little bit more work, but I like my watermarks.

 

[Kamesh]

Initially I tried to create watermark, when my friend said not to put them and that am not that big a photographer that my images get copied. I removed then totally. But at times it appears that one out of thousand images of mine comes out brilliant.

I think on putting them on the best pics I get

From my Galaxy S2 (Tapatalk 2)

 

[aZuMi]

I keep watermarks on mine, especially since I shoot alot of cars (whether my own or friends').

My car's photos were in ebay for months since some sellers were trying to sell a replica bumper that looked like mine. I had to keep complaining to Ebay about unauthorized use of photos - luckily, they're finally down now.

 

[stmv]

I consider any web posting to be essentially public domain, even if marked copyright protected and you put a watermark, 2 seconds for a person to copy into their personal space, or as a screensaver, etc, so,, not high resolution pictures, but good enough as a screensaver. I accept that as the price of sharing with others in a great medium.

 

[Dave_W]

I agree with the "keep it small" technique vs. watermarking. The reason is aesthetics. Big annoying watermarks, while effective, detract too much from the image.