On more than one occasion, some of my noise.cash friends would report that one or more of their photos or post were stolen and reposted by another user on that same platform. There are times that I would catch the content thief myself.
In other cases, I recognize the watermark of people I know in the images posted by a different person. However, in some cases, there are suspicious photos but I can not readily identify if it's stolen or not.
Hello, dear content creators. Posting stolen images without proper citation is not uncommon. Especially on content sharing platforms like noise.cash. In this article, I will share with you a simple way of protecting your images. How to add a quick watermark using either of the two mobile applications.
The Problem
I have joined a number of paying content platforms for a decade now. From Redgage, Tsu (the original and the new version now known as Display), Project Bluefire, and others. Some of these platforms first screen the uploads for originality and/or quality before publishing them. But for some platforms like Tsu, Display, and Noise.Cash, the content is published right away.
And since these platforms are paying platforms, a lot of people are tempted to upload stolen images to earn quickly. Some of the photos are difficult to detect if they are stolen or not. But some are easily recognized as works of other people because of the watermark.
What is a watermark?
Originally, the definition of a watermark is,
a mark made in a paper during manufacture that is visible when the paper is held up to the light.
- Source: Merriam-Webster:
What is a watermark on Photo?
A watermark is a logo, piece of text, or signature superimposed onto a photograph. Watermarks are typically transparent, so those viewing the image can still admire it. You can usually identify the photographer through the watermark, too.
Source: Adobe.com
Benefits of Watermarking Your Work
1. Ownership- By adding your watermark, you are claiming ownership of that image. That YOU created that image, whether it's a photo, illustration... or even a video.
2. Protect your work from content thieves- I admit, a watermark is not foolproof anti-theft protection. A skilled graphic artist/editor can easily remove a watermark. But at least if an unskilled person uses your work, they can be easily recognized that it's your work. I suppose this is where NFT comes in handy.
Watermarking has other benefits for the more serious photographers and professionals, but I guess these two are good enough for content creators and bloggers.
How To Add a Watermark
Note, the methods quickly described here are by using three free mobile applications. If you are on a desktop and you are using Adobe Photoshop, then you can easily add a watermark by adding your watermark on another layer.
There are numerous apps that you can use. However, for the sake of discussion, I am just going to use these two apps. This is not a full tutorial though. I will just describe quickly how to use these apps to add a watermark to your images.
SnapSeed
Since I often use Snapseed to do some quick editing and resizing my photos, I often use it to add my text watermark on my images.
After loading your image, go to EDIT the ADD TEXT. Snapseed may have some limitations when it comes to typography, but you can choose from its formatting choices. Personally, I prefer the one with a circular shape as shown below.
Then, resize, reposition, change the color and the opacity of your text. A watermark does not need to be readily visible. So you can make it as transparent as you like.
Pixlr
If you want to add a logo image as your watermark, Pixlr is an easy-to-use app for this purpose. All you need is to use its "Double Exposure" feature to add another image on top of your main image. Not only you can adjust the transparency of your watermark, but you can also select the "Blend" mode. This means you can make your watermark less distracting.
Final Thoughts.
Watermark your work to discourage other people from using them without your authorization. But never put your watermark on other people's work. That is stealing.
Again, it's not foolproof anti-theft protection. But it can help identify stolen images posted on content sharing platforms like noise.cash.
Thanks For Reading.
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thanks for the advice, I might start thinking about adding them in the future