When I first started my business, I was positive that watermarking all of my photos that went on my blog + any photos I gave to vendors was the best way to go. I mean, who doesn’t want credit after all the hard work put into creating those beautiful photos?!

However, I quickly realize that slapping a watermark all over my photos was doing me more harm than good. Here are three reasons why I don’t watermark and the benefits that come from it:

1. I want to give my clients the freedom to share. I base my business more off the idea that if I build a personal brand and a “tribe” that I am going to attract more paying clients that way, as opposed to relying on print or album sales to make a profit. I want my clients to have the ability to share their photos wherever they’d like, so it goes without saying their entire gallery is watermark-free. However, I also don’t watermark any photos that I publish to my blog, so when the post goes live, they can also download the photos from the blog to share as well, without a watermark in the way! I want to provide the BEST experience possible for my couples, and being really picky about watermarks and photo credits, no matter how kind you are when you approach it, is not the best way to give them a great experience!
2. I want to promote word of mouth referrals with my clients. A word of mouth referral that RAVES about you is GOLD, seriously, there is nothing that convinces a future bride more than when one of their good friends just LOVES you and talks you up!! It is worth so much more than a watermark a bride might *happen* to see on one of their Instagram or Facebook posts. I’ve never directly booked a wedding because a couple photo credit on a post one of my couples made. I have booked MANY weddings because I’ve had a client rave about me to their friend!! That’s so powerful, and being stingy about watermarked photos (or even photo credit!), no matter how nice you go about it, just dampens the experience a little bit.
3. I want to promote word of mouth referrals with other vendors I work with. Vendors will LOVE YOU if you freely share your images. They aren’t photographers, so when they get photos of their work- especially photos they can freely share- they’re going to just LOVE IT. Trust me!! Again, just like with your clients, if you’re especially particular about watermarks and photo credit everywhere, they might be more than happy to oblige- but no one is going to LOVE doing it. I want vendors to use my photos of their work to promote their business, make their website look amazing, and up their Insta game!! I come at it from a place of serving them and their business instead of trying to get any photo credit I can. Again, I have never booked a wedding because of photo credit on another vendor’s website… but you bet I have booked weddings because a vendor RAVES about me to their clients!!! Those clients quickly book because they heard so many good things about me! :) Sharing freely truly sets you a part from other photographers, in a way that is actually going to increase your bottom line and book more weddings!

To wrap it all up, the underlying motivator behind not watermarking my photos is I want to serve people well. Whether that’s my clients, vendors I work with, or their friends and family, I want them to have the freedom to share and use my photos. If mom is posting a wedding photo because she’s so excited her daughter just got married, or a venue uses one of my photos on their front page, it makes me so happy to see- even if my name isn’t directly attached. :)