Author: Bill

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To Watermark or Not to Watermark Images For Sale

Some say watermarks deter buyers from purchasing Art, others say it doesn’t.

It’s true that there are many comments on line leaning one way or the other. What I tend to do is listen to those with the most experience. Should I listen to folks who sell a couple dozen works a year or the folks who sell thousands of pieces a year. Amazon, eBay, Fine Art America and ImageKind, who sell thousands of units have run A/B tests and have determined that watermarking degrades sales. They are not artists with egos – they are Internet marketers looking to improve the bottom line.

Indian River Inlet Bridge
Charles W. Cullen Bridge at Indian River Inlet – with an example of my usual watermark.

In my case, I choose to NOT watermark the images I upload for sale at Imagekind or Fine Art America and other POD (Print On Demand) art companies. If the unscrupulous want to steal an image – they will – and there is nothing you or I can do to stop them. Anyone with rudimentary image editing skills can remove your watermark in a matter of minutes.

On the other hand I DO watermark images that I post to social media and on other websites. Why, you ask? Well, there I want people to see where the image can be found. My watermarks include a URL – in most cases my USPictures.com domain. I can have that domain point to whichever POD I choose (and I can change that at any time).

CLICK: Bill Swartwout Photography

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My Favorite Cat Artist in the Whole World

Dora Hathazi Mendes has a pure talent for depicting cats in watercolor.

Dora is an artist colleague who lives with her husband and family in Portugal. We have collaborated on various art activities over the last two years. We are colleagues in that we both use Fine Art America as our Print On Demand (POD) art production facility. (FAA is the largest fine art POD in the world. )

If you like cats, as most people do, and find them fun to be around, you might just find that Dora’s art a real joy to see. That’s why I decided to share some of my favorites here on my personal website. I hope you like her paintings as much as I do.

Here is an assortment of snapshots of the above work-in-progress. There are many steps involved in creating such a lifelike likeness of the black kitten – especially in the medium of watercolor on fine art paper.

Of course some cats take a more laid back approach to life. Here is Dora’s watercolor of a ginger Maine Coon cat. The Maine Coon is the largest of domesticated cats and, even though they have active hunting skills, are laid back, fluffy and friendly. Below you can see this artwork on a notebook cover, one of the popular items also produced by Fine Art America from original art. BE sure to click the picture to see the actual piece.

Here are links (click below) to Dora Hathazi Mendes and her art at Fine Art America:

Note, please, that this is not a “sales pitch” – but should you decide to purchase something from Fine Art America, Dora will earn her artist fee and FAA will pay me a (very) small ad fee.

Dora has contributed to the success of my new Artistic Face Masks website where her designer face masks have proven to be popular sellers.

You can see my work at Bill Swartwout Photography.

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Social Distancing as a Photographer

Unique times and a call for Social Distancing to help keep everyone healthy.

We are currently experiencing another epidemic turned pandemic around the globe. As a preventative means to help mitigate the spread of this COVID-19 Coronavirus, we have been asked to keep a safe distance from one another. How we all do this is a matter of choice and/or regulation. Social distancing in photography for me is what I usually practice – because I am, primarily, a landscape/seascape photographer.

Some of my best-selling works are of landmark bridges on Delmarva. That’s the “eastern shore” portions of Maryland and Virginia plus the State of Delaware. I live in southern Delaware so the bridge closest to our home (15 minutes) is also my favorite subject. I have some buyers who own both of these “bridges” and display them on the walls in their homes.

Likely one of the best-known bridges on the East Coast is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge at Twilight

Another (very) popular bridge is the Charles W. Cullen Bridge across the Indian River Inlet at the Delaware Seashore State Park in southern coastal Delaware. It is quite popular because it is located at a wonderful beach destination and is visited by hundreds of thousands of people annually.

Indian River Inlet Bridge at Twilight

At the very southern end of Delmarva is an engineering marvel known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The 17.6 mile bridge-tunnel crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, connecting Cape Charles with Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

When out and about photographing these, and similar, locations I am usually alone. There are seldom people near me when I find “the right” locations from which to photograph some of my favorite landscape and seascape scenes. It appears that I have been practicing “Social Distancing” for much of my photography career. However, when there are other people about and it’s difficult to social distance, you’ll see me wearing a face mask to help keep us all safer.

Please visit my online gallery at Bill Swartwout Photography to see more of my work. To see my photographs on jigsaw, puzzles and other items please visit my Zazzle Store.