Do not add text to your photos!
June 05, 2009
Your photos are your best marketing tool. Unfortunately, some artists have stepped over the line and added their name or their business name into the photo. This distracts from the primary purpose of your photo which is to show your artwork or craft at its best. Anything else is a distraction and lends a commercial appearance that is inappropriate for fine art or fine craft. All other information can be added elsewhere, just not in the photo. (Information for your photos will be covered in the next post.)
Do not add data to your photos. Do not add your signature, date, object's title, artist's name, company name, business name, watermark, or online shop name to your photos. Keep your photos absolutely clean so that they can be submitted for all sorts of opportunities like books, magazines, local newspapers, gallery promotions, juried shows, exhibitions, and online social networking sites.
When you take photos of your work, create a set of photos that will be suitable for as many opportunities and applications as possible. And make your work so memorable and unique that everyone recognizes your work even without looking for the artist's name. This is your signature!
Stay tuned for additional posts on photographic images and refer to the Professional Guidelines documents:
GUIDE TO PROFESSIONAL QUALITY IMAGES
And
WORKING WITH DIGITAL IMAGES EFFECTIVELY
This post was updated on January 2022