Barn Swallow / Boerenzwaluw (Hirundo rustica)

Love this!
Question: Does putting your name on the shot really prevent someone from stealing it? Couldn't they just edit out your watermark and still copy it. I know it's small and unobtrusive, but sometimes it does distract from the photo. Don't get me wrong, I love the shot, but it does really show up against such a pristine background. Hope I didn't overstep.

I'm glad you like it, Jim. Thanks!

To answer your question: no, putting my name on it does not prevent people from stealing an image. But if someone takes an image and use it commercially or claim it to be theirs, they will remove the watermark and that makes for a much stronger case in court, because then they cannot claim they didn't know about copyright etc. as obviously they did as they carefully removed the watermark. So that's why people put a small watermark in their images.

Never looked at it that way...makes sense. I hope I can someday take a shot that people will want to steal...LOL.

Well, I don't care about individuals taking an image and using it for themselves. This is the internet, it happens and there's nothing you can do to prevent it, except not putting your images online. And I'm fine with that. But it's different if people take my image and make money out of it or claim it's theirs.

And you never know what people will be interested in, Jim. I had a silly shot published in an apparently very popular online Ukrainian magazine a couple of years ago. I was credited but never received any payment, nor did they ask permission. I let it go, because it was in the Ukraine for god's sake. What is one to do? But the one thing that amazed me is that of all the images I had in my photo stream, a crappy street shot was used. Go figure. So anyway, that's why I put a discreet watermark on the pics.

Loeischerpe actiefoto!