Should I Move The Signature?

Hi Melissa,
I looked everywhere for a sighting of your signature in order to visualise it on this image, but can't find one! !
Prob lower right in light or darker blue would work. Initials on photos look good too, if Script.....
Lovely photo!

Leave it in the left corner over yellow. I think if it was on the right corner then my eye would probably go straight to it no matter the color of the signature.
Once you decide, make a print at home to see if it is too obvious or even shows up at all. Sometimes when I use a "low-visibility" contrasting color it
shows up fine on my monitor but disappears completely on the print. :-)

Striking image!

-Ken.

My first thought was on the right but after reading Ken's response I am undecided. :-) It sure is a beautiful work of art Melissa.

That is a smashing photo! If this were my image, my first impulse would be to put my signature on the right, but I'm not sure why... balance? But Ken is probably right that a viewer's eye would end up going to the signature. When I find myself in these dilemmas, I do two versions and just keep popping my eyes back and forth until I have that Eureka moment. You could always try that, lol. Not very scientific.

Perfect right where it is :)

Personally I think it would help the visual weight if it were in the lower right, but as a general rule of thumb you don't usually want the signature to effect the visual weight.

That's why I put it on the yellow, I was afraid it would pull the eye down too much if it was lower right in the blue, even blended in!
@V, that's not bad that you couldn't see it, means it's not detracting, lol!
@Ken, yes, I've had that happen before and it was a signature blended on a dark blue background. I could see it just right on the monitor, had a canvas print made 16 x 20 and almost couldn't see it at all. Weird because except for the sig. the rest of the colors were dead on with my monitor.
@Patricia, good idea...afraid I would NEVER make up my mind that way!!
@Joann, whew...thanks!
@LC, yes, part of the questioning process!

I'd like to add that I LOVE Topaz Clarity, got it recently and it really helped pop this, imo. Think I now have all but the latest paint thing they came out with but when LR can't do quite what I need, and I need a lot sometimes since my camera is not a pro camera, but a bridge camera - Topaz noise and now clarity are my go to's for first adjustments. Occasionally LR is enough though! At least my fugi bridge can give my RAW :o)

I wouldn't move it, but would boost the contrast, a bit. You don't want your sig to be an annoying speck, making viewers have to lean in, peering, to see what's there. To me, that would be a bigger distraction than anything else.

The image itself, is beautiful! :-)

Boost, make it a little darker?

Yep -- a little darker so as to actually be visible. I'd rather be able to see, at a glance, that it's a signature; instead of thinking it might be a smudge or other flaw.

lol!

:-)

Remember that when you hear of signatures being 'unobtrusive', that just means they shouldn't be ostentatious, shouldn't negatively impact the attached image. 'Unobtrusive' doesn't mean the signature should be virtually invisible, or turn into a 'Where's Waldo?' kind of seek & find game.

If the signature is virtually invisible, why add it at all?

double LOL! I'll work on it later after I sleep...

Sleep . . . the universal excuse! ;-)

i always place them in the right corner. i want all eyes on the image and not the picture. though it may depend how people read things, they may start on the right. but i find my eyes start on the left. i always find them distracting when they land on the main subject on the left.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I place mine in the right corner unless the image does not allow it. I use a color tone which compliments the image.

Suggestion: no signature at all...signatures typically get in the way of the composition...dropped and placed on top of a section of the composition, which interferes with the whole. For paintings, better to sign the back--not necessary to advertise your name.

Usually in the right corner, but I've been known to put them in the left or even at the top. Mine are generally "unobtrusive" (quotes for Wendy). I want people to know who the artist is (me) but I don't want the signature to take away from the work. In general I want only the image to be the object - and if you want to know 'who done it' - look for it.

there will always be those that perpetuate the signature vs no signature debate. It's kind of like buying a car - no logo, no car name or manufacture - just a sleek paint and chrome job? Why do car manufacturers do it, and then the dealers add their own name and logo - folks - it's advertising - why does Coca Cola have a game and you can buy (with your points) tee shirts with their product emblazoned across it - advertising.

It's unobtrusive where it is.

Bottom right - this is what I mean by unobtrusive:

I would prefer the flower to remain flawless. Great photo!

Roy, I'd have to call Sherlock Holmes to find that signature!

Which, come to think of it, sounds like more than a little fun . . . ;-)

I like signatures on the main subject like I like tatoos on people's faces. No value added, too distracting ,a bit tacky and tasteless. But if it were mine (and I do sign prints by hand sometimes) it would be on the background in the lower right.

Alright, back to Patricia's suggestion, I did sig. on lower right in the blue - compared it next to the other one, decided that WAS better...and went from 9pt to 12pt type for Wendy (lol!) so, can still see it, dark enough to not be distracting but a bit larger - enough to read if someone does want to find a signature...whew.

Funny how signatures are such a debate, to be or not to be, to be seen or not to be seen, on the front, on the back, or no where.

I can tell you this, we have a beautiful print hanging in our livingroom, that was not expensive for the print (we go all out for framing though!) NO signature ANYWHERE on this print. Which annoys the CRAP out of me everytime I look at it. If I could've found a name, I would have looked for more works by this artist. So, imo, put a signature on the face of your work, people do want to know, make it legible.

Ahhh.... now that feels better. Mike had a good point that your eye travels left to right. Heck, everybody here has a valid viewpoint, so it all depends on what you are happiest with in the end, right? Sometimes I'll go back into something I created two years ago thinking it was the cat's meow at the time, but with fresh eyes I'll wonder what I was thinking. Right now, the signature on the right feels right to me, lol.

Well, at first I thought it would distract more in the blue...I was wrong!

As long as the signature does not mess up the illusion of space which is created I see no problem. Your signature looks fine.

What a beautiful image Melissa! The signature looks good on the blue.

Oh so much less distracting. Signatures on prints is a relatively recent thing and having them printed directly on the image is even more recent. If I could do it so it did not look gigantic on a 48 inch print and tiny on a small one i would. So far no one has requested it. I would gladly upload one with a signature if they did. I have never had a problem finding images on the web even before Google reverse image search and Tineye. If they want to know who I am they will find me.

If it's printed on paper or if on canvas with no wrap around - the signature wherever you put it is up t you. However - if someone wanted it on canvas with the wrap around look - it's going to be "awkward" as if it is within an inch of the edge - it gets in the "reverse" wrap. this is why mine are almost always - an inch in and up from the bottom.

I think original signatures on paintings are o.k., but I do not like printed ones on photographs. I would not buy any with a signature. But may be that is only because I started in the years when usually real photos were sold and no ink prints or something similar. In that times with a signature it was not "real" but "only" a print.

If using it, I would decide photo by photo. For this one I would take a very dark yellow on the left.

Rudi, that's what I started with, but I think it is less distracting as a darker signature on the blue...at least comparing the two side by side.