You Get What You Pay For: Why Watermarking Isn’t Cheap (In Value or Appearance)

In a perfect world, the price of an object or a service would correlate precisely with the amount of value that it brings to its customer. Since the world isn’t exactly perfect, that isn’t always the case.
There are some things that you pay relative pennies for that you enjoy using for years and years.

Then, there are items where you spend more money than what makes you comfortable, and it leaves you utterly disappointed with your return on investment.

These rare cases, however, are the exceptions to the old adage, “You get what you pay for.”

Most of the time, there’s a pretty good connection between the money you spend and the value that you receive in return. More often than not, you do get what you pay for.

Think about everything else that you’ve invested in your photography. Your camera, it’s accessories, any photography software—they were likely expensive investments. But you put the money down so that you knew you could trust the products you were getting.

For that reason then, it’s important to understand that a quality custom made watermark isn’t going to be cheap. The value that you get from a high end watermark will match the money invested, and here’s why.


When you put money on the line for your personal brand, you expect to get something that reflects who you are.

You are unique.
You are one of a kind.
Your watermark should reflect that level of originality.

You shouldn’t have to worry about the symbol and signature that marks your photos looking similar to someone else’s. With Photologo, you’ll never have to. Each watermark is custom made, with each individual photographer and artist being represented within their logo. This will allow you to stand out in a crowd of photographers whose watermarks look eerily similar.

Elegance and Presentation

If you were going out to dinner and ordered a steak, where would it cost more: Applebee’s or your local steakhouse? Even though the cut of meat is probably quite similar in nature, the steak that you pay for at the steakhouse is going to cost you quite a bit more money.

Why is that? It’s because of the way that it’s presented, the elegance that the upscale steakhouse provides, and the fact that it isn’t coming from an unoriginal chain restaurant.

The same idea can be applied to your watermark and how much you should invest for one that is high quality. If you want to get a mass produced, unoriginal logo with your name inputted, then you shouldn’t have to pay a whole lot to get it. If, however, you want something that is elegant and indicates the professionalism of the photographer behind the lens, you’re going to want to put a few extra dollars down to make it happen.


Many watermarks that circulate around the internet take away from the photo they are a part of rather than adding to it. In a way this is a good thing, because the point of a watermark is to let the person viewing the photo know who captured it. But when the logo overwhelms the beauty of the picture, it defeats the purpose of its presence.

You don’t want your watermark to catch the observer’s eye for all the wrong reasons, or cheapen it in anyway. A Photologo watermark is subtle enough to hide gracefully in the landscape of the picture while also making it clear who the work belongs to.

When you want a watermark that can elegantly display your name or brand without taking away from what you’ve captured, you’re going to have to invest some money to get the look you’re going for. If you don’t want your branding to look cheap, the money you invest should reflect that notion.

But trust me, the investment will undoubtedly give an equal or greater return.

A Photologo watermark never takes away from what you’ve created with your lens, but it will certainly let people know who is responsible.

So, remember: you get what you pay for. Honor your work by investing the appropriate amount to mark it with style.