Signing Photographs

[Amber Palecek]

My educational background is in Printmaking, not Photography. I know very well the protocol of signing a lithograph or woodcut, but I am unsure if the same rules apply to signing photographs.. I looked some info up and talked to a few people around me and there seems to be different opinions on what the proper way to signing a photograph.

I'm curious to know how other artists sign there photographs? I signed mine on the white border about 2 inches away from the right hand corner. I didn't include the title. Does it matter or is there some etiquette that should be followed???

Thanks!

[D'Ann Blair]

Hi Amber. My son Joseph has a Associates in Applied Science degree (2 year), from DBCC . He's not here today, but I can tell you he signs, as it sounds you have. In the lower, right corner on the white mat. Closer to the photo than the corner. I'll ask to be sure when i see him Monday night. D'Ann

[Katharine Gilbert]

Little late in replying but time moves quicker than I a lot of the times. Photoshop User mag.'s last issue had an article about this. If you are a NAPP member but if not it is almost the same as for prints- number in lower left corner, sig in lower right. Only addition being the provenance written on back of the print and a printed label on back giving all info such as artist name, title, print size, mat size, art paper used, printer/inks used, and lastly artist address and contact info- all this being reflective of the certificate of authenticity. Hope this helps.

[Ann Simms]

I work in tradional darkroom techinques, B & White and find that people seem to all ovet the map on this. Some are passionate that the image should stand on it's own without the distraction of a signture or title. I tend to be in this camp and sign my work on the back of the image. However, have seen very beautiful images signed on the mat w/ minimal distraction. The problem, in my view w/ signing the matt is that matting can always be replaced and I do think the signature should always be on the image itself, even if also on the matt.

Ann