Do you sign image or matting?

[tholcomb]

I am donating 2 images to the Carolina Raptor Center to be auctioned off. When signing art work, do you sign the image or the matting? In the past, I have always signed the matting in pencil under the lower right hand corner of the image. If I sign the image, what type of pen do I use? I am asking b/c if someone buys one of my prints from Carolina Raptor Center I want them to receive quality art work.

[tomdills]

Hi Tonya –

No one else has chimed in on this so I thought I would toss in my two cents. Hopefully you will find some value in my response.

There are about as many opinions on signing prints as there are artists, photographers and collectors combined. The schools of thought vary from “don’t put anything on your print” to “it has to be signed and numbered to have any value” to everything in between. Signing or somehow marking prints is surrounded by lots of controversy, mystery and different opinions, but the great thing is that it’s one area where no one is wrong because it’s up to you. Whether or not a print is signed has no bearing on whether or not it is “quality art work.”

I sign my prints only if someone asks me to, and I’ll sign it wherever they want me to sign it depending on their tastes. I generally sign using a CD-marking pen (like a Sharpie but supposedly archival), and some people use a pen with pigment-based ink. I don’t use pencil because it’s not permanent, and we go to a lot of trouble to make sure our prints are permanent, so if someone wants me to sign a print I think it should be permanent too. I don’t sign mats. I think that signing the mat- especially in pencil - is cheesy and detracts from the visual experience of viewing the print. On the other hand, if I buy a print from a “name” artist and the print is signed, I will have the print matted so that the signature shows, because (a) I want to distinguish it from one of my own prints, (b) I’m proud to own a “John Shaw” or “William Neill” print and (c) if I buy a print from a name artist part of the enjoyment is knowing who the artist is and that is important to me.

I did a quick Google search and came up with an interesting article (http://www.danheller.com/biz-prints.html#6) by Dan Heller that you might find interesting. Heller has an opinion on just about everything related to photography, and while I don’t always agree with him his opinions are generally well-reasoned. Brooks Jensen at Lenswork has expressed some interesting views on this as well, but I can’t locate the source right off hand. You might try your own search and see what information you can come up with to support your own opinion, whatever that might be.

Best of luck!

[tholcomb]

Tom, Thank you for the feedback! -Tonya

[doubleravven]

Tonya,

Let your copyright info be your "signature". You can add it with many of the different photo processing programs.

I typically put the title of the photo, if any, on the matboard.