Legacy Yet ANOTHER request for a photography logo/watermark

Hi All!
So glad I found this site!
I'm just your average amateur photographer with a decent DSLR camera (a/k/a soccer mom). I've taken my logo for "Paparazzi Eyes" as far as I can, and now I'd like/I need some help finalizing it. I'm open to any changes and/or critiques of what I've come up with so far. And if anyone has any completely new ideas, I don't mind that a bit either. As I'm also at a point of volunteering my time and talent, I have a well-felt appreciation for what folks on this forum are doing. That being said, here we go . . .


1) What is the exact name you would like in your logo?
Paparazzi Eyes
Photos by Kim Thomas

2) What is your website?
I have reserved www.paparazzieyes.com. However, I have not done anything with it yet. It's just parked. I have, however, done an extremely rough draft of a single page "freebie" site at http://www.wix.com/kimthomas06/paparazzi-eyes. It's my first attempt at EVER doing anything of the likes, so don't laugh too hard.

3) Description of your website or business:
I've been snapping photos for a few years and I'm always "that person" at social events that has their camera on-hand and is a bit neurotic about taking pics. Over the last 2 years I've had folks tell me I should consider taking up photography professionally. I've done one wedding as a "primary" photographer, another wedding as a "secondary" photographer, and a hand-full of social and kids events since then. I've donated my time and pics for all of these, and I don't know that I'm ready to start charging for services or photos yet. And I may even keep doing it this way as I truly ENJOY taking pics and getting THE "money shot" is my way of obtaining adrenaline. However, I do now want to start watermarking my photos so that credit is given where credit is due.

4) Search the Internet for any logos/designs on the web that you feel convey the style you are looking for?
You will find the logo that I have created thus far at http://www.wix.com/kimthomas06/paparazzi-eyes and I have also attached it as a .jpg to this post.

I came up with "paparazzi eyes" as someone a while back made mention of "that paparazzi gal that kept on showing up with a camera when I least expected it." And it fits my style perfectly. My candids of people are always better than posed photos.

In creating a logo, I wanted something that was gender-neutral. I didn't want the font all scrolly or in "girly" colors. Nor did I want my name to be a part of the "primary" logo. I figure that way, when I make it "big" in the photography world (LOL!), I can sell the business/site when it's time for me to retire and be sitting in a big house high on the hill, courtesy of some smart forward-thinking. (Hey! We all have dreams don't we?! )

Also I do NOT want something that looks "modern." I'm more of a "classic" kinda gal. And I figure going "classic" is also forward-thinking as I don't want something that's going to look dated in a few years and have to go back and re-vamp everything. I want something that's going to last. (I even struggled with whether or not to just use black, grey, and white versus using color.)

5) Requested size of your logo:
I'm looking for something that can be universally used for the website, watermarking photos, and eventually on business cards and perhaps even a t-shirt or two. In saying that, I'm not sure if I need something created that's "transparent" for the photos AND something that's "solid" for the other stuff? I've read several things about what type of file and the size each should be, and the background color, but it's all a bunch of jibberish to me.

6) Do you have any images/photos that can be used for the logo? (must be copyright free)
I found the "circle s" symbol (that needs to be turned into a "P") (#03394 (under "photography") at www.logosnap.com and the font ("Castellar") at the same site. (Yes, they are copyright free.)

7) What logo styles do you like (text only, image only, text and image, etc.)?
Unless the "Circle P" symbol (which is currently a "Circle S") you will see is considered a photo, I believe I'm looking for just text.

8) What colors do you want to see in your logo?
Grey, white, and perhaps a "splash" of color. I knew that if I used a color, I wanted it to be gender-neutral. Hence, I went for a nice blue. What do you think of the color?

9) What colors do you NOT want to see in your logo?
I would like to use grey (or silver) rather than black. Again, gender-neutral is what I'm attempting, so no pink, purple or other "girly" colors. I also don't want to use a color that's going to be hard to be consistent with or expensive to put on a business card or t-shirt.

10) Describe the target audience for your logo
Errrrr . . . . can a target audience be defined as "friendly" and/or "nice"? As I'm volunteering my time and talent at this point, I don't want to do anything nice for or help folks who are mean. Mean people suck. I'd also like to avoid people who have no class whatsoever.

11) What are the top 3 things you would like to communicate through your logo?
1. That I COULD charge for my services and photos if I wanted to (when I want to);
2. That I have class, but I'm not snobby;
3. That I enjoy photography, but I'm also serious about it.

12) Where will your logo be used (print, website, etc.)?
I'm glad folks here appear to know what they're talking about, as I'm a technology idiot. I've rather impressed with myself with what I have managed to come up with so far. See answer to #5 above.

And just to put it out there: I haven't a CLUE how to operate Photoshop (although I do have it). I've dabbled with it, but find it frustrating. Thus far, I haven't had to edit a pic so as to remove farm animals from a wedding portrait or a fork in Junior's eye. Anything I've wanted to do I've been able to accomplish using Windows Photo Gallery. So, until I have the time and patience to select and figure out a photo editing program, that's just another reason to not do this professionally.

13) Do you have other info or links you want to share?

1. I altered the logo I created using Microsoft Paint. When zooming in (200% (?)), you will see that there are various pixels(?) in different colors of grey on the perimeter and inside of the letters. I'm not positive this is the way it SHOULD be, or if that's something I created when copying to/editing in Paint. I went in and used the eraser to edit out what perhaps didn't copy over properly, but my concern now is that what I have created isn't going to be crisp or print properly (whether it be the watermark, on business cards, etc.).

2. The letter within the "circle" logo looks like a "S" to me. It needs to be made/changed to look like a "P".

3. Although I do not yet have the site up and running, perhaps the logo and/or watermark should read "Paparazzi Eyes.com"? If so, I'm wondering if the ".com" should be in a smaller font so that the name of the business is presented as "Paparazzi Eyes" rather than "Paparazzi Eyes.com".

4. Because I am a bit OCD: As a watermark would be on a single photo, should it read "Photo by . . .", rather than "Photos by . . ."?

5. I don't want a watermark that is obtrusive. Can the watermark be created in a format so that I can (easily) change the color, opaqueness, size (depending on the size of the print) and whether it is used vertically or horizontally?

14) Finally we need is there a style font you prefer, please let us know.
While I have used "Castellar" from www.logosnap.com, I'm not married to it. If you have ideas or suggestions, throw them at me, PLEASE!

I'm looking forward to any and all feedback! In the meantime, I'll continue to peruse around and give others feedback. And if anyone happens to be in the Washington DC/Northern VA area and you'd like to have some pics done, let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.

Many thanks!
Kim

 

Hi

Sorry for the delay we haven't forgotten about you!

Thank you very much for helping around the forum. Keep it up Will work on your request soon and post it up.

Thanks
GG

 

Will do . . . AM doing! ;-) Many thanks!

 

I'll have a go at your request later tonight (UK time)

 

Didn't have time to look through your post as Ramadhan has started for me so was doing preps for that and had other requests to do locally but just read through your request properly lol you're logo that you created doesn't actually look that bad although that 'P' in the circle was confusing to figure out that it was a 'P' until I read your thread.

Learning photoshop isn't that hard if you really want to learn it. Have a look at this post:

https://freewebsitetemplates.com/forum/f17/personal-logo-please-16966/

This member didn't know much about photoshop but now managed to help around the forum creating logos for others too and in my opinion if you're going to do photography then i'd say learn to do basic photo editing as you most probably will need it.

Also you mentioned about the pixels in your logo. If the logo is not in a vector format then it will pixelate when zoomed in or enlarged however, if it is created in a vector format then you can blow it up to billboard size and it will not loose its quality at all.

Since you're not wanting to go into business i'd say have a look around for tutorials on the web for photoshop and have a go for creating that 'P' in the circle for your help so that you can practice a little on photoshop and if you need help then feel free to just let us know and we'll help you out like we did to the member in the above post.