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Photoshop: watermark
I admit to having mixed feelings about this tutorial. If only because we shouldn’t be forced to watermark our photos for fear of them being stolen. I think I found an appropriate intro photo, though! And *poof* gone are the days of willingly posing for mom. I have to bribe the kid these days.
But all kidding aside, I guess I was pretty naive when I set my first steps into the wondrous world of food blogging. Naive to think there was something like an online honor code among bloggers. You know, that thing called common courtesy… not using or taking something that doesn’t belong to you, be it photos, recipes or even an exact copy of a certain recognisable photography style. Unfortunately a lot of people do have to protect their work.
My photos (and other bloggers photos) have been used and even been published without my permission. And I don’t mean people using a single photo for linking because that’s perfectly okay. Bottom line is, sooner or later watermarking those shots that really mean something to you is inevitable. Especially online. Here’s how you can do it in a fairly non-invasive way.
The Technique:
A very visible watermark can actually add style & class to your photo. At least I think it does. Especially when you use a pretty font, a low opacity and have your company name or logo in it. But you don’t always want your logo to be that visible. Not in every photo. For those photos this is a perfect way to embed a watermark that you can make practically invisible.
Watermark:
It’s real easy to turn these steps into an action so that adding your personalized watermark will be as easy as pressing one button. Here’s a tutorial on how to record an action.
Choose your type tool from the sidebar menu. Choose any font you like and set the color to white.
Type in the text you want to use. This can be anything from your (company) name to your website URL or just a huge © will do.
Certain tools are unavailable for type layers so we have to rasterize the layer first. Right click the type layer and choose Rasterize Type from the menu.
The type layer is now a normal layer.
Here’s why I needed you to rasterize the layer; we’re adding a little effect to it. From the top bar menu choose Filter >> Stylize >> Emboss.
Set the angle to 135, the height to 3 and the opacity to 100. This will turn the text kinda grayish. Or is it greyish?
Until we change the blend mode form normal to Overlay, that is.
This will turn the text transparent. Play with the blend modes a little. Using the Hard Light blend mode also creates a beautiful effect, it kinda gives it a little shadow around the edges. It elevates the text.
Set the opacity as high or low as you like. For me 30% usually does the trick. Pressing CTRL + T allows you to resize or rotate the logo.
Drag the logo anywhere in the photo. What I like about this technique is that you have full control over the visibility of the watermark.
Cheat sheet:
- Choose the Type Tool from the left-bar menu
- Choose your font, font size and set the font color to white
- Type the text you want to use
- Right click the type layer and choose Rasterize Type from the menu
- In the top-bar menu go to Filter >> Stylize >> Emboss
- Set the values. Angle: 135 Height: 3 Opacity: 100
- Change the blend mode to Overlay
- Adjust the layer opacity to your liking
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I hear ya, Kay, and it is sad. BUT.. that photo.. that photo is not sad, it’s awesome!! Thanks for sharing all your photography tips! By the way, what version of PS are you using again?
@Trish in MO:
It’s hilarious, isn’t it? I still use CS3. Never saw a reason to upgrade, and from what I’ve heard CS4 is really slow.
What a marvelous photograph!!!
Kay, any tips on how to do this in Elements? When I right click the layer in Elements there isn’t an option to rasterize type – in fact the menu only has a few things on it. Maybe this great tool doesn’t work in Elements? Many thanks for all the tips!
@Michele Morris:
Just asked around and apparently it’s called “Simplify Text” in Elements!
Great tutorial, Kay! But so sad that it’s necessary to do this. Also – love the photo! What a cutie.
Great tip – thanks!
I believe it’s “gray” here in the U.S. and “grey” in the U.K., but I’ve always preferred it with the “e.”
I think it is important to watermark the photos when we want to publish them on the world wide web, so thanks for sharing the photo watermark tip. Did you hear about the story (in June 09) of an American family from Missouri, whose Christmas photo end up as a grocery advertisement in Czech Republic?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/11/smith-family-photo-czech-advertisement
This is a good example of the need to watermark our photos.
@Ita:
Not too long ago I received an email from a man saying he loved my Nigerian Suya photos so much, he wanted to publish them in his new magazine. Problem was, he was facing a deadline, so he went ahead and used them and hoped I didn’t mind because, well, he’d give me credit. I was baffled. Stunned. Not only for my photos being published in a commercial magazine without my permission, but also because he would actually publish a web size photo (72DPI). Makes me wonder how they came out :)
@Kay:
Maybe the guy didn’t realize that he only got a web size photo? I bet he found out about the size when the photo turned up all ‘pixelated’ when he tried to fit it in his magazine, thinking it was a good size photo.
I searched for your Nigerian Suya entry, and to my delight, it has peanuts! Yea! I (heart) peanuts.
Really sad it’s necessary. Speaking of photography style, I noticed that pw is also emulating your style these days.
Haven’t updated from CS3? That would be a serious upgrade for moi; I’m still on 6.0!!
@Trish in MO:
You’d freak out if you saw it then, lots of changes were made over the years! Won’t be surprised if CS5 comes out soon, not sure I’d upgrade then either.
I guess I don’t have to worry about this because my stuff is just not that good yet, so no one wants to steal it:)
Sad but true. I think it happens a lot with products and food, but imagine when it’s your child or a family member.
@brett maxwell:
Read and weep.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8240460&page=1
It’s why I always watermark my sons photos.
Thanks so much for posting this. I post a lot of photos on flickr. This is so timely for me because a friend has asked if she can use some of my photos on her blog and advised I should watermark them. I didn’t know how to do it. I tried your tutorial with Photoshop 7.0 and it worked. Thank you so much!
This is all new to me. I was able to add a watermark to some of my pictures using the edit program associated with flickr but it’s a pain making a new one for each photo. Can I save this watermark in Photoshop and just apply it to each photo or do I need to reinvent it each time?
Thanks!
I really liked your blog!