Putting a Watermark on Your Photos: Why and How?

The advent of the Internet has provided photographers with an unprecedented ability to present their work to the world. However, equally immense opportunities have opened up for content thieves as well. The arms race between photographers and dishonest folk willing to profit from others’ work is on. If your business heavily relies on ownership of images, you really should establish your line of defense against theft.

The most effective and simple means of protection you can use is to make watermarks for your photos. A watermark is easy to add and hard to remove, making your authorship of a photo known wherever the image is posted. And with modern software, you can create and apply a personalized watermark in a matter of minutes. In this article, we will show how to do it using 3 popular programs. You can also get more knowledge by reading a more in-depth guide on how to make watermarks for photos.

 

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop comes up in nearly every list of programs that can do something with images. Of course, you can use it to create watermarks for photos.

→ A Text Watermark

Let's see how to create a watermark for photos using text. It is the most straightforward way.

1. Open an Image and Make a New Layer

Run Photoshop and upload your picture into the program. Then go Layer > New > Layer to create a new layer for your watermark. You can name it “Watermark” for convenience.

2. Enter Your Text

Select the new layer and pick the Text Tool. Now click wherever and type your text into the new field. 

3. Adjust the Font

While the Text Tool is still active, highlight the text you have entered. Use the toolbar to alter the font, size, color, and other parameters of the text to make it look as you want. Just remember to keep your watermark transparent – it should be visible, but not interfere with the image as a whole.

4. Position the Watermark

Place the watermark where you need it. You can make it big and occupy the center, or position it in the corner, the choice is yours. Anything will do as long as the watermark is identifiable.

→ A Logo Watermark

Drawing your own logo from scratch would be a guide of its own, so let’s assume you already created one or have it designed by a hired artist. To a log as a watermark, do as follows:

1. Prepare the Image

Before adding your logo, you first have to make it watermark-ready. To do so, open the original picture and convert all elements to black, white, or gray to remove all colors.

2. Add the Image to the Photo

Now you can open your photo and copy the watermark over it. You can also adjust opacity and size to make it blend in better.

Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom may have less technical prowess than Photoshop in terms of designing something from the ground up, but it makes up for it with its capability to work with a lot of images at once.

1. Open the image

Run the program and add the image, or images, you want to mark.

2. Go to the Watermarks menu

Select the image you need, then open the Edit tab and select Edit Watermarks.

3. Choose the Mark Style

A new dialog box will open up, and you’ll have to choose a watermark style – text or graphic. If you pick the Text option, you’ll have to type in some text for the watermark. If you pick the Graphic option, you’ll have to upload an existing image. A PNG with a transparent background will do best.

4. Edit the Watermark

No matter what you pick, you will have a menu in the right part of the watermark editor. Tweak those parameters to achieve the best look, and don’t be afraid to play around.

5. Save the Result

Click "Save" when your watermark is done. Once it is saved, you may use it with any Lightroom module that supports watermarks. You may also create a wide variety of watermarks for particular purposes.

PhotoWorks

Contrary to the intricate and demanding Adobe products, PhotoWorks is designed for casual editing. It is packed with most of the key features of hard-core software, but in a much more accessible form. Here’s how to apply a watermark with it:

1. Open Your Photograph

Run PhotoWorks and click Open Photo to choose the image you want to mark via the file browser. Or you can just drag and drop your picture into the program window.

2-a. Make a Text Watermark

Open the Text & Frames tab and select the Text tool. Type the text you need into the text field. Then you can alter the text that appears as you wish or use predefined styles. You can also save your own text style in the Templates tab.

2-b. Add a Logo

If you have a watermark-ready image, you can add it by opening the Tools tab and selecting Image Overlay. Then you have to upload your logo and adjust its position, size, and opacity.

3. Save Your Work

Once everything looks good, hit the Save button to export your protected work.

In Conclusion

Now you know how to make a watermark for photos with three different tools. However, as effective as they are, watermarks are still by passable. The same technology that helps you edit photos in a blink of an eye, also allows others to remove the mark of your own just as easily. To make a thief’s life harder, make the watermark bigger and irremovable without a trace. However, it might take a few tries before you strike the perfect balance between the subtlety and protective power of your watermark.

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