Tutorial: Adding Watermarks using Photoshop

[Zeb]

There are two good methods I can advise on. First way is to use plain text (easiest) and the sceond way is to make a custom brush and apply that.

The advantage of using text is that its relatively quick once set up and it can be changed easily and quickly. The advantage of applying a custom brush is that you can use images as well but once its made you need to make a new one if you want to change it.

Here we're going to use the text method...

Load up a photo that you want to apply a watermark to and select the "text" tool. Now add your copyright text, not forgetting that if you hold down ALT and key in 0169 on the numeric keypad you can obtain a copyright symbol. For the best effect I've found using black text works most effectively.

Now, right-click on the text layer and select "Blending Options" to open a small window. Select "Outer Glow" and apply the following settings then click "OK":
http://www.pictureinthesky.net/exter...ingoptions.gif

The reason for the white outline is so that if your watermark falls on dark areas it'll still be visible. You can, of course, tweak any of the settings to suit. If your copyright text is quite small you might want to reduce the size of the outline by changing the "size" setting.

If you want you can rotate your text so that it takes up more space than a small rectangle. From the "Edit" menu select "Transform" then "Rotate"and a box with eight handles will appear around your text. Using one of the corner handles, drag one of them until the text is at an angle you're happy with. A setting of -45 degrees is what I use. Once you're happy press the return/enter key on the keyboard to apply it. If you don't want to rotate it just press escape (Esc).

Your picture will look something like this:
http://www.pictureinthesky.net/exter...ghtexample.jpg

Now all that's needed is to change the opacity of the layer until you're happy with it, a value of between 6-10% I find is adequate. This is what I've settled on:
http://www.pictureinthesky.net/exter...dwatermark.jpg

Apart from saving your finished picture out all that's needed is to save your watermark so you can use it again. To do this we need to save the file out again but this time as a Photoshop (PSD) file. Now when you want to apply the watermark to other pictures all you do is load your watermark PSD file and then load another picture so you have two project files in Photoshop. Using the Move Tool (V) make sure the text layer is selected in your watermark file and drag the layer from the picture into your second picture. This will copy only the text layer into the other picture.

You might want to play with the size of the text, change it or rotate it - it's entirely up to you.

[inacar]

Zeb, thank you for posting this information. Now I must see what I can do.

[Birdsnapper]

Thanks, Zeb, I'll give it a try.

[Zeb]

You're welcome!

I can't really contribute with the photographic side as I'm still very much a beginner. By posting a few small Photoshop tutorials I feel I'm not leeching so much

[Leif]

I'm pleased to see that you are posting helpful tutorials. One small point. I presume you could record an action to create the watermark?

[Zeb]

Originally Posted by Leif

I'm pleased to see that you are posting helpful tutorials. One small point. I presume you could record an action to create the watermark?

Yes, its possible but first, I've never used actions (yet!) as I've never needed them before and second, you might want the watermark placed in different places on each picture depending on where the action is.

[Andy]

That's always a very popular one
For over 4 years the most popular entry point on my site via google has been my page on making a copyright brush.

Cheers,
Andy

[walwyn]

Personally I don't like watermarks on images unless they are particularly subtle and buried away. Certainly not the sort that catch your eye in anyway or are plastered over the middle of the image. IMO the example given may have rendered the image unlikely to be used by someone else but that is mainly because it has rendered the image unviewable.

Actually I don't see the point of watermarks as they either destroy the visual appeal of the image so why post it online? Or they are so easy for a determined thief to clone out so why bother adding them?

[Zeb]

You don't have to make the watermarks that big if you don't want to. You xcan use the techniques outlined above and still use a small unobtrusive image/text.

I don't think its unviewable at all but each to their own.

[walwyn]

The point is that either the watermark makes the image unusable or it is easy to cut or clone out. In two of the recent cases of online image theft the watermark was in fact cloned out.

http://digg.com/tech_news/Stealing_IS_a_crime_right
http://www.flickr.com/photos/larajade/513641346/

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion on watermarks but unless they are done in such a way as to make removal difficult they will not stop someone from taking the image for their own purposes.