How to watermark?!

407370 · Jul 3, 2015

I know that I bang on about IRFANVIEW but it is a free batch processor for images on the Windows platform. You can use it to add a watermark to a batch of files.

Remember that the only way to stop people stealing your images from the internet is to NOT put images on the internet.

Here is a handy image to use as a watermark:

Enjoy

jeffjeff1 · Jul 8, 2015

Is there a way to make a watermark with Digital Photo Professional?

table1349 · Jul 8, 2015

Eventer · Jul 12, 2015

Just watermark when exporting in Lightroom? Isnt that the easiest way...

TCampbell · Jul 13, 2015

If you use Lightroom, from the menubar select "Lightroom" -> "Edit Watermarks..." that will let you make a simple watermark based on available fonts on your system. It should become obvious when the watermark editor window appears... it'll let you pick typeface, size, placement, and transparency.

If you want to use artwork as a watermark (not just text), then you need to create the art with something like Photoshop. But the trick is that it should have a transparent background. JPEG files do not support the concept of a "transparent" pixel in an image ... but PNG files do (as do TIFF images, but I think Lightroom only accepts PNG and JPEG as watermark files and you don't want to use JPEG). So... just save the art as an image with a transparent background then tell Lightroom to use your image file.

I'll be candid... I really dislike large, obvious watermarks. I prefer not to have them at all -- they 're distracting. And while the watermark doesn't really stop someone from copying your image, if they remove the watermark in the hope that they won't get caught, removal of copyright mark is a DMCA violation (and has a stiff fine. Whereas the simple copyright violation for a non-registered image is not worth much.)

For this reason, I often watermark my own images but I try to absolutely minimize the distraction of the watermark (it's tiny, it's in the corner, and it's mostly transparent. In some of my images you would really have to know where it is and be looking for it to see it.) I also add copyright info into the meta-data of my images for the same reason. If someone goes through the effort to both remove the copyright message from the meta-data AND remove the copyright watermark on the front, it's hard to make the case that removal was accidental.

Dave442 · Jul 13, 2015

I have a friend that does a lot of model shoots and often posts low resolution images on Flickr or FB, these have an X across the photo and an opaque version of his watermark in the spaces of the X and in the middle. I think that works fine for his situation.

For my images I normally do not watermark, sometimes when providing a set of event images for someone else to post on-line I will batch process a watermark in LR.

My camera adds a copywrite notice to the meta-data and I have a import pre-set in LR that adds additional information.

I have removed a number of the date-stamps from my old P&S shots and it takes no time, I'm sure it's the same for removing a watermark if someone really wanted to.

As for not posting on-line, I have had people take pictures of my printed pictures and post those on-line.

table1349 · Jul 13, 2015

TCampbell said:
If you use Lightroom, from the menubar select "Lightroom" -> "Edit Watermarks..." that will let you make a simple watermark based on available fonts on your system. It should become obvious when the watermark editor window appears... it'll let you pick typeface, size, placement, and transparency.

If you want to use artwork as a watermark (not just text), then you need to create the art with something like Photoshop. But the trick is that it should have a transparent background. JPEG files do not support the concept of a "transparent" pixel in an image ... but PNG files do (as do TIFF images, but I think Lightroom only accepts PNG and JPEG as watermark files and you don't want to use JPEG). So... just save the art as an image with a transparent background then tell Lightroom to use your image file.

I'll be candid... I really dislike large, obvious watermarks. I prefer not to have them at all -- they 're distracting. And while the watermark doesn't really stop someone from copying your image, if they remove the watermark in the hope that they won't get caught, removal of copyright mark is a DMCA violation (and has a stiff fine. Whereas the simple copyright violation for a non-registered image is not worth much.)

For this reason, I often watermark my own images but I try to absolutely minimize the distraction of the watermark (it's tiny, it's in the corner, and it's mostly transparent. In some of my images you would really have to know where it is and be looking for it to see it.) I also add copyright info into the meta-data of my images for the same reason. If someone goes through the effort to both remove the copyright message from the meta-data AND remove the copyright watermark on the front, it's hard to make the case that removal was accidental.

Well I'll be a suck egg mule. My grandpa would be proud of the both of us. He taught me that if I learned something new everyday, no matter what it was, then the day wasn't wasted. Thanks for making my day meaningful.