Watermark, but scaled to the picture

kryssie79

Hi,

I'm using Photoshop to automate the watermarking of my pictures...however I can't get the watermark to change sizes according to the size of the photo! I can get it lining up at the bottom right hand corner and everything else though. I found an article online, once upon a time, showing how to scale the watermark according to the image...but I can't find the article anymore! Darn! :S

http://bgpictures.com/blog/2008/09/23/creating-a-custom-watermark-logo-for-export-in-lightroom/ this method is suppose to work but it doesn't for me...

C

pathfinder

bump

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

Hi, C.

This is a question that comes up a lot (not just here, but many other forums), and I've never seen an answer that worked for me. I've seen claims from folks who claim they know how to do it, but I guess I'm not smart enough to duplicate their processes with any success.

So, since you asked the question again, I've had my thinking cap on. Since I couldn't follow the smart guys instructions, I've managed to cobble together a way for not so smart guys like me to do it.

The technique is simple, and doesn't require any scripts or plug-ins. It's just a straight Ps action. First, you create a watermark image the same size as the largest image your camera generates. (This is because you always want your watermark to scale down.) This is not part of the action. This image is added to your photos using the "Place" command (Menu>File>Place). The image arrives as a smart object and is already scaled. Then it's only a matter of moving it into position. (Which is actually trickier than it seems at first.)

Below, I give the basic steps. The idea only came to me about 1:00 this morning, while I was in bed, so I haven't had time to distill it or get some screen shots together. I'm hoping that once the raw technique is elucidated, some of the gurus around here can improve it. I'm pretty sure it will work to place logos and other images as well, not just text, but I haven't verified this yet.

SCALING TEXT WATERMARK

A. CREATE THE WATERMARK

1. Open a typical image that hasn’t been cropped and duplicate it.

2. On the duplicate, create your watermark.

3. Delete the background image. This should leave the watermark over a checkerboard pattern. You should have one text layer (most likely with effects). Nothing else. Rasterize it. (Right click on the layer in the Layers palette. It’s there.)

4. Open you rulers (Ctrl+R), right click on the ruler and select “Percentage”.

5. Crop the image square to the short dimension of the image.

6. Set 2 guides, one vertical, one horizontal, both at 50%. The guides will divide the image into four equal quadrants, and their intersection is the exact center of the image. To set the watermark bottom left, move the watermark to the bottom left corner of the top right quadrant. To set the watermark bottom right, move the watermark to the bottom right corner of the top left quadrant.

7. Save the image where you can find it.

B. CREATE THE ACTION

1. Create another duplicate of the original. (When programming actions, I’ve found it safe not to work with originals. Bad things can happen. Especially if there is a “Save”, “Save as”, or “Close” in the action.)

2. Create a new action in the actions palette.

Make sure you are recording.

1. Place the watermark you create above. Menu>File>Place. A browser window opens. Find your watermark and select it. It appears as a smart object on your image. It will have diagonal and boundary lines. Double click on it or hit “Enter”. The lines will disappear.

2. Move the watermark to where you want it.

3. 3. At this point, the watermark is scaled and positioned, and all that is left to do is maybe Flatten, then Save and Close.

Stop recording.

As it turns out, scaling the watermark is the easy part. The "Place" command does that for you. Getting the image to position properly is actually the tricky part. Particularly when the aspect ratio changes from landscape to portrait. This is because the only way I know to scale the movement action step is to use "Percentage" as the unit. The percentages are determined on the x and y axis, and as these vary with the aspect ratio, the position the watermark is moved to varies slightly. If you want to insert a full frame watermark, instead of a copyright notice, which is really what I've been talking about, this should be less of a problem.

At this point, this feels more like a good hack than a best practice, and I'm sure we'd all appreciate any improvements that can be offered.

Anyway, I reckon this is as clear as mud, but the wife left me a list, and I need to get to it. I'll try and clarify this mess later.

kryssie79

Thanks Lee...

I'm trying to sort through and work your suggests...I'll let you know what I come up with.

dmmattix

It's coming in Lightroom 3. The beta notes discuss an automatically sizable watermark tool.

Mike

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

The fact that Lr watermarks don't yet scale is tells us that it isn't that simple to do. It's good news that they intend to do it.

But, in the meantime, the procedure I outline above actually works quite well.

Here it is again with images.

Open a typical full frame image in Ps and create a duplicate. Work on the duplicate.



Create your watermark.



Delete the background image.



Crop the image square. Display your rulers. Right click and select "Percentage". Create a vertical and horizontal guide, both at 50%. The reason we crop it to a square is so that it will scale and center properly whether the image is in landscape or portrait aspect.



Move the watermark to the bottom left of the top right quadrant. (If you are using a full frame watermark, put the center of the watermark in the center of the square.



If you want your watermark at bottom right, put it as below.



Now that your watermark is created, save it where you can find it.

Next, make another duplicate of the original image. Create the action.



Make sure you are recording.

Step 1: Place (Menu>File>Place). A browser window opens. Find the watermark created above and select it. It will be placed in the center of your image. (This is why we centered the watermark above. So that it will always be placed in the center of the image. If you don't center it, when the action moves it to the final position, it will be all over the place. Centering allows consistent placement.)



Double click on the image to accept the placement.



Step 2: Move the watermark into final position.



That's it, except for saving or flattening if you want. Exactly how you do this depends on your personal workflow.
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Hope this helps.
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kryssie79

Lee - your procedure works just fine! YAY! Thanks a bunch!

Snowgirl

And it is already in Aperture