Limit on Number of Watermarks Allowed for Pro Sites?

WinsomeWorks

Is there a limit on how many watermarks are allowed to be created or uploaded at any one time for Pro sites? I had seven different watermarks, & recently when I tried to make some others, one would always disappear if I tried to have more than seven. It was frustrating since I had no warning before or during the process of creating the new one. If there's a limit of seven watermarks, I'm not seeing that limit posted anywhere in the Help section on watermarks. It's possible I missed it. Also, if there is that limit, I'm wondering why & whether any thought could be given to increasing it. Since photos have 4 corners, it would be helpful to have at the very least, 8 different watermarks -- a set of light ones & dark ones for each of 4 corners.
Another thing I've wished for a long time is that watermarks could be rotated on SmugMug, so that, for instance, you could have a watermark on the short edge of a photo, no matter which way the photo is oriented. Currently, one of my watermarks is OK when a photo is portrait. But when it's landscape, I wish I could make that same watermark appear on one side or the other instead of the bottom. I know I could do this in Photoshop for watermarks I've created myself, but then I still need to upload 2 different versions of that one watermark. Panoramic shots also really need a different version. If we only have 7 allowed (??) I'll have to lose some other ones to make room.

johnfarnan

I think the ability to scale the watermarks would be most advantageous :smiley:

mrneutron

I checked and there are only 7 watermarks in your account settings. I was able to add more than seven watermarks to my test account.
Please try adding another watermark and if you still have trouble, write to help@smugmug.com using the email address in your account settings.
Then we can give you specific help.

Andy
SmugMug Support Hero
http://help.smugmug.com

AceCo55

Instead of having a light and a dark version of each watermark, another possibility is to create a watermark in Photoshop that can be read on both light and dark backgrounds.

Method 1:
Use white text.
Then add drop shadow (black).
Add a bevel and emboss effect.
Adjust opacity to suit.

Method 2:
Use white text
Add a bevel and emboss effect
Turn "Fill" (not "opacity") down to 0-10
Adjust opacity to suit

May not suit your purposes but maybe worth a try?

David_S85

I currently have 41 different watermarks. More precisely, many of those are the same watermark, but made for their target location so that I can place them almost anywhere on an image, within some limits. They are named for those target locations such as "Very Top Left," "Center Right," "Upper Left" and so on.

Admittedly, this is a kludge, as I would more prefer a flexible watermark placement tool where I could move one around the image and then plop them exactly where I want them. This way I would only need a few - some darker and some lighter dependent on the image's background.

WinsomeWorks

@mrneutron said:
I checked and there are only 7 watermarks in your account settings. I was able to add more than seven watermarks to my test account.
Please try adding another watermark and if you still have trouble, write to help@smugmug.com using the email address in your account settings.
Then we can give you specific help.

Andy
SmugMug Support Hero
http://help.smugmug.com

Andy, how exactly were you able to add more than seven watermarks to your test account? By uploading them, or by creating them here on SmugMug? I'm wondering if creating them here is the issue. I do have a few that I'd created in PhotoShop long ago. But I don't have access to PS right now & was trying to create them on SmugMug. So I've already tried having more than 7 watermarks (by creating them on SmugMug, not by uploading) & as I said, each time I added one, another one disappeared. So now I'm scared to add another because if I lose any of the ones I have left, that may mean I leave a bunch of unwatermarked photos somewhere on my site. And also, when you get one you like, there's no way to identically re=create it. So could you maybe have someone try this (add more than 7 by creating on-site) who isn't worried about losing the ones they already have? [ETA: I didn't care much about the marks I lost with the 1st 3 creations as I wasn't using them anymore anyway, but I do care about the ones I have left. They are all in use. And I can't tell which one will disappear if I try creating another one.]

WinsomeWorks

@David_S85 said:
I currently have 41 different watermarks. More precisely, many of those are the same watermark, but made for their target location so that I can place them almost anywhere on an image, within some limits. They are named for those target locations such as "Very Top Left," "Center Right," "Upper Left" and so on.

Admittedly, this is a kludge, as I would more prefer a flexible watermark placement tool where I could move one around the image and then plop them exactly where I want them. This way I would only need a few - some darker and some lighter dependent on the image's background.

Yes, David -- exactly. That would be terrific. [ETA: Are all of your watermarks created off of SmugMug? I mean have you ever tried creating one here? I don't know that I ever ran into this issue except when I tried creating some here.

WinsomeWorks

@AceCo55 said:
Instead of having a light and a dark version of each watermark, another possibility is to create a watermark in Photoshop that can be read on both light and dark backgrounds.

Method 1:
Use white text.
Then add drop shadow (black).
Add a bevel and emboss effect.
Adjust opacity to suit.

Method 2:
Use white text
Add a bevel and emboss effect
Turn "Fill" (not "opacity") down to 0-10
Adjust opacity to suit

May not suit your purposes but maybe worth a try?

Yes, Ace-- someone here gave me that idea yrs ago (maybe it was you!) & my spouse made that kind of watermark for me. You'll see it all over my site. (an embossed mark saying "WinsomeWorks"). I liked it for awhile, & would probably still be OK with it on lots of my photos, with a couple modifications I'd like to make (skip the lines & add a copyright symbol). However, I wish I could turn it on its end, like I said, so that it would usually be on the short end no matter which orientation the photo is in. On panoramics, for example, it's terrible because it ends up smack in the center & huge all the way across. Also, I've come to dislike having those words in everyone's heads while viewing photos. I'd rather it were less obtrusive & if it's on the short end of a landscape, the words WinsomeWorks would be vertical & not in the front of the viewer's mind.

WinsomeWorks

@johnfarnan said:
I think the ability to scale the watermarks would be most advantageous

That would be excellent. I can't decide which is more important, scale or placement or dark/light, but yes, probably scale. Instead of an actual font size, they really should scale to the size of the photo and the orientation.

WinsomeWorks

Bump for all of my replies to several people who commented here. I'd really like to know what's going on with watermarks. Andy K (MrNeutron) please see my reply to you. I still don't know whether you tested the number of watermarks allowed by uploading some, or by creating some on the site. It seems to me that makes the difference... I really need to get this solved! Thank you.

David_S85

Nine of my watermarks I created with the newer tool right within Smugmug, for the shots my wife takes, with her name attached. All my other watermarks are transparent PNG's I created in PaintShopPro and uploaded to my SM site to a hidden gallery.

WinsomeWorks

Weird, David. I just wish I could know the reason I can't keep more than seven. What could possibly be different between my site & someone else's, which would affect the number of watermarks I can save?

Jenuine

Hello Winsome Works,
If you could write to the Support Heroes at help@smugmug.com, give the details of how you are creating the watermarks and what you see happening, let us do some testing on your site and the system to see if we can replicate what is happening. If this is a bug we certainly want to report it.

Best,

WinsomeWorks

Ok, I just haven't had time to deal with this watermarks issue, & plan to do as Jenuine says & write to Help. However, I now have a question to ask first, just so I can give Help some better background data. I'm wondering where the rest of you are finding your watermarks, & whether you see the same watermarks listed in all places where our watermarks can be found? Here's why I ask: If I go through my ""Account Settings" portal & look at "Branding > Watermarks > Manage" I see 7 watermarks. 3 old ones that I created in PS, & 4 new ones that I created a month or so ago through that portal. However, if I open my unlisted "Watermarks" gallery, a gallery that I believe was generated by SmugMug a long time ago (as I can't change its settings or anything), I see 7 watermarks also...but here's the clincher: None of them are the watermarks I'd made long ago in PS (& are still used all over my site)! All 7 are the newest ones, some of which are no longer accessible thru the Account Settings portal I'd mentioned earlier. I haven't recently taken good notice of what watermarks show up when I'm in a "Create Gallery" dialogue. Off to check But would love to hear whether others are seeing any discrepancy between the several places where our watermarks can be found. [ETA: Just checked. In Gallery "Settings" (in Organizer), I see the same set of 7 watermarks that are visible in the "Manage" section of Acct. Settings. Nowhere else, except for that "Watermarks" gallery, do I see those original 3 watermarks I'd created in PS.]