Creating Watermark

Tom Potter

Howdy Folks,

I checked in the Help section on how to create a custom watermark. The instrux I see there tell how to create one using Print Shop. I do NOT have Print Shop. However, I do have LightRoom (Do not know if I can do it with that program). I could easily create the text, along with the copyright symbol. However, I would then have to convert it into a Jpeg or other photo format as I understand it. How would i do this, or, is there another, simple solution?

Also, is it necessary (I shoot nature / landscape), as the samples seem to depict, to have a watermark spread pretty much the entire photo? Just seems to me they really take a LOT away from trying to see the pics on the site.

Thank you very much for any and all help!

Tom

aerialphoto

Tom Potter wrote:

Also, is it necessary (I shoot nature / landscape), as the samples seem to depict, to have a watermark spread pretty much the entire photo?

Heck no. The "stock" watermark says "PROOF" right across the image. It does the job, but for some of us that technique is too distracting.

I use photoshop to create my watermarks, and I have several different ones that work in different situations. I realize you're not using photoshop, but I'll explain my technique and maybe you can translate it to use with another program... I make a watermark image roughly the same aspect-ratio as my normal images, then I put my "signature" (name/website/copyright/etc) in the right corner at 100% opacity. The rest of the frame is transparent, then smugmug does the rest (see their documentation). I create the watermark to show up in the bottom-right corner so if the aspect-ratio of my image is a little different it'll still look roughly as I intended on-line.

The right-lower-corner puts my tag on the picture, but doesn't obscure the image itself. Some people don't like any watermarks, but hey - that's me.


Example:



But then there are other images I do want to protect a little more. For that I have a similar corner signature at 100% opacity, but add different notices in the middle of the image at very low opacity. Some use black lettering, some white - which one I use depends on the look of the image. Photoshop will let you set different opacities of the text layers, and that carries over to the watermark (not perfectly, but close enough).

Example:




Finally... you can stick the signature-line type watermark anywhere you want. I have one that goes along the right side of the image for special situations: