Handwritten watermark - how to??

nadya · November 24, 2011

I don't know if this is the correct place to ask - but how can I make my own handwritten signature watermark with photoshop?

Trying to find directions on google, but can't find anything specific...

Thanks! :-)
Nadya

Art Scott · November 24, 2011

do you have a pen tablet: Wacom Bamboo, Intuos, VisaTablet ( I use VisaTablet due to lower cost and it is a great tablet)..etc... ?? using one of these would be the easiest.....or get a white note card, back of a business card or plain white sheet of paper and a fine sharpie or Calligraphy set, write your name on it like you want it to appear on your images...shoot it as close up as possible, now remove the back ground in Photoshop...now you have a signature in black....or find a font that closely resembles your actually signature and use it.......The one created using a pen tablet will allow the easiest modifications for various images ...say you need a silver of light grey sig due to the image mostly being blk or dark blu or brown.....put the sig on a separate layer change color and flatten

ziggy53 · November 24, 2011

If you mean to create a signature image that you can use to watermark your photos/images, Art is on the right track.

The way I would describe the process is that you need to think of the signature as a type of "overlay". As such I generally use a new layer, atop the image that I wish to composite with the signature. The trick is that the "background" (the part of the signature image that you will not see) needs to be "transparent".

Once you have created the signature, either by scanning or photographing a sample on white paper, or use a digitizing tablet as Art suggests, you drop out the background by making it transparent. There are several different ways you can do this, so I'll suggest some other links and a couple of different ways. (Different versions of Photoshop may also be slightly different to use):

http://youtu.be/Xu8Fc5gycnE
http://youtu.be/vmMjOrG8Ews

Note that this tutorial from Andy is somewhat similar as well:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=4963

Once you have a transparent background in a layer, use Ctrl-A to select the entire image layer and then Ctrl-C to copy the signature into the buffer. Now switch to your image that needs the signature and Ctrl-V to paste your signature (with transparent background) onto the underlying picture. (On a Mac the sequence may be Cmd-A, Cmd-C and Cmd-V.)

Now you need to combine all the layers with:

Layer - Flatten Image

Save or Save-As to your preferred file type and the change is permanent.

Anthony · November 25, 2011

I think the easiest way to do this is to scan in a signature and then create a brush from the image. This brush can then be used on a transparent layer for adding to a picture. It can be any size, any colour, any opacity and can have blending options added. By stroking in blending options and reducing the fill (not opacity) to zero, an outline version can be created, which works well as a watermark.

These techniques can be applied to any image or text including the copyright symbol.

Anthony.

nadya · November 25, 2011

Ok that sounds all good, I will have to try these days and hopefully it works !!! If not I'll be back with questions

thanks for your help !!!!!!
Nadya

Peano · November 25, 2011

1. With a pen/tablet, write whatever you want. (Calligraphic brushes are good for this).

2. Save that as a PNG file (preserves transparent background).

3. To apply it to an image, drag it onto a separate layer, reduce fill to 0, the use layer styles for whatever effect you prefer: drop shadow, bevel, etc.

PNG file:

Bevel layer style:

Drop shadow:

Art Scott · November 26, 2011

I forgot to add that I make an action when I did my signature... I have 2 actions.....1 for horizontal and 1 for vertical images.....the action makes a new layer adds the siggy and stops..so I can move it around if need be ... ... change the color if needed also ... ... ... then I flatten the image ... ...

Handwritten watermark - how to??

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