Watermarking Photos

Shorty

Shorty

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Edit My Images
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I have tried numerous times in the past [prob about 10-15] with great failure to create myself a watermark. Whilst trying to create one the last time, it went wrong and I ended up with a Signature, I like the signature though, and now that I have created myself a blog for my photos, I am that little bit more paranoid about protecting my images, so was wondering if someone can help me/give me some tips on how to get myself a watermark...And one that will obv work both portrait/landscape.

Here is my current signature, that I'd like to use for watermark...Would this be able to be done? Or is it not 'watermark-atble' ?

3727210282_3c09a7e615.jpg


:help:
 
I think it all depends what you are trying to achieve with a watermark, to be honest what you have done all ready is really not going to stop anybody as it would only take a couple of clicks and your sig is gone. Generally watermarks are transparent and plonked right in the middle of the image. There are various ways of doing this, all software related, if you have PS you could creat a brush or layer and add it or there are plenty of stand alone watermarking softwares available.
Getting back to your question about your mark, yes it can be made into a watermark, probably the easiest way would be to create a brush out of your text and when you want to use it just apply it to a seperate layer so that you can set the opacity, size etc without affecting the original image.
 
Escy, I know my signature is easy to remove, hence my want, now for a watermark. My signature atm is custom made so isn't an actual text, I 'hand drew' it, don't ask me how it was one of MANY tutorials I followed[and failed with, so made it my own]
I'll give it a go now with changing the size/opacity etc.

Is there anyway I can create an action for applying a watermark?

Thanks v much for your reply
 
swanseamale47 said:
Check out this tutorial by Russel Brown (quick time) You can use the same basic process but lower the layer fill down a lot or take it right down and use a layer style bevel emboss
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/BrandingSM.mov
Click to expand...

This was the first tutorial I ever followed, my problem is I don't have illustrator, and when I did get it and follow every step is doesnt work and since I only got it on trial, I obv can't get again to try it out again :(

Why am I finding it so hard to do something so simple?
 
What software are you using Leanne?
 
You dont actually need illustrator, make your logo from anything then select it, now on the paths palette choose path from selection, bingo there your path, copy that in as per the tutorial.
 
Cobra said:
What software are you using Leanne?
Click to expand...

PS CS3

swanseamale47 said:
You dont actually need illustrator, make your logo from anything then select it, now on the paths palette choose path from selection, bingo there your path, copy that in as per the tutorial.
Click to expand...

Will give that a go quickly now, Can I select a path from a brush??
 
once you have your signature on it's own go to edit.....define brush preset etc then you signature would be then a brush pattern which you can enlarge etc. do it on a new layer then adjust the layer opacity accordingly
 
Yes create a new layer, click the brush on a new layer, ctrl click on the layer pic (on the layers palette) that will load the layer as a selection, then on the paths palette click the create workpath from selection (fourth from the left I think) that will create a path, now while your still on the path ctrl+a and ctrl+c that copies the path to clipboard.
 
paseodj said:
once you have your signature on it's own go to edit.....define brush preset etc then you signature would be then a brush pattern which you can enlarge etc. do it on a new layer then adjust the layer opacity accordingly
Click to expand...

/\ Thats the way to go then Leanne :thumbs:
Make the "signature" as large "as you like" before saving as a preset
then you can alter the size up or down as if it were a normal brush and
it will still be readablefor "any size" image
you can also change the colour and opacity.
 
OMG, brain fry, have tried to do the way Cobra agrees with, and it doesn't do much AT ALL, plus it's gonna be very tedious to do every image.[I have done that method in general for my sig, so it's readable every size etc.


Cobra said:
/\ Thats the way to go then Leanne :thumbs:
Make the "signature" as large "as you like" before saving as a preset
then you can alter the size up or down as if it were a normal brush and
it will still be readablefor "any size" image
you can also change the colour and opacity.
Click to expand...

Kerioak said:
I also feel it is useful to make your image identifiable to you so that someone can find you if they see it thus it can be useful to include your whole name and/or website as well.

I made mine into a brush as well.
Click to expand...
How do you make it into a brush as an embossed watermark that's imbedded/seethrough but stil very much 'in the way?' I can't seem to do anyting remotley like that with my brushes :shrug::help:

swanseamale47 said:
Yes create a new layer, click the brush on a new layer, ctrl click on the layer pic (on the layers palette) that will load the layer as a selection, then on the paths palette click the create workpath from selection (fourth from the left I think) that will create a path, now while your still on the path ctrl+a and ctrl+c that copies the path to clipboard.
Click to expand...

I only have one selection that is higlighted/useable after I do this[in the paths pallete] and that is 'new path' no 'from selection' also, is it ctrl click on a mac, too? It doesn't seem to be doing anything, nor does command click or alt click. Hmmm

I think I might just enlarge my signature and stick it in awkward places, I seem to have a complete inhability to create a simple watermark! :eek::shake::cuckoo:
 
Shorty said:
OMG, brain fry, have tried to do the way Cobra agrees with, and it doesn't do much AT ALL, plus it's gonna be very tedious to do every image.[I have done that method in general for my sig, so it's readable every size etc.





How do you make it into a brush as an embossed watermark that's imbedded/seethrough but stil very much 'in the way?' I can't seem to do anyting remotley like that with my brushes :shrug::help:
Click to expand...
Create a background
make a duplicate ( blank) layer, it doesn't work on a "background"
create text
Bottom right tool bar go to Fx <click>
from that menu select "blending options (should be the top)
and have a play ..................that will emboss shadow etc
then "edit" (top left) and click "define brush preset"

then go back to your brash palette
select the now brush and apply at the appropriate size / colour / opacity
 
Cobra said:
Create a background
make a duplicate ( blank) layer, it doesn't work on a "background"
create text
Bottom right tool bar go to Fx <click>
from that menu select "blending options (should be the top)
and have a play ..................that will emboss shadow etc
then "edit" (top left) and click "define brush preset"

then go back to your brash palette
select the now brush and apply at the appropriate size / colour / opacity
Click to expand...

Whyyyy is this proving so hard? 'define brush preset' is not appearing in the menu, well it is, but I can;t select it, it's not highlighted I have created and changed to suit, some text. And I don't undestand why it's not working? :shrug:

Dear me, I might give up, I think!
GarynLea said:
You could always try this ... http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=107056
Click to expand...

That looks confusing but I'll have a read through!

Thanks - and sorry for seeming to be so thick at the moment!!
 
Shorty said:
Whyyyy is this proving so hard? 'define brush preset' is not appearing in the menu, well it is, but I can;t select it, it's not highlighted I have created and changed to suit, some text. And I don't undestand why it's not working? :shrug:

Dear me, I might give up, I think!
Click to expand...

I have no idea why its not "highlighted"
The only thing I can suggest is that you "save as" your image ( flatten the layers ) so it saves as a Jpeg and not a PSD file
then re-open it in CS3 and try again with the brush preset
 
Edit I have just discovered that if your image is over 2500 px on the longest side
it won't open "define brush preset maybe thats it :shrug:
 
My image is 800px.
But, I dunno what I did but I did something and was able to save as a brush preset, thanks very much!!
Not my signature logo, but it's simple enough - will see how it goes now, cos I'm gonna try it on a few images


Thanks for your help, everyone
 
I'm glad "we" got there in the end :thumbs:
 
really laborious....
I use picture shark

one JPEG, some settings and a batch run later...really nice and simple to use I find
 
Another option...
Photoshop CS3/CS4 Only
Here is a script that will allow you to place your logo into your document(s) at a percentage of the document size and at various places, so it will work for hi-res and lo-res pictures.

Create your logo, make it as LARGE as you want as it will be down/up sized to fit and save it as a png/tiff/jpg

Download the zip file, unzip and place the scripts in the relevant folder.
PC:- C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS#/Presets/Scripts/
Mac:- [Hard Drive]/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS#/Presets/Scripts/
Link removed...

There are two scripts:-
&#8220;Smart Place Logo.jsx&#8221; and &#8220;Smart Place Logo Reset.jsx&#8221;
The first time you run &#8220;Smart Place Logo.jsx&#8221; it will prompt for all the details and then place your logo on the document. All subsequence runs will place the logo in the same place and size on all documents.
&#8220;Smart Place Logo Reset.jsx&#8221;, when run will reset the parameters to let you choose new settings when &#8220;Smart Place Logo.jsx&#8221; is run again.
To run the script(s) File &#8211; Scripts &#8211; select script.

An action can be created to call the script (Tip: Use &#8220;Insert Menu Item&#8221;) so that it can be used in batch.
I will leave the download available for a couple days.
 
Another option for raw shooters -

Use Lightroom with the Mogrify plugin. Dead simple, dead effective, dead cheap. Stick a text or graphic watermark anywhere on your images and have it scaled to fit automatically.
 
To make life easy i was looking at some freeware software "Alamoon" at softsea.com.
Just wondered if anyone has used this.
 
hollis_f said:
Use Lightroom with the Mogrify plugin. Dead simple, dead effective, dead cheap. Stick a text or graphic watermark anywhere on your images and have it scaled to fit automatically.
Click to expand...
If you already have Lightroom that's the only solution you will ever need !

Here's one I prepared earlier...

Mogrify allows the watermark text to be pulled from the image metadata so I can batch load images from lots of different photographers; really useful for preparing a festival website! If I wanted to combine the text with a graphical watermark Mogrify would let me do that too.

Another really useful thing about exporting from Lightroom is the ability to add metadata into the filename. This allows some of the shortcomings of ordering images Coppermine Gallery to be overcome. If you check the URL of the link I posted above you will see I've prefixed the image name with a date and time stamp that ensures the gallery is displayed in natural order. I've also used the file naming to prefix with start rating so I can review the best ones very quickly. Loads of potential uses!

Something I've not seen mentioned above and took me a while to work out is the use of Alpha Channels when doing graphical watermarks. GIFs do not have an alpha channel, all you can do is set some pixels fully transparent; you get aliasing problems and it's hard to do subtle watermarks. But if you create your watermark as a PNG then each pixel has a level of transparency, just like layers in Photoshop. Here's an example I helped with the watermarking where an all over watermark was considered vital but the image still needed to be able to be reviewed. She's been forced into this fairly drastic watermark because so many of her images were ripped off her website.
 
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