Seeing watermarks on photos is something most people dislike. It can ruin a photo, especially if it’s placed so that it hides an essential part of the picture. However, regardless of whether you love or hate them, having watermarks on your photographs prevents people from sharing your photos online without your consent.
While people with vast photoshop skills can remove some watermarks, watermarks still prevent lazy image thieves from taking your work and using it without due credit.
In this article, we will look at a few different ways you can add a watermark to your photos, ranging from easy and quick options to more complex ones. Hopefully, our tips will help you protect your work and ensure that it’s not living a life on its own without you getting paid or receiving any credit.
The Fastest Way
The cheapest and quickest way to create a watermark of some sort is to use the text-editing tool in any photo-editing software (honestly, even Microsoft Paint can do the job in this scenario). Simply write your name in a specific font and place it somewhere on the picture. You can choose to do it discreetly in the corner and with a small font, or you can be bolder and put it on a more visible spot on the photograph.
If you want to be a bit fancier, you can put it in a box, color it with a funky color or opt for a weird font; it’s all up to you. This method might seem a little too simple, but it’s extremely quick and easy, and it doesn’t require you to learn to work with a program or to pay for one. If you don’t typically shoot pictures and you’re not going to need to do this often, this is probably the best option for you.
Online Watermark Tools
Another quick and easy way to watermark a photo is by using an online tool like Watermarks.ws. You can upload pictures, videos, and even GIFs on this website. Then you can choose what kind of watermark you want to have: a text, signature, or logo. A text watermark is similar to what we just talked about in the previous paragraph. In contrast, a logo watermark places another image on top of the original (it just needs to be resized).
With that said, while this method is quick and straightforward, it’s not necessarily professional. Even though there are many online tools similar to the one we suggested, most of them do create some sort of issue with the original photograph, so they’re definitely good if you’re just doing this for a few photographs and you need for it to happen quickly, but if you’re a professional photographer, then this option is definitely not the one for you.
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Adobe Lightroom
If you use software like Adobe Lightroom to organize and edit your photos, you already have a tool that can watermark all your pictures in bulk. In Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, the first thing you need to do is create and save a watermark, and then you can easily add it to any export.
Creating a watermark is simple. You just need to go to Lightroom, then edit watermarks. Then you will get a pop-up window and choose whether you want a graphic or text watermark. Then you’re able to pick other customization options. If you opt for a text watermark, you can choose the font, size, text, and positioning. On the other hand, you can upload a PNG file with a transparent background and then adjust things like sizing and positioning for graphic ones.
Once the watermark is ready, you can simply save it and export it to your files and use it whenever you need to.
Photo Editor
If your photo-editing software doesn’t have a watermarking feature and you don’t want to download or buy a new program, but you feel the online tools are too inflexible or straightforward for your needs, then you can always make your own by using any image-editing software like Pixelmator, GIMP, or Photoshop. Here, how fancy your watermark will look depends on your level as a graphic designer and how much you actually want to do.
You can always opt for the simplest option and just put some text over the image, as we already discussed. The text’s position, size, font, and color are totally up to you, and you can adjust them to your liking, depending on the photo you’re placing the watermark on.
On the other hand, if you already have a premade logo, you can import or paste the image and just adjust the opacity. That way, you will quickly watermark the photo with your branding, but if you want to, you can always experiment with designs and make the watermark a bit fancier.
Mobile App
If you’re often on the go but still want to share your work online safely, your best option is to add watermarks with the help of a mobile app that you can install on your tablet or smartphone. Thankfully, there are many apps you can work with, regardless of whether you’re an iOS or an Android user.
One of the best mobile watermarking apps is called iWatermark. It’s available for both iOS and Android devices, and with it, you can choose any photo from your library and add a watermark with just a few taps. Here, you also have the choice to go with something simple like a text with your name or with something a bit more extravagant such as your logo. The iWatermark app isn’t the easiest to use, but it gets the job done and offers many options, such as watermarking multiple photos at once.
With all that said, if you’re already using Adobe’s Creative Cloud platform, you can use its mobile app solutions for your watermarking needs. Along with that, there are many more apps you can choose to download, depending on your needs and skill level.
To Sum Up
Even if you don’t like the way watermarked photos look, you need to remember that creating a watermark is the best way to copyright your work and ensure that it doesn’t get used without your consent. Hopefully, you found our advice helpful and suitable for your needs, and don’t forget to check out the Camberlion blog for more entrepreneurial and marketing advice.