PROTECT YOUR DIGITAL IMAGES BY WATERMARKING YOUR PHOTOS

 

Adding a watermark to your photos can be a great way to make sure your art isn’t stolen online. It’s also a great way to create artist or brand recognition. That way, when your photo is shared around on social media or on the web, people can always know who took the photo! However, the task of adding a watermark can sometimes seem way too complicated to even bother. In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through my very favourite way to easily add watermarks (that seriously takes less than a minute) along with a couple of other options as well. So let’s hop right in!

 

Do You Even Have a Watermark??

Before I show you any of the three ways to add a watermark, you’ll first need to wake sure you actually HAVE a watermark! There are endless ways to create one, but if you’re looking for a simple option, I suggest using a tool like Canva. Canva is a free online tool, and it’s basically like a simplified version of Photoshop or Illustrator. However, if you purchased a logo from a template shop, if you created it yourself in an Adobe software or if your hired a designer, you should already have everything you need!

Just make sure that the logo you are using is in PNG format. The reason you want a PNG file versus a JPEG file is because your PNG file will have transparency. Let’s take my logo for example. Without the transparency, I’m stuck with having a solid background around the logo. However, if I have a PNG file (exported with transparency), I can have cut out and eliminate the white! This is obviously not necessary if you are happy with the way your logo looks on a solid background. It all comes down to personal choice. Try out a few different options and see what you prefer!

Note: If you have no interest in creating or purchasing a watermark/logo, the second or third methods explained below might be the best fit for you! In Lightroom and Canva (I explain in more detail below) you can create a simple text watermark without the need for an image.

 

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BLOGSTOMP

The first option to add watermarks, is with my very favourite tool called BlogStomp. BlogStomp can do many things, but for adding watermarks, it seriously changes the game!! It’s definitely an essential part of my photography workflow.

If you don’t already own BlogStomp (if you don’t, you should, because it’s less than $50 and seriously amazeballs!), you can also download the free trial to give it a test run.

 

Step 1: Create a New Style Sheet

A style sheet in BlogStomp is basically a collection of settings that can be reapplied to new sets of images over and over . You can save multiple style sheets to use in the future.

Let’s create your first stylesheet. Go to Settings > Styles. At the bottom of the left hand sidebar, click Add. A new stylesheet will be created for you.

The right sidebar is now where you can modify all your settings. I suggest renaming your style sheet with something like “Watermark” or “Watermark XYZ” if you plan on having a few different ones. Feel free to play around with the other settings, but for now, I’m only going to explain how to add your watermark.

 

Step 2: Import and Position Your Watermark

Towards the bottom of the right sidebar, see where it says Logo? Click the Add button right beside it. This will open up a window for you to go locate your watermark on your computer. Once you’ve found it, click Open. Your logo is now imported into BlogStomp!

You can now resize your watermark however you like. Just make sure to not resize it to the point where it becomes blurry or pixelated. If that happens, you simply need a larger image file.

Last setting to play around with is the Logo Positioning. You can lock your watermark into place by checking off one or two of these boxes. This ensures that no matter what the image size is, your watermark will always stay in position.

Once you’re happy with all your settings, just click Ok!. You now have a saved stylesheet.

 

Step 3: Export Your Watermarked Photos

Back in the Freestyle or Batch window, you can now add this stylesheet to any images you drag into BlogStomp. When you have images in there, simply select your watermark stylesheet from the dropdown menu below your image preview and Stomp away! This will export your photos with the embedded watermark.

 

LIGHTROOM

Second possible method to add watermarks to your photos is to use Lightroom. The only downside to Lightroom is that it’s a little more complex to use – especially if you want to add watermarks to images that weren’t edited in Lightroom to begin with. Lightroom also comes at a much higher price point, so it isn’t as affordable for someone starting out.

However, I still swear by Lightroom and you do have a few more customization options when it comes to watermarks, so I couldn’t keep out of this list! So here goes…

 

Step 1: Add or Create Your Watermark

First step is to go to the Lightroom menu and click on Edit Watermarks. This will open up a window where you can edit your watermarks – let’s go through your options. Option one is to create a graphic style watermark by importing a PNG or JPEG image – this could be the same one you might have used in BlogStomp. The second option is to just create a text style watermark directly in this editor window.

Option 1: Graphic Watermark

If you choose the graphic style watermark, simply check that box in the top right hand corner. Once you do so, a window will open up – go find your chosen watermark graphic. Now that your graphic is imported, you may adjust the opacity, the size and the placement of the watermark on your image. (See the video for a visual explanation of what each setting does!)

 

Option 2: Text Watermark

Choosing the text style watermark is a great option if you haven’t created a logo yet or simply don’t want to!

Start by choosing the Text box in the top right hand corner. Type in what you want your watermark to read in the box below your image.

Now, in the Text Options section, you can choose your font and font colour. You can also choose to add a shadow to your text. A shadow can help make your text more legible and stand out on certain images in case your font colour happens to be the same colour as what is in the photo.

Lastly, change the position and opacity of your watermark in the Watermarks Effects section.

Tip: If you want to add the little copyright symbol (©), use Option + G on a Mac and Alt + 0169 (on the 10-key keypad, with NumLk on) on a PC. Or just copy it from here!

 

Step 2: Save Your Watermark

Before clicking Done, make sure you save your watermark so you can use it over and over! In order to save it, click on the drop down menu in the top left hand corner of the window. Here, you will have the option to open up previously saved watermarks or to save your current settings. To save the one you just created, click on Save Current Settings as New Preset. Next, give it a name. If you wanted to create a couple different watermarks, you can repeat these steps over and over and save new presets every time. Now click Save.

 

Step 3: Export Your Watermarked Photos

Back in the Library window of Lightroom, select the images you would like to export with a watermark. Go to File > Export. You have a tons of options here that we won’t go over today, but the one to pay attention to is the Watermarking section. To add a watermark to your exported images, check the box and select which watermark you want. If you only saved one preset, that will be the only option for you. Now, click Export and you’re good to go!

 

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CANVA

This third way of adding watermarks can be done with either your smartphone or your computer. This is great if you want to add watermarks to photos that are already on your smartphone and you want to save yourself the trouble of bringing them onto your computer!

There are many apps out there that are specifically designed to add watermarks to photos. However, after downloading and testing out a handful of them, I found them quite clunky and none of them were free (well, they had Lite versions, but most features were disabled). So the Canva app become the best phone option in my opinion!

Note: You could also use this method on your computer as Canva also has a browser app, but for the sake of this tutorial, I will speak to the app users.

Tip: Canva isn’t made to watermark many images at once. If you’re looking to batch watermark, BlogStomp is your best option! I suggest using Canva to watermark a few images at a time to post on your social media. :)

 

Step 1: Add or Create Your Watermark

Like in Lightroom, you have many options here. You can choose to write out a simple watermark, import your own graphic or, like I mentioned above, create one from scratch in Canva itself!

 

Option 1: Graphic Watermark

If you choose to import your own PNG or JPEG graphic it may be easier to import it into Canva using your computer as the file is probably saved on there already. But don’t worry, anything you import into Canva, whether you do it on your computer or on your phone, will be accessible on all your devices.

To import your graphic, open a new design in Canva. Make sure to choose a design that has the same dimensions of the image you want to export. For example, if the photos you are watermarking are for Instagram, you may want to choose a square design. But if these are for Facebook, you could choose a rectangle design. If you prefer, you could also choose to enter your own custom dimensions. Your choice!

 

In left sidebar, click Uploads. Find the graphic on your computer and drag it in there. Once your graphic is uploaded, drag it onto the page. You may adjust the size and placement now, but you will be able to adjust the size and placement once you add your photo in there too.

You can upload and create as many watermarks as you want, so I suggest creating a couple pages with different watermarks on them. That way, when you are on your phone, you can decide which watermark works best for each image you want watermarked. To add a page, just click on the + Add a new page button below your design.

 

Option 2: Text Watermark

If you want to create a simple text watermark, you can add that by clicking on the Text button in the left sidebar. Drag the style that suits you and edit what it says. You can then also modify the font, colour, size, opacity and placement.

 

Step 2: Using the App to Add Photos

Now that we have our watermarks saved and uploaded let’s get into the app…

Tap on Your designs to find the designs you just created. Now tap on the one you want to use and this will open up the editor. Tap anywhere in the white area to add your photo. A little menu will appear under your design where you can select your camera roll. This will open up your phone’s camera roll and you will be able to select what photo you want watermarked.

 

Once you’ve found your photo, click on it and Canva will add it to your design. If you tap your watermark, you can move it around, change the opacity of it, and if it’s a text watermark, you can change the font and colour again to fit your image.

If you had created multiple pages with different watermarks, you can view all your pages by clicking the little button in the bottom left corner. Now choose the page you want to edit and repeat these same steps.

 

Once you’re happy with the way it looks, tap Share in the top right hand corner. From here, you could save it to your camera roll, post it directly to Facebook or Instagram, etc.

Do this over and over again for any photo you want!

 

 

So there you have it! Three different ways to add watermarks to your photos. Do you have any other tools or suggestions to add watermarks? Let me know in the comments below, I always love discovering new ways of doing things.

If you hit a bump along the way, just leave your question below, message me on Instagram or ask in my free private Facebook group (Join it now if you haven’t done so already!… Link below), I or a fellow photographer in the group will happy to help you out!