Pet & Animal: How to Add a Watermark to Photos

When photos are posted online, they are rarely protected, meaning they can be used by anyone who has access to them. Photos can be protected through copyrights, but a trick often used by photographers is to watermark their photos. Traditionally, watermarks were variations in the thickness of a paper that can only be seen in certain light conditions. Digital watermarks are text or logos that are put on top of the image to establish the owner of the photo. Often, watermarks are opaque and look indented. A great way to ensure that no one is using photos without your permission is to add a watermark with Google's Picasa or Adobe Photoshop. This article will tell you how to add a watermark to photos.

Steps

Using Photoshop Actions

Open up your picture in Photoshop. This should be the image that you want to add a watermark to.

Open your logo image file. Open up your logo or design you would like to use as a watermark and save it to a place you can easily access, if you haven't already.
- If you need to remove your logo from a larger image, grab the lasso tool. Make sure your feather is set to the number 0. Click once and draw around the image or text box you want to use as the watermark. When you have outlined it, release your click and save your image or logo.

Start recording your actions, if you want to. If you plan on adding a lot of watermarks to very similarly sized and arranged images, then you will want to create an Action. This will allow you to add the watermark to later images with less effort. Go to the "Window" menu on your toolbar. Select "action." Name the action "Watermark." Any actions that you perform from now until you stop the action will be recorded.

Go to "File" and press "Place." Select your logo. Resize the logo until it is the size you would like. Change the opacity if you would like it to be lighter. Align the logo using the right, left, bottom top or center align buttons on the top tool bar.
- Place the logo or text that you have just cut on to your photo in an area that will not obscure the image but will deter people from downloading your picture and using it. Make sure it is not in a place that can be easily cropped off the photo.
- Be sure to use the buttons to align your photo because your Photoshop will be able to record those actions easier than those done only using the mouse.

Alternatively, make a text watermark. To do a text watermark in Photoshop, make a text box on top of your photo, color it and change its opacity until it is very light in your photo. Do this after you start recording your action.

Save the photo with the watermark using the "Save as" function. Because you are recording, this will tell Photoshop where to save any future watermarked photos.

Batch add watermarks. To watermark more than one photo, go to "File," select "Automate" and then select "Batch." When the window pops up, choose "Watermark" as the action in the drop down menu. Choose the folder with the images you want to watermark. You will need to have them in a separate folder for this action. Select the destination for all watermarked photos, using the browsing function prompted by the "Destination" button. Check the "Override box." Press "OK" and your folder of photos will be watermarked and saved in the folder you specified.

Using Photoshop Layers

Open your image. Save it as a separate file that is just for the watermarked image, so that your original is not lost.

Open your watermark. This should contain the logo or image that you want to watermark.

Copy the watermark onto a new layer. Copy the image to the file where you want to add the watermark and paste it onto a new layer, above the image.

Set the opacity. On the layer that contains your watermark, turn down the opacity until it is no longer as visible.

Merge the layers. Merge the layer down to join the watermark permanently with image (again, have an unwatermarked version saved somewhere else).

Save the file in a non-Photoshop format. Save the file as a jpeg or similar file which will not preserve the layers. This will make it harder for others to remove your watermark.

Adding a Watermark in Google Picasa

Upload your photos to a Picasa album.
- Picasa is Google's application for handling photos and storing them on the Internet. You can add a watermark in Picasa that is white text. You cannot choose to put a logo as a watermark at this point.

Go to your album and select the photos that you want to watermark. You will need to export them to do this.
- On Windows operating systems (OS), hold down the "Shift" button and click on photos to select more than 1 photo to watermark. On Mac OS, hold down the "Command" button and click on photos to select more than 1.

Click the "Export" button. This will be found in your photo tray. You will need to have a folder to which you can export the photos.

Click the "Add a Watermark" option in the menu.

Type the text that you want to be displayed as your watermark.

Select "OK" and your photos will have the watermark on them when they arrive in your folder.

Alternatively, add while uploading. You can also add a watermark when you are uploading photos. Before you download, click "Tools" then "Options" on a Windows OS and click "Picasa" then "Preferences" in Mac OS. Click on the tab that says "Picasa Web Albums." Select "Add a Watermark." Type your text. Click "OK" and your albums will arrive in your uploaded album with watermark protection.

Tips

You can also watermark your photos on a number of online watermarking software sites. They may cost a small fee. You can download their software in order to watermark your photos. Do research in order to choose a reputable site.