Watermarking your photos using Photoshop (brush method)

[ricktas]

It often gets raised on AP. "How do I add a custom watermark to my photos"

Well here is a tutorial to show you the way.

1. Open Photoshop
2. Create a NEW blank document (File>New). You will need to set it a few hundred pixels wide by a couple of hundred high (minimum)

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/new-doc.jpg

3. Using the Text tool, find a font and size that is suitable, then type out what you want your watermark/signature to say, using black as the font colour.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/text.jpg

4. You can 'funky' it up by using a different font for the first letters, change font size, bold, underline etc. Add some lines under it, draw a box around it. Really it is up to you.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/funky.jpg

5. Now to turn your text into a brush so you can use it as a watermark. Using the selection tool draw a selection around your text.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/selection.jpg

6. Click on EDIT > Define Brush Preset.
7. Give your new brush a name and click OK

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/define-brush.jpg

You now have your watermark set as a brush so using it is as easy as

1. Open you photo in Photoshop
2. Click on the brush tool
3. Select your watermark brush from the brush selection menu (it is usually right down the bottom of the selections)
4. Set the size opacity and flow
5. Resize your watermark using the [ key to decrease, or the ] key to increase its size.
6. Locate where you want your watermark to appear on your photo and click your left mouse button.

Examples:

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/example1.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg175/snoopytas/tutorials/example2.jpg

Notes:
Don't try and make your watermark to complex, it will just look odd when stamped on a photo.
You can change the colour of your watermark by selecting a different colour just before you select your watermark brush
You can use the eye-dropper to select a colour that exists in your photo, so that your watermark is in that colour

[mongo]

thanks Rick. Mongo tried this by using a downloaded "action" recently. Worked fine but noticed it changed the contrast of the original photo when applied so Mongo immediately stopped using it.

Your tutorial has come just at the right time.

[ricktas]

You can also do a 'hand-written' one. Sign your name or what ever you want as your watermark onto a clean piece of A4 white paper. Scan it, open in photoshop and then use the selection method at step 5, and continue on from there.

[pgbphotographytas]

This is something I have wanted to do for ages, thanks for the guide Rick :th3:

Paul

[Avalon]

Thanks for that great tutorial Rick, I'll give that a go.
Until now I've been using the "Add Text" function in Picasa, as I'm one of those people who is Photoshop Challenged. :o

[matilda]

this is a brilliant tutorial. I have already made 3 water marks out of it

thanks again.

[mcdesign]

Good tutorial Rick, thankyou.

[Nicalum]

Just on time, thanks!

[Nic076]

Thanks Rick - been meaning to do this for some time, now there is no excuse.

[mongo]

Great tut. Rick but unfortunately for Mongo, he can not get this method to work after trying many times. MOngo uses CS3. He thinks the it all goes wrong at the stage where the text is supposed to be recognised. for some reason it will not do that and only recognises the black colour of the text but not the text. It also fails to establish a new watermark brush in the new brushes. So Mongo has given up on getting this to work.

[ricktas]

Great tut. Rick but unfortunately for Mongo, he can not get this method to work after trying many times. MOngo uses CS3. He thinks the it all goes wrong at the stage where the text is supposed to be recognised. for some reason it will not do that and only recognises the black colour of the text but not the text. It also fails to establish a new watermark brush in the new brushes. So Mongo has given up on getting this to work.

You are using the Selection tool, not the crop tool to select your text? If you are inadvertently using the crop tool, it will not work

[mikew09]

Works pretty much the same in PS Elements 7 - thanks again Rick

[Jasmar]

Thankyou so much Rick. I have always wanted to do this. The tutorial is so easy. Fantastic.

[Clubmanmc]

hmmmm

i use an action and use the "place" command in PS3 / 4 to put my water mark on the photo in the top left hand corner, and i have now given it 85% opacity so its not as powerful

i do like this idea though if you were doing a few pics only... and wanted to place it in different spots...

M

[Amy R]

Thanks Rick, I'm going to give this a go right now!
:)

[Amy R]

And the results were great!! So easy to follow your instructions.
Thanks again

:D

[Ruthie72]

your tutorial was exactly what I have been looking for ... so easy, simple and amazingly effective.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge ... sincerely appreciated.

Kind regards
Ruth

[Captured Exposure]

Good stuff, I have always wanted an easy way to do it...thanks

[melmo78]

Rick i think im in love with you now, thanks heaps for this, have been looking everywhere on the net for easy to follow instructions

[nudge2325]

Thanks Rick. awesome tutorial

[jamalnic]

Thank you Rick. That made it very easy!

Di :)

[jkay]

What a nice simple way to learn the technique. So glad you put this up.

[ricktas]

What a nice simple way to learn the technique. So glad you put this up.

You know what would be even nicer, if you remained an active member, rather than a lurker. Join in, show us some of your photos. You have been a member for 4 months now.

[41jas]

awesome.......:wd:

[Annette]

great tutorial thankyou

[Konrad]

Thank you so much Rick. Would you believe I've been mucking around for 8 years in PS(from 6 to CS2) and never really delved into this whole brush creation aspect?

Thanks for this - now I have to resist watermarking everything!

[Big Pix]

....... works for me...... one could go right off with this......

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/800671682_mtxTe-XL.jpg

[Satine]

Thanks so much for the turorial, I knew how to do it once but just forgot!!

[Analog6]

And if you want a transparent one across your photo for any reason you can set the opacity of the watermark layer to a low % - I use 15% with a white text watermark

[katiedransfield]

This is great info...just what I've been trying to find.

[dmdigital]

Well that's a different way to do it!

I've been using a couple of recorded actions (depending on the image). I think this will fill in the gaps for what I needed.

Thanks Rick. Another useful tip from this site.

[Andrew.S]

Rick that is great, thanks

[Outback]

Thanks Rick, easy once you know how

[Chilli]

Does anybody know how to create a watermark on a mac with cs4 ? :confused013

[eagleye]

Can I have some help on how to do an action for the watermark please.

[Kym]

Can I have some help on how to do an action for the watermark please.

Not sure that an action would help here. Its already a brush and you usually put watermarks on different parts of an image depending on the image.
http://blog.epicedits.com/2008/03/07/how-to-create-photoshop-actions/

[ricktas]

Can I have some help on how to do an action for the watermark please.

Using a watermark action, means the watermark will be the same size, colour and place on every photo, which is not the best method as placement probably needs to be determined for each individual photo. However there are watermark actions available and one is free at www.atncentral.com

[Jeanette]

this is an awesome link Rick
thanks I successfully had a play and worked so much better than a long winded way i was trying to do it with an over lay for each photo .. DOH me :)

[bjholton]

TERIFTASTIC :) .... simple easy and so much fun to do ... thanks Rick for this tutorial.

[ricktas]

Thanks for the compliments.

Just remember that you cannot watermark a photo that you enter into the competitions on Ausphotography as it identifies the owner, breaching the anonymous entry component of our competitions.

[linden]

Brilliant!
Thanks Rick

[Digiphilic]

Awesome Rick. Just what I've been after.
Thanks so much,
Quang

[mickyj]

Wow, great info. I have been cutting and pasting from one image into another using the selection tool and a transparant backround. Way more complicated and the results are not as easy to produce :(

I think I will have to change my ways.

[MusieJ]

Thanks for the easy to follow tutorial.

Off to practice some more.
:th3:

[kazdez]

Rick, I think you have ESP, cause every time that I think of something that I want to know how to do, it magically appears in a thread the next day. Thanks for the clear explanation.
Karen

[nobbs]

Ive been looking for something like this for a while.... thanks for the write up :)

I know im a bit of a lurker but dont worry ricktas, ill start posting some of my pictures soon enough, just reading threads at the moment, getting a gist of what this site is about :cool:

[ricktas]

Ive been looking for something like this for a while.... thanks for the write up :)

I know im a bit of a lurker but dont worry ricktas, ill start posting some of my pictures soon enough, just reading threads at the moment, getting a gist of what this site is about :cool:

hehehe, takes over 12 months to get the gist of the site?? :confused013

[nobbs]

hehehe, takes over 12 months to get the gist of the site?? :confused013

nope, i signed up, then i forgot i had signed up... ive only been really lurking for about 3 weeks now... when i went looking for a photography forum again i found this and realised i had previously signed up :th3:

[Cage]

Good tutorial Rick.

Once I figured out that my new brush tool was stored in the tools menu on the right hand side I soon found my watermark. I was looking for it in the drop down menu for brushes I'd originally used on the left hand side.

Cheers

Kevin

[reggie]

Great tut, very simple way to do it... will definately be doing it this way from now on... :wd:

[Lesley Bray]

I just did this and it worked - elated !! Thanks a bunch
Lesley

[nwoody]

saves doing it individually every freaking time, id say life saver but more an epic time saver !

[Paul G]

....... works for me...... one could go right off with this......

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/800671682_mtxTe-XL.jpg

BP how did you get the copyright symbol into the Photoshop text? I'm aware of how to create it in a word doc, etc by typing ( c ) ,(without the spaces), but PS text doesn't seem to recognise that.

[Cliff]

Paul, if you hold down ALT Key and type 0169 on the numeric keypad (not on the numeric keys at the top of the keyboard) you will produce the © symbol.

[Paul G]

Thanks Cliff. I thought it was something like that but I was trying Control & 169.

I've already created a brush with (c) so can brushes be edited? No big dramas anyway as it will give me some practice to create another!

[Cliff]

I don't know if they can be edited. I suspect not, but it would be easier anyway to just delete the old brush and define another.

[ricktas]

Thanks Cliff. I thought it was something like that but I was trying Control & 169.

I've already created a brush with (c) so can brushes be edited? No big dramas anyway as it will give me some practice to create another!

Not unless you save the document you create (with layers), so you can go back and edit it, then make a new selection, and define a new brush. Otherwise you have to make a new one.

[Bax]

Thanks Rick.

I've been doing it the hard way, I made a new document with a transparent background and created my watermark on that. Every time I want to add the watermark I have to insert that document, resize and rotate etc. And I'm always ending up with different sized watermarks.

I'll use a brush and size it correctly to suit my final output size.

Thank you.

[Enteeam]

I have just joined this forum, and I have already learned more about photography and Photoshop in these few days than I have in the last 12 months.

Thank you.

[Mat]

I use the ALT+ for other things but could not find the © symbol. Thanks for this. :th3:

[ricktas]

© - ALT + 0169 gives you the symbol you seek Mat!

[Elvie]

Thanks Rick, I have also been looking out to how to add a watermark . many thanks , Elvie

[roz]

Oh my word, I am so pleased I found this tute,
Thankyou Rick - now I have some work ahead of me :D

[Wandapics]

Thankyou. I was wondering how to do watermarks.

[Kym]

Copyright symbol ... (cut/paste) copy

[bugeyesj]

Many thanks for this, makes life so much easier. I have been going the long way around & playing with the text tool every time.

[sugarcourt]

This is something i have been wanting to do to my photos for ages but never got around to do it. This has inspired me to get my act together and finally do it. Thanks :-)

[carrg1954]

google"creating an action" in photoshop, then add your name and year behind the copywrite symbol and you will be set

[Roosta]

Alright Rick, works a treat, except when I left click at the end, it won't let go of my WM, it stays as a cursor and moves with the mouse. Any suggestions?

P.S, Are you able to add a symbol .gif to the WM ???

Thanks in advance.

[ricktas]

you wont be able to add the GIF directly, you will need to convert it to the same format as your orginal watermark document and then just drag it in as a layer and position it, flatten the layers. You can fairly much add anything to the document before you select it and define it as a brush.

Re the cursor, not sure what the issue is there, its just a brush, the same as any other brush you can select from the tool.

[Roosta]

you wont be able to add the GIF directly, you will need to convert it to the same format as your orginal watermark document and then just drag it in as a layer and position it, flatten the layers. You can fairly much add anything to the document before you select it and define it as a brush.

Re the cursor, not sure what the issue is there, its just a brush, the same as any other brush you can select from the tool.

Thanks mate will give it a go. Was getting late lastnight and the brain was fading. Apperciate the help as always.

Cheers

[dtrang]

ive been looking at making one for a while now. how would you go about doing a batch of photos in one go?

[ricktas]

ive been looking at making one for a while now. how would you go about doing a batch of photos in one go?

You need to create a Photoshop Action to run on all the photos. Note that this will put the watermark in the exact same place in every photo and sometimes this an e detrimental. Say your watermark is white and you put it in the lower left corner. If some photos are of snow, you won't see a white on white watermark, etc

Google can help with a how to, for creating actions in PS

[katcam]

Thanks, I just had a go and it worked really well. :)

[richardb]

Hi all,
A suggestion: Photoprocessing newbies, who don't have Photoshop, easily can download tools from Gimp.org. Free of charge !!
I've scanned the web : "how to watermark with Gimp". It works with layers as well. Did a hundred watermarks and got a bit fed up. :)

[reflect]

Thanks Rick, when I get home I will try this in Elements 9 and see how it goes, glad to be back on the forum after several moths away doing worky type stuff, hopefully upload some new images with my new watermark, thanks again.

[pearson]

Thanks Rick. I managed to fumble my way through to get a watermark on my images but this made it so much easier. Cheers!

[ricktas]

Thanks Rick. I managed to fumble my way through to get a watermark on my images but this made it so much easier. Cheers!

Hope we get to see some of the photos you have watermarked, up for critique soon!

[Casull]

Thanks for the great tutorial, good for us beginers

[leemiki]

It's very useful tutorial. Thanks heaps ")

[in2fx]

I tried this and it worked, but the text is hollow and not a solid colour, what did I do wrong ?

[ricktas]

I tried this and it worked, but the text is hollow and not a solid colour, what did I do wrong ?

Depends what font you chose.

[in2fx]

thanks Rick, I think I have it worked out now :th3:

[Ezookiel]

Thanks Rick.
I'd created a transparent layer with the text in it, and was adding that to my photos, but creating it the way I originally did it, meant the whole thing all had to be in one font. This has allowed a much better way of doing it, and a much easier way to apply it, and of course the font can be different for the © symbol and the name.

[photomike666]

Great tips, thanks

Now put ur watermark brush on the transparent layer & you have the options of layer blending like emboss. Enjoy

[Ezookiel]

That was the one thing I did differently to Rick's instructions. In the very first step where you create a new blank document, I scrolled down slightly in the create new document dialogue box, and for "background contents" I selected "transparent"
Not sure it made any difference to the final result, but I wanted to be sure just in case.

[ricktas]

That was the one thing I did differently to Rick's instructions. In the very first step where you create a new blank document, I scrolled down slightly in the create new document dialogue box, and for "background contents" I selected "transparent"
Not sure it made any difference to the final result, but I wanted to be sure just in case.

Not really cause a brush always has a transparent background. Once you have your design done, and make the selection and select to save it as a brush, the background (white) automatically becomes transparent, for the end result.

[Bindybur9]

Thanks this has been very helpful.

[MALCEB]

This is awesome, but this is probably a stupid question. But once I create my watermark in photoshop, canI then save it and then import into lightroom?

Lam

[One Click]

.... First try....

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/AusPhoto/DSC_01441.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/1268776517CR-Sue_C-0483276001268775181.gif

Now I've got something else I can waste my time playing with.
Anyone else want to do my http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/shopping3.gifhttp://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/s9989.gifhttp://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/washing_line.gifhttp://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/s1620.gif this weekend?

**Thanks for this**

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd270/iaandam/Smile/s1294.gif

[Crysis]

This is way better way of doing your watermark than anything out there in the www. world.
I had do this twice now as my last laptop dies and this made me have to redo everything.
The way it is written is so easy to follow. So thanks heaps for this simple but more than effective way to do it.

I did notice that somewhere I seen that someone had asked about the copyright thing.
I have got a simple way to do this.
Hold down you ALT key, then touch these numbers while hold down the ALT key the numbers are 0 then 1 then 6 then 9.
This will give you the C for copyright and I think if you do all of this but leave out the 0 you will get an R in a circle.
Hope this helps a few out.But the watermark layout is the best.

[Debom]

whoo hoo Rick, thank you I just created my watermark - easy peasy!:D

[Kurrajong]

I'll have to give this a go; should be handy, not only on this site, but anywhere that I upload images. Thanks,

Jan