Who Are You Calling Crafty?

What is watermarking?  A watermark is a little picture, logo etc. that usually contains your name, business name, website information and a © symbol.  What does it do?  It makes it harder for people to steal your photos, pictures, etc. and claim it as their own.  It isn’t 100% if someone really wants your picture chances are they will find a way to get it without the watermark but you can at least make it harder for them.  There are several ways to Watermark photos:  Picnik has a feature that you can just add text: ©2011 A.J.’s Arts and Designs or ©2011 http://www.ajsartsanddesigns.com (examples) and photo editing program can allow you to add a watermark such as a logo.  In this tutorial I am using GIMP to demonstrate how to Watermark your photos.

First you will need a black and white image in PNG form – I chose PNG form because it has a transparent background.

My watermark I use – you have probably seen it before.

Download GIMP if you have not.  Remember GIMP is a FREE programs that supports layers like Photoshop.

Because this file is a PNG it is transparent so the checkerboard background shows.

Copy the image and paste as a separate layer onto the photo.

Import the logo as a separate layer.  My logo was HUGE so I needed to scale the logo down.

Once the logo is the correct size you can play with features – this is Color Burn.  I use this one quite a bit (my favorite) at 100% and 50% opacity.

Color Dodge – I use this if the photo is really dark and I need to take out some color.  I have used it at 100% and 50% opacity.

Normal – if you use a black and white image you can just change the opacity of the logo – I usually do 50%.

Go to File –> Save As

When this box comes up hit Export.

I wanted a high quality image so I left it at 93 –> Save.

Finished photo with watermark.