learn to easily watermark your product photos

As indie shop owners, it's important to watermark photos. Not only carry your branding over to your images, but it can prevent photo theft and always give an image source in case someone Pins your item without the source link. This guest post by Melanie from Violet's Buds shows you how to easily watermark your photos using Photoshop and Pixlr (It's pretty much the same in both) or with PicMonkey. 

I use Adobe Photoshop to add watermarks to my photos, but you can easily do the same in other photo editing programs. The following is the step by step method I use.

I start with the watermark that Retro Rocket Graphic Designs created for me, along with my logo. The watermark I use is a .png on a transparent background which makes it very easy to add to any image.

Step 1: Start by opening up the watermark file, and the image you want to add the watermark to (now referred to as photo), in Photoshop.

watermark file

Step 2: With the watermark file on top, go to Select--All

Select All

Edit- Copy

  Step 3: With your photo now on top, go to Edit- Paste

Edit- Paste

The image of the watermark will now be a new layer on your photo. 

Step 4: Using the move tool (see arrow) move your watermark to its preferred position on the image.

 

Step 5:  In the Layers tool box (see arrow) choose the Opacity meter. Then use the slider bar to select the opacity (aka transparency) you desire. For this particular image I selected 24%.

change opacity

Step 6: Once you are happy with the watermark's appearance, go to Layer-- Flatten Image. This makes the watermark permanent on the photo. Now you can go to File- Save As to save the image in your preferred format, such as .jpg or .png file types. 

And here is the finished photo! 

You can use a similar method to add text watermarks to your photos. Choose the Text tool and type your desired phrase or shop name.

Next, like Step 5 above, go the Opacity menu and change the transparency level of the type layer until it looks the way you'd like. Then proceed with Step 6.

You can also add text watermarks to your photos for free using PicMonkey.
Upload your photo, click Tt on the left-hand side, then Add Text. Chose your font, color, and type your desired name or phrase. Then using the text box tool, use the Fade meter as you would the Opacity.

Hope you find this post helpful!

How important do you think it is to watermark your images?