How to create a watermark in Paintshop pro x3..

[dennis29]

Hi,

How do you create a watermark in Paintshop pro x3 that you can use over and over for multiple photos? I've read some articles out there but it seems it's just specific to a photo itself, is there a way to create one and which settings should be used so once it gets added to a photo, it's seamless. Do you create a new image? if so, what is the preset, characteristics and so on? Here is one article I've read:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/paints ... ermark.htm

Sincerely,

Dennis

[LeviFiction]

Yes, creating a logo that works well between different images does require a little finagling on your part to make sure they always fit. But if your image sizes don't vary all that much then it's not a problem. Your biggest problems come when the images have different Width and Height or different resolutions. Especially when using text.

There are three ways that I know of to make watermarks...well four but you have to sign up for a service for that one. It's an invisible watermark that is placed inside the actual image code.

Methods:

1) Just make it by hand each time, ultimate control and you can change it up easily should you ever decide to do so. This can be as simple as pasting a premade image onto the new image and lowering its opacity. You can use any method you want here and make it different each time or just do the same thing over and over again.

2)If you make the logo on the fly like in that article you can record the steps using the Script Toolbar inside of PSP.

Open the toolbar (View->Toolbars->Script) and hit the red record button. Now, create your logo using any steps you want. Hit the Save button on the script toolbar and it'll ask for a name. Go ahead and give it one. Now open a second image and make sure your new script is selected in the script drop down box on the toolbar. If it is hit the "Play" button on the toolbar. It should add your recorded steps to the new image.

Again if your images are different sizes this could mess up. If you know python scripting you can make the script intelligent and use percentages instead of exact placements inside the script.

3) Use the "Watermark" tool inside of PSP.

PSP actually has its own visible watermarking tool to make adding watermarks that much easier. And since it uses options like "lower right-corner" it will work on all images regardless of their size. You can also record this action as a preset inside the tool or as a script so that you gain the exact same settings every time.

Go to Image->Watermarking->Visible Watermark.

It'll ask you to load an actual pre-made image into the dialog so make sure you have your logo, text, or whatever it is premade and saved as another image on your computer. You can set the size, the opacity, and whether or not you want to emboss the image a little bit. This dialog respects transparency in the image so if you don't want edges on your logo it's suggested you save it as a PNG with transparency to avoid that.

Click the "Preview on image" option in the dialog to see how it looks on your image before applying it. Once you hit "OK" it will apply the watermark and you're good to go.

Again it handles all of the details of adding an image as a visible watermark for you and you can save your settings as a preset or a script to make sure it always applies it properly.

[dennis29]

Hi Levifiction,

I'll give this a shot, thanks. My pictures are always the same size typically, well I shoot from Canon most of the time but sometimes with my Olympus for water purposes.

Dennis

[teknisyan]

I also have a tutorial on how to place a watermark on photos, it's a bit different from what Levi mentioned above. I used PSP X2 Ultimate for the tutorial but you can also follow the steps if you are using PSP X3.

http://abielonline.blogspot.com/2009/10 ... hotos.html

[dennis29]

Thanks Abiel, I'll check it out

[Cassel]

Another way i used to use was this:
- create your logo/text or whatever you want to use as a watermark
- create it in black on a white background
- flatten if it has more than one layer
- Effects - Texture - Emboss
- save that image (it will be your go-to image)

Now, to apply it to your photo, add that image as a new layer, and change the blend mode to hard light (or soft light depending on the colors of your photo). Adjust the opacity if you want.

This works better if you want to have a logo or watermark across the image, like if you want to prevent the photos from being used without permission, while you can still provide the un-watermarked version if desired.