How to make a basic watermark in Photoshop

Watermarks are sometimes very annoying especially if large and so distracting that it draws the view away never to return. I’ll help you make a watermark basic enough to not discourage your audience yet ugly enough to stop takers. If you are using GIMP checkout the tutorial here: scottphotographics.com/how-to-make-a-simple-watermark-in-gimp!

How to make a basic watermark in Photoshop

1. Starting

• Open a new document:
• Size: 900 x 600 pixels

New Document 900x600 px

2. Text Sizing (Signature)

• (optional) If you’d like to make an Action (Alt + F9) then start recording now:

Recording your Actions

• Begin by creating a text box with the settings as shown:
• My text is ‘©m.scott’ in Mistral, BOLD, Italic:
• ‘©’ size: 24 pt: (copy my © symbol!)

Copyright Symbol size: 24 pt

• ‘m’ size: 60 pt:

m size: 60 pt

• ‘.’ size: 60 pt and width 75%:

'.' size: 60 pt and 75% for width

• ‘sco’ size: 60 pt:

'sco' size: 60 pt

• ‘tt’ size: 60 pt and height 81%:

'tt' size: 60 pt and height 81%

3. Text (Website)

• Now place a text box below your ‘signature’ (same width):
• Use a font that is all capitals or simply type in capitals – I’m using Copperplate Gothic light, BOLD, Italic:
• Text size: 12 pt:
• I’m using a black layer (separate) temporarily to see my text and layout!

Text size: 12 pt

4.a. Saving as .PNG and Applying Watermark

• You can save it as a JPEG, GIF, PNG anything, however I think PNG is best for quality – doesn’t degrade the data.
• Simply save this as a PNG!
• When you want to apply your watermark on an image, open it in Photoshop and go, Right Click (on layer) –> Duplicate Layer… and select the Document!
• To scale your watermark go, Edit –> Transform –> Scale (hold Shift to keep aspect ratio).
• Don’t forget to readjust the Opacity – 50% is usually what I apply.

4.b. Defining as a Brush

• For quick applications of your watermark you can save it as a brush go, Edit –> Define Brush Preset!
• BUT, you must invert (Ctrl/Cmd + I) your watermark first otherwise you’ll get an error message, because the brush preset interprets the white as transparent.
• If you do not like the black watermark then you just invert it again in your image once applied!

Applying your Watermark

If this is all too confusing, you may download my .PSD and simply retype in your details:  Download .PSD (335kb)

That’s It!

If you get stuck anywhere just comment below!

If you’d like to use these photographs please Contact Me! .

Please comment below if you have any questions and I’ll answer them ASAP!

All images on this site are copyrighted© – All Rights Reserved.

Written by Mike

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Michael Scott is the publisher and photographer behind Scott Photographics! He is very passionate about his photography and enjoys sharing the best of his experiences for others to enjoy too! Contact Mike via email!