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Digital Watermark Tutorial using Photoshop

Protect Your Work Online with a Digital Watermark

How to Put a Watermark on Your Original Photo or Graphic Design using Photoshop

Use Photoshop to protect original work which you post on the internet.

If you post your original artwork on the Internet but don’t want viewers to be able to copy and use it, protect it with a digital watermark using a graphic design program like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. This tutorial is done using Photoshop CS2.

I designed the TropicalFever_CaribbeanBlue digital scrapbook paper above and may someday want to put it into a kit to sell.

A watermark should be just barely visible so that the design still shows clearly; but dark enough that the design is not usable.

In the example above, I put the watermark dead center. Depending on the artwork, you may place it elsewhere as I’ll demonstrate below.

1. Open the artwork in Photoshop. I have three different papers open in the screenshot below. The blue one I am demonstrating with is the active one. If I were to click on a different one, it would pop to the front and become active.

2. Your original is a .JPEG, .GIF or some other type of flat file.

The first thing to do is Save it as a Photoshop file.

There are two reasons for this. First, you don’t want to save over your original once you have put the watermark on it. That would make it unusable to you!

Second, we will put the watermark on a layer above the original artwork so that you can use the watermark on other artwork you want to protect.

At this point, there is only one layer in our Photoshop file. We can see this by looking at the Layers Palette at the lower right of the screen. The active file and the active layer are both my TropicalFever_CaribbeanBlue paper.

3. Left click on the Type Tool to activate it. Choose a font and make sure the type color box is black.

Type your watermark message. Notice that a new (text) layer is created in the Layers Palette when you type.

4. Are you wondering why we typed the watermark in black when we want something that is almost transparent?

We’re going to use Photoshop Styles to make the watermark look like - well - water.

Start with the settings I give below. Then if you would like to fine tune, you can go back and adjust the settings.

From the top tool bar, select Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. I’ve used the default settings except for: Opacity 14%; Distance 21 px; Spread 4%; Size 17 px; and Contour. For Contour, click on the down arrow and select the single mountain icon you see in the screenshot below.

5. From the top tool bar, select Layer>Layer Style>Inner Shadow. Leave the defaults except for: Opacity 15%; Distance 21 px; and Size 21 px.

6. Select Layer>Layer Style>Inner Glow.

Change: Blend Mode to Screen; Opacity to 23%; the yellow color block to black (Just click on the yellow block and select the blackest black by clicking on one of the bottom corners or typing “000000” into the color # box.); and Elements Size to 17 px.

7. Select Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss. Accept all the default settings.

8. Depending on the artwork you are watermarking, you may want to reduce the Opacity.

In the example, I changed the Opacity to 48% in the screenshot but later decided to reduce it further for the final version (to 28%).

9. If you want a second line of type in your watermark, select Layer>Duplicate Layer from the top tool bar.

Notice that another Layer appeared in the Layers Palette but you can’t see much difference on your active file. That’s because the duplicate layer is sitting atop the one you duplicated.

10. Click on the Move Tool. Use your cursor to move the second type layer wherever you like.

11. To edit the new type layer, double left click on the T in the Layers Palette. The text will be lowlighted. [I think I made that word up; but I’m sure you’ll see what I mean!] Move your cursor to the lowlighted area, click and type your changes.

12. When you are satisfied with your watermark, you want to create a flat file (.JPG, .GIF, etc.) that can be posted to the Internet. File>Save As

At this point, you know how to create as many lines for your watermark as you want (Layer>Duplicate Layer), as well as how to move them around to suit the underlying art you are protecting (Move Tool).

There’s one more thing I’d like to share...

14. How to Reuse Your Watermark for Other Digital Artwork

To reuse the layered Photoshop file to watermark other artwork, Save it as a Photoshop file. I named mine Watermark.psd.

It’s very simple to use the Watermark layered Photoshop file we just created for other artwork. [If the works are different sizes, you need to make size adjustments.]

Make sure the bottom layer of the Photoshop file is active (in the Layers Palette). That way the new paper or photo will pop right into its proper place.

Click on the new file you want to watermark. [This golden digital paper is titled TropicalFever_GoldenHorizon]. Select the Move Tool and use your cursor to drag the new design or photo onto the watermark layered file.

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