How to Protect Your Photos Online with a Watermark

December 7th, 2021

Transcript:

Hey, Robert with Zenfolio here, and in this video I’m going to show you how to use a custom watermark in your Zenfolio account.

Now we’re going to start off in Photoshop. I find it easier to design a watermark if I have a reference image to look at. One of the things that you’ll want to do is go ahead and crop that reference image to be 600 pixels by 800 pixels. Then we’re going to design a watermark so that it looks the way we would want it to look on this image so I’m going to use the text tool to do this. I’m just going to use the text tool, go ahead and add some type really quick. Just a quick tip if you’ll notice I’m using black type and when I move it around on the image depending on the color of that photo some of the text gets lost. So a quick tip that you can use to avoid this is if you double click the layer to go to the styles menu you can actually turn on a stroke and so what I like using is a black-type with a white stroke around it so no matter where I take this text on the image you’re gonna be able to read what that watermark says.

Okay so now that I’m happy with my watermark I’m gonna right-click on my text layer and I’m gonna rasterize the type and I’m also going to rasterize the layer style. The reason that I’m doing this is that before I export my watermark I’m going to hold Command on my keyboard click on the watermark layer that’s going to just select my text then I can click the crop tool and crop in really nice and tight to my watermark including that stroke that I’ve added and the final step to this is just to turn off that background layer and then we’re going to export this as a transparent png file. Now depending on what version you have of photoshop the export options may be a little different I’m using Adobe CC so I just need to go to quick export as a png file if you’re using an older version of Photoshop you might have to look for save for web. Now if you’re using that save for web interface you want to make sure that you switch the default settings to be png 24 and then make sure that the transparency option is checked. Once you’ve got it set up click Save.

Back in Zenfolio, navigate to your account settings and then click on watermarks, then click add watermark. Click Browse Computer and select the watermark that we previously created in Photoshop. After your watermark is uploaded you can do things like add or remove a drop shadow, scale your watermark, change the opacity as well as set the position. Once you’re happy with the appearance of your watermark, click Save.

To apply your new watermark to a gallery, go to your library and then locate the gallery and click the more drop-down. Then select edit gallery info. Now scroll down and select your watermark – keep in mind you can also change the position of your watermark here as well. Once you’re happy with your selections simply click the x on the top right corner and your settings will be saved.

Click Preview to view your gallery with your watermark applied. Now something to keep in mind and some information that you may want to convey to your clients is that that watermark is only going to appear on the images when they’re being viewed online – any purchased prints or downloads will not have that watermark applied.

*Promotion valid until January 31, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Promotional discount off the subscription price of a new Portfolio, PortfolioPlus or ProSuite annual plan will be automatically applied at checkout with code 50JANUARY. Discount applies to the first year only. Cannot be combined with any other promotion.

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