How to create watermark effect

HOW TO CREATE WATERMARK

EFFECT

Created By

TheTypesofPhotography.comWriteaneBookAZ.com

We'll use this photo as our example:

Let's say this was a photo I took for a client and I want to show it to them as a proof. Before I go showing it to them or anyone else, I'm going to first take a couple of minutes and add my copyright information as a

watermark across the image. Let's get started!

Step 1:Open A New Blank Document With A Transparent Background

Go up to the File menu at the top of the screen and select New... to bring up the New Document dialog

box. I'm going to enter 6 inches for the width, 4 inches for the height, and300 pixels/inch for the

resolution. For Background Contents, make sure you set it to Transparent by clicking on the down-

pointing arrow and selecting it from the list:

Click OK, and the new blank document appears:

The new blank document with a transparent background.

Step 2: Type Your Copyright Information

Grab your Type tool from the Tools palette or by pressing T on your keyboard. Then press D on your keyboard to set

black as your foreground color if it isn't already, and enter your copyright information.

To access the copyright symbol "©", press Option-G on a Mac, or hold down the Alt key on Windows and enter 0169

on the numeric keypad. I'll enter "© 2007 Patterson Photography":

Typing my copyright information.

Step 3: Rotate The Text With Free Transform

The copyright watermark tends to look better with the text rotated a bit, so once you've entered your text, press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform handles around your text, then

place your mouse cursor just outside one of the corner handles and drag left or right with your mouse to

rotate the text. Hold down the Shift key as you drag to rotate in nice, even increments:

Rotate the text with Photoshop's Free Transform command.

Press Enter (Win) or Return (Mac) to apply the rotation when you're done.

Step 4: Trim The Document Around The Text

Go up to the Image menu next and select Trim. This brings up the Trim dialog box. We want to trim away all the extra space around the text, and since all the extra space is made up of transparent pixels, select the first option at the

top of the Trim dialog box, Transparent Pixels:

Photoshop's "Trim" dialog box.

Click OK, and Photoshop trims away all the extra space around the text:

The extra space around the text is now gone.

Step 5: Define The Text As A Pattern

Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and select Define Pattern. We're going to create a pattern out of our copyright

information. The Pattern Name dialog box appears

Photoshop's "Pattern Name" dialog box.Name your new pattern "copyright" and then click OK.

Step 6: Close The Copyright Document

We've done everything we need to do with our copyright document, so go ahead and close out of

it at this point, leaving just your original image open on the screen.

Step 7: Add A New Layer In The Original Image DocumentBack in our original image document, we currently

have one layer, the Background layer, which contains our image. We don't want to add our copyright

information directly to the Background layer, so either click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the

Layers palette or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N (Win)/ Shift+Command+

Option+N (Mac) to create a new layer above the Background layer, which Photoshop names "Layer 1":

Click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette or use the keyboard shortcut to add

a new layer above the Background layer.

Step 8: Fill The New Layer With The Copyright PatternWith our new layer selected in the Layers

palette, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and select Fill, which brings up the

Fill dialog box. For "Contents", click on the down-pointing arrow and select Pattern from

the list:

Choose "Pattern" as the Fill contents.

Then, with Pattern selected, click on the little thumbnail image beside the

words Custom Pattern and then choose your copyright pattern from the list that appears. It will be the last pattern at the

bottom:

Choose your copyright pattern from the list of custom patterns.

Click OK, and your new layer is filled with a repeating pattern of your copyright information:

Step 9: Change The Blend Mode To "Overlay" and Lower The Opacity

The only problem now is that the text is too prominent. It's blocking much of the image from view. To fix that, with the new layer

selected, go up to the layer blend mode options in the top left of the Layers

palette, click on the down-pointing arrow beside the word "Normal" and select Overlay from the

list. Then move over to the Opacity option beside it and reduce the opacity as needed. I'm

going to lower mine to 50%:

Change the blend mode to "Overlay" and lower the blend mode as needed.

And here's my final result:The final result with the copyright watermark.

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