how to watermark photos

by Miriam Schulman

Ever wonder how to transparent watermark to your photos? by Miriam Schulman, @schulmanArt


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I was asked on my facebook page how I prevent folks from stealing my images from the internet, and although there is no foolproof method, these steps really deter people from just printing out your art and enjoying it for free or even worse, stealing it to use on other products. This tutorial is presented using Adobe Photoshop Elements (which came with my Epson printer for free, thanks Epson!). Here are some steps you follow.

Decrease the resolution


First, you should only upload low resolution files to your computer. These files will still look good on the computer when displayed only a few inches wide but will look lousy if they try to print it out at 8x10". I usually decrease the resolution to 200dpi ( full resolution is 300dpi) and make the pixel sizes no larger than 1000 on the largest side. This makes it hard for people to print out the art. 


Add a transparent watermark


Next I add a transparent watermark with a copyright symbol ( to get © you hold down the alt key and type 0-1-6-9 ) or the word write out the word "copyright." This sends a very strong message and also makes the art much harder to enjoy in this form. I like to make the watermark just barely visible so as not to interfere with enjoyment of the art but not too easy to remove either.

Want to watch the video on youtube?

Do you like sharing your art on the internet? Do you manipulate the images to prevent image theft?

other posts you might like are:
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