Katie and Calli's Big Damn Blog Tutorial: Creating a Watermark (and Brush)
Creating your own watermark is a really simple process. We'll be discussing doing so in Photoshop (PS) or Fireworks (FW), but you can probably do it just as easily in GiMP or any other image editing program with any sort of real toolset.
There are two ways to lay a watermark over an image. The first, and pretty much easiest, method is to lay a text layer directly over the image. To do that in either Photoshop or Fireworks, you select the text tool, select a nice, easy-to-read font, set the size and color of font, and just type what you want it to say. Then you adjust the opacity of the layer - usually between 10 and 15%, move it to wherever you want it to be on the image, and you're done. The only "problem" with this method is that you have to type out your watermark every time. I'm too lazy to do that, so this tutorial will address the slightly more complicated (at first) method of making a brush to use as your watermark.
So, first thing you have to do is decide how large you want your mark to be. I make mine 2500 pixels wide, so that it can be stamped across large images with no problem. You can make things smaller easily, but larger...eh, not so much.
Next, decide what you want the watermark to say. Mine is the copyright symbol and my name. That pretty much works, but you can also add "all rights reserved," or whatever else you like. I've seen them with business phone numbers in addition to business names. Try not to go too crazy, though, since the watermark detracts from your image, no matter how light you make it.
So now that we've decided how big we want the watermark to be and what it's going to say, open your photo editing program, and let's go.
1. Open a new file. From the top menu bar, select File > New. In the resulting dialogue box, set the new file for 2500 pixels wide x 1000 high. Set the background contents (PS) or canvas color (FW) to white.
2. Choose the text tool. Choose your font, and then set the color to black and the size to the largest available. In PS, that's 72. In FW, it's 96. Type what you want your watermark to say. In PS, you will have to go up to the top of your window and click the checkmark icon to accept your input.
3. Neither of those will be large enough, so we have to adjust them.
In PS: with the Text tool still selected, go to the top of your PS window, and in the little dialogue box next to the large and small T's, set the font size to 300. To do this, highlight 72 with your mouse and type 300 over it. Hit enter.
In FW: select the pointer tool from your tool set. If your text is surrounded by a red box, click to select it so that it's surrounded by a blue box. In the Properties tab at the bottom of your window, there's a dropdown menu with the name of your font, and to the immediate right of that, another box/menu with your font size in it. That should read 96 right now. Use your mouse to highlight the entire number and type 200 or 250 over it. Hit enter.
Your font should now fit across most of your canvas, depending on the font you chose. Since all fonts are not created equal when it comes to the space they occupy, you may have to adjust your font sizes up (doubtful) or down. Just repeat the steps you took above until you get a font size that fits comfortably inside your image, with a little room to spare on either side.
4. Center your text.
5. Flatten your image.
PS: From top menu: Layer > Flatten Image
FW: From top menu: Modify > Flatten Selection
6. Sharpen your image. Filter(s) > Sharpen > Sharpen
7. Save the image
PS: Save as jpg.
FW: Save as png
If you use Fireworks or another program that does not use brushes, you've finished. When you want to watermark something, just open the png you just created and drag the text on top of the image you want to watermark.
A. At the very top of your layers box, change the mode from Normal to Multiply.
B. Adjust the opacity (the little number box between the mode and the little checkerboard icon) to around 20 or any level that you're comfortable with.
C. If you need to resize the watermark layer, choose the Scale tool from your tool set (immediately below the Pointer tool, it looks like a box with another tiny box inside the lower left corner and an arrow pointing to the upper right corner) and then just click and drag one corner of the black box around your watermark until it's the size you want.
D. If you want the mark to be white instead of black, go to the top menu and choose Filters > Adjust Color > Invert. Fireworks only adjusts what's there (the text) and ignores everything else (the background).
You're done.
For Photoshop, we now convert the watermark image we just made into a brush. With the watermark image you just made still open:
8. Go to the top menu and choose Edit > Define Brush Preset
9. In the dialogue box that pops up, you'll see a thumbnail of your watermark image, all squished up, and to the right, a box to name it. I'd suggest "watermark," but that's the way I roll. Type in whatever you want to name it and click Okay.
10. Open an image you want to watermark.
11. Open a new layer by choosing Layer > New > Layer from the top menu, or clicking the Create a New Layer icon in your Layers palette. It's probably the 5th from the left at the bottom and looks like a tiny piece of paper with one corner turned up.
12. Select the Brush tool from the tool set.
13. In the brush menu at the top of the window (just under the main program menu), just to the right of the word Brush, you'll see an image of whatever brush is currently selected, a number representing the size of the brush selected, and a tiny little triangle pointing down. Click the triangle.
14. In the dialogue box that pops up, you have 3 main choices: Master Diameter, Hardness, and a menu of brush selections, probably the default presets that come with Photoshop. Drag the slider all the way down to the bottom, and you should see your watermark brush there. Select it and then adjust the Diameter (width) to whatever size you like by dragging that slider left. Click the tiny little triangle again to close the box.
15. Go to the background and foreground color selector in your toolset and choose either black or white for the color in the top square. (you can choose a color if you like, but white or black are most common)
16. Reselect the brush tool, mouse over your image on the new layer, and left click. Your watermark will stamp across your image.
17. Go to the layers palette and move the slider for that layer to adjust the opacity until you're happy with it.
18. If you want to move the watermark to a different part of your image, all you have to do is select the Move tool and drag it to wherever you want it to be.
19. You may want to sharpen your watermark again. At this point, if I decide to do that, I prefer to use Unsharp Mask. I will assume you are able to figure this part out on your own.
20. Voila. You have watermarked your image. And scene. :)
Sometimes when I close Photoshop, it resets all my tools, for some reason. If that happens to you, just open your watermark image and repeat steps 8 and 9 again. I have not yet figured out how to save it as an abr file. Sorry!
Just FYI, you can follow the above directions to create any brush you want. All you need to know is that whatever is black will show up in the brush, and anything white will not. Shades of grey will be much lighter, but they will show up, as long as they're not too light a shade.
Now go make some brushes and stamp stuff. :)
There are two ways to lay a watermark over an image. The first, and pretty much easiest, method is to lay a text layer directly over the image. To do that in either Photoshop or Fireworks, you select the text tool, select a nice, easy-to-read font, set the size and color of font, and just type what you want it to say. Then you adjust the opacity of the layer - usually between 10 and 15%, move it to wherever you want it to be on the image, and you're done. The only "problem" with this method is that you have to type out your watermark every time. I'm too lazy to do that, so this tutorial will address the slightly more complicated (at first) method of making a brush to use as your watermark.
So, first thing you have to do is decide how large you want your mark to be. I make mine 2500 pixels wide, so that it can be stamped across large images with no problem. You can make things smaller easily, but larger...eh, not so much.
Next, decide what you want the watermark to say. Mine is the copyright symbol and my name. That pretty much works, but you can also add "all rights reserved," or whatever else you like. I've seen them with business phone numbers in addition to business names. Try not to go too crazy, though, since the watermark detracts from your image, no matter how light you make it.
So now that we've decided how big we want the watermark to be and what it's going to say, open your photo editing program, and let's go.
1. Open a new file. From the top menu bar, select File > New. In the resulting dialogue box, set the new file for 2500 pixels wide x 1000 high. Set the background contents (PS) or canvas color (FW) to white.
2. Choose the text tool. Choose your font, and then set the color to black and the size to the largest available. In PS, that's 72. In FW, it's 96. Type what you want your watermark to say. In PS, you will have to go up to the top of your window and click the checkmark icon to accept your input.
3. Neither of those will be large enough, so we have to adjust them.
In PS: with the Text tool still selected, go to the top of your PS window, and in the little dialogue box next to the large and small T's, set the font size to 300. To do this, highlight 72 with your mouse and type 300 over it. Hit enter.
In FW: select the pointer tool from your tool set. If your text is surrounded by a red box, click to select it so that it's surrounded by a blue box. In the Properties tab at the bottom of your window, there's a dropdown menu with the name of your font, and to the immediate right of that, another box/menu with your font size in it. That should read 96 right now. Use your mouse to highlight the entire number and type 200 or 250 over it. Hit enter.
Your font should now fit across most of your canvas, depending on the font you chose. Since all fonts are not created equal when it comes to the space they occupy, you may have to adjust your font sizes up (doubtful) or down. Just repeat the steps you took above until you get a font size that fits comfortably inside your image, with a little room to spare on either side.
4. Center your text.
5. Flatten your image.
PS: From top menu: Layer > Flatten Image
FW: From top menu: Modify > Flatten Selection
6. Sharpen your image. Filter(s) > Sharpen > Sharpen
7. Save the image
PS: Save as jpg.
FW: Save as png
If you use Fireworks or another program that does not use brushes, you've finished. When you want to watermark something, just open the png you just created and drag the text on top of the image you want to watermark.
A. At the very top of your layers box, change the mode from Normal to Multiply.
B. Adjust the opacity (the little number box between the mode and the little checkerboard icon) to around 20 or any level that you're comfortable with.
C. If you need to resize the watermark layer, choose the Scale tool from your tool set (immediately below the Pointer tool, it looks like a box with another tiny box inside the lower left corner and an arrow pointing to the upper right corner) and then just click and drag one corner of the black box around your watermark until it's the size you want.
D. If you want the mark to be white instead of black, go to the top menu and choose Filters > Adjust Color > Invert. Fireworks only adjusts what's there (the text) and ignores everything else (the background).
You're done.
For Photoshop, we now convert the watermark image we just made into a brush. With the watermark image you just made still open:
8. Go to the top menu and choose Edit > Define Brush Preset
9. In the dialogue box that pops up, you'll see a thumbnail of your watermark image, all squished up, and to the right, a box to name it. I'd suggest "watermark," but that's the way I roll. Type in whatever you want to name it and click Okay.
10. Open an image you want to watermark.
11. Open a new layer by choosing Layer > New > Layer from the top menu, or clicking the Create a New Layer icon in your Layers palette. It's probably the 5th from the left at the bottom and looks like a tiny piece of paper with one corner turned up.
12. Select the Brush tool from the tool set.
13. In the brush menu at the top of the window (just under the main program menu), just to the right of the word Brush, you'll see an image of whatever brush is currently selected, a number representing the size of the brush selected, and a tiny little triangle pointing down. Click the triangle.
14. In the dialogue box that pops up, you have 3 main choices: Master Diameter, Hardness, and a menu of brush selections, probably the default presets that come with Photoshop. Drag the slider all the way down to the bottom, and you should see your watermark brush there. Select it and then adjust the Diameter (width) to whatever size you like by dragging that slider left. Click the tiny little triangle again to close the box.
15. Go to the background and foreground color selector in your toolset and choose either black or white for the color in the top square. (you can choose a color if you like, but white or black are most common)
16. Reselect the brush tool, mouse over your image on the new layer, and left click. Your watermark will stamp across your image.
17. Go to the layers palette and move the slider for that layer to adjust the opacity until you're happy with it.
18. If you want to move the watermark to a different part of your image, all you have to do is select the Move tool and drag it to wherever you want it to be.
19. You may want to sharpen your watermark again. At this point, if I decide to do that, I prefer to use Unsharp Mask. I will assume you are able to figure this part out on your own.
20. Voila. You have watermarked your image. And scene. :)
Sometimes when I close Photoshop, it resets all my tools, for some reason. If that happens to you, just open your watermark image and repeat steps 8 and 9 again. I have not yet figured out how to save it as an abr file. Sorry!
Just FYI, you can follow the above directions to create any brush you want. All you need to know is that whatever is black will show up in the brush, and anything white will not. Shades of grey will be much lighter, but they will show up, as long as they're not too light a shade.
Now go make some brushes and stamp stuff. :)
posted by Katie at
9:25 PM
0 Comments
Links to this post
