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Talking from past experience, there is nothing that can infuriate a seller more then to have them find one of their own images being used by another seller who is in direct competition with the same item you are selling.
So to help others protect their images I have decided to write this guide on How To create a watermark on your images using Adobe Photoshop Image Editing Software that is avaible here on ebay. This guide was written for Windows users.
What is a Watermark?
Watermark: to embed a pattern of bits in a data file for identification and detection of unauthorized copies.
We have all seen a watermark at sometime in our lives. They are used on the money that we spend, just hold a new $1; $5; $10; $20; $50; ect. ···· up to the light and you will see a faint watermark which is there to help prevent the counterfeiting of our money. Most checks that you pay your bills with will have watermarks on them, they are an image that is almost invisible but none the less there to show that the maker has left a distinguishing mark to verify that the image or item was produced by them.
How to create a Watermark using Adobe Photoshop.
I wrote this guide to help people who want to protect their images from being used by others. Unfortunately someone who is well versed in the use of image editing software could, if they wanted to, remove a watermark from your image but this is extremely time consuming at the very least if you have placed your watermark in the correct place.
You should place your watermark across your image where there are a lot of contrast and visual changes happening, such as in the example from the image below.
One thing to avoid is placing your watermark/copyright on a solid color such as an all white background because it's not that hard to cover your watermark with the surrounding solid color as shown in the image below.
Let's Fire up Photoshop and learn the steps.
OK, Once you have Photoshop fired up (for this tutorial I am using Photoshop ver. 7.0.1) open up the image that you want to place a watermark on.
Usually you will want to place the watermark on your image after you have resized your image to the final size you will be using, at least I do, this helps let you see what it will look like in the final image you use.
Once your image is opened, choose the text tool from the tool bar.
At the top of the window the text toolbar will appear, here you have the opportunity to choose which font you want to use along with the size, alignment, and color…which should be white for our example. You can experiment by choosing a different color if you want but right now we will stick with white.
Click inside of the image where you want the text to appear and type in the text that you want displayed as your watermark.
TIP. If you want to display the copyright symbol hold down the ALT key on your keyboard while typing from the numeric pad located on the right side of your keyboard the numbers 0,1,6, and 9 in that order and the copyright symbol will display when you release the ALT key.
Once you have finished typing the text hit the enter key to commit it to a layer.
Now double click on this new text layer located in your layer pallet.
Make sure that you click in an empty space on the text layer, if you are too close to the name of the layer it will offer you the opportunity to change the layers name. Click to the right of the text in an empty space instead.
This will bring up the Layer Styles pallet.
Click on the box next to the words DROP SHADOW.
Make sure that the words Drop Shadow are highlighted, by clicking on the words Drop Shadow themselves.
For now the default setting will work but please feel free to experiment with different settings to achieve various results.
You will also want to click on the box next to BEVEL and EMBOSS you can leave these at there default setting also.
Click OK to commit these changes to the effects layer.
Now go to your layers pallet and drop the fill opacity down to 0%.
And there you have it! You have created a watermark using Photoshop
Final Words.
I encourage you to experiment with the fill opacity to allow more color to come through if you want. The same thing is true with adjusting the over all opacity of the text layer. It's up to you on what the desired results will be.
Also if you want to adjust the positioning of your new watermark hold the control (Ctrl) key down while clicking on the T key on your keyboard, this will bring up the Free Transform tool and you can rotate and adjust its size accordingly to your liken.
One thing to remember is to not place your watermark across any part of the image that is a key visual interest to your viewers. If the Viewer wants to see an image without the watermark have them e-mail you letting you know that they do and send them a copy or send them to a web address where you have a copy of one that is minus the watermark.
This way you will have more control over your images and there use.
Please, If you liked this guide or you found it helpful to you, Please click on the YES button below. Help make it #1 on the useful list. I appreciate your help.
Sincerely,
Sorscoder
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