| Many
times, sellers wonder how to keep other sellers from stealing
their own images! Truth of the matter is, any picture shown
on the Internet can be copied and saved with little work required.
Several scripts and methods have been used in the past to
help prevent stealing of copyrighted photos. My own
'Dominant Ad Creator' has a built-in effect that will prevent
the user from right-clicking on a picture and saving it to
the desktop. These steps will indeed turn many would-be photo
robbers away from your image(s), but if the thief is really
after the image there are means of getting by even the toughest
script!
Therefore,
a more secure way to keep your images to yourself is by watermarking
them. This basically means that you will be putting your name,
e-mail address, or any other unique text you wish, right into
the pictures you plan on using. By having your personal information
right over the picture(s), no one else will be able to copy
the picture without blatantly advertising and pointing to
the original creator. With that in mind, I now present you
with step-by-step watermarking tutorials for three of the
most popular illustration programs in use! Click on any one
below to be taken to that particular section of this page.
Watermarking An Image With MS Paint
1.)
After
launching Microsoft Paint (usually under the Accessories
menu), select FILE > OPEN or
press CTRL+O for a shortcut.
2.)
Once the open window appears, navigate to the picture
you wish to watermark and either double-click
on the image, or select it once and then click on
the Open button.
3.)
After opening the image, it will appear in the paint
application. Now it is time to add the text you
wish to display on your image, in this example I
will use the text, 'Photo By Auction_Orbit'
where Auction_Orbit is my user ID. The
picture and details below illustrate the procedure
to take for this step.
- Click on the TEXT
button (#1 in Picture)
- Drag a box over your
image that is large enough to fit the
text you wish to enter
- Ensure that the Transparency
option is enabled (#2
in Picture)
- If you do not see your
text toolbar, ensure it is checked under
VIEW > Text Toolbar
(#3 in Picture)
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4.)
Once the settings are correct, enter the text
you wish to display. You can also change the text
size, font, and style from the text toolbar! If
you wish to reposition the text box or resize it,
left-click on the dotted line around
your text and/or the blue points at each corner
and midpoint of the box.
5.)
Once you have the text as you like it, you can click
on another button to exit Text Creation mode. Now
to re-save the image either press CTRL + S
or go to FILE > SAVE.
You
can get more fancy by repeating the previous steps
for creating text, and set the first one you place
to a dark-grey or black, and the second one to a light
gray. This will add a shadow effect to the text.
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Watermarking An Image With Jasc
Paint Shop Pro
1.)
After launching Jasc Paint Shop Pro, select
FILE > OPEN or press CTRL+O
for a shortcut.
2.)
Once the open window appears, navigate to the picture
you wish to watermark and either double-click
on the image, or select it once and then click on
the Open button.
3.)
Now after the image has loaded, we will create a new
layer to store the text. From the file menu, select
LAYERS > New Raster Layer. After
the new layer dialog appears, click OK to accept the
default values.
4.)
This step varies significantly between PSP 7 and PSP
8. Please follow the appropriate instructions below
for the version of Paint Shop Pro you currently use.
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PSP
7 Users
Click on
the TEXT button found on the
Tool Palette. Its symbol is
a capital A. The Text Entry
window will appear. In this window, enter the
text you wish to appear, the colors you wish
to use, and the font size / style. Ensure that
under the Create As frame, you have the circle
next to Floating filled in,
and also that Antialiased is
checked. This will make for a much crisper display.
When you have done all of this, click OK. |
|
PSP
8 Users
To
select the color for the text, simply specify
a foreground (stroke) and background (fill)
color using the standard color palette. After
the colors have been set, click on the TEXT
button in the Tool Palette
(Capital 'A'). The Tool Options window will
change and you will now see all of the text
formatting options in it. At this point, you
may set whatever settings for the text that
you wish, such as the font, size, and stroke.
NOTE: If
you do not see the text tool options (they are
docked to the top of the screen by default in
PSP 8), select VIEW > TOOLBARS >
TOOLS from the menu bar.
Now,
Left-click within the picture to insert text
at your cursor position. The Text Entry window
appears, and you can then enter the text you
want displayed.
NOTE:
When the text entry window is still active,
you are able to change the text settings and
they will be updated in the text you just inserted.
See the picture below for reference of what
settings I used. Make sure to set the style
as 'Floating' so that the text will remain on
the current layer and be moveable after it is
created. |
5.) After you have the text you want to use
typed up, click the Apply button.
The text will then be selected and you can re-position
it by clicking anywhere within the selection and dragging
the text to a new location.
6.)
After clicking OK, your
text will appear at a default location and orientation.
To reposition, scale, or rotate the text, click on
the Deformation button that the arrow
points to above. You can then grab the various handles
that appear around the text to resize and position
it as you wish.
One benefit of
using a professional-grade image editing tool rather
than the default Windows application, is that you
can add transparency to the text so it does not fully
obscure the image in focus. To do so, press CTRL+D
to deselect the text, then drag the transparency bar
of the current layer to the left slightly. In this
case I turned the opacity of the text down to 25%.
If you are using PSP 8, you will need to double-click
the text layer to change the opacity, then click OK.
NOTE:
If you do not see the layer palette toolbar,
right-click on any open toolbar (such as
the tools or color) and select it from the list that
appears.
Since
the text is on its own layer, you can also apply a
variety of styles to it such as drop-shadows, artistic
effects, warp effects, etc... For more information
on effects, please refer to the Paint Shop Pro manual.
6.)
After you have the image as you like it,
press CTRL+S or go toFILE
> SAVE to save the image
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Watermarking An Image With Adobe
Photoshop
1.)
After
launching Adobe Photoshop, select FILE >
OPEN or press CTRL+O for
a shortcut.
2.)
Once the open window appears, navigate to
the picture you wish to watermark and either double-click
on the image, or select it once and then click on
the Open button.
3.)
Now, after your picture is displayed, click on the
TEXT tool as pointed to in the picture
above. The symbol for the text tool is a capital T.
Once selected, click and drag to specify a text box.
If you are using a MAC, you will
not be able to specify a text box size, instead you
just click to insert text. Now type in the text you
wish to be displayed in your image. Near the top of
the screen (or in the tool option dialog) you will
be able to specify the font, size, style, and color
of the text! Mess with the settings until you get
a good result.
4.)
Just for fun, we will use a unique feature
of Photoshop to warp our text. Highlight
all of the text you have just entered, and then right-click
on it. Now select Warp Text from
the menu that appears.
5.)
From the new window, you will be able to
select from a variety of styles, and then further
distort the text by using the slider bars. A live
preview of the text will appear. When you have your
desired result, click OK.
6.)
Finally, as with the Paint Shop Pro tutorial, we will
make the text semitransparent so it does not interfere
with the actual picture. To do so, slide the opacity
bar to the left until you get the desired effect.
In this example, I used 40%. If the layer controls
are not on the screen, go toWINDOW > LAYERS
to show them.
7.)
Finally, press CTRL+S or FILE
> SAVE to save the modified image!
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Watermarking An Image With Irfanview
Although
Irfanview is an EXCELLENT and fast image editor
(for free), and can nicely adjust many aspects of
an image (brightness, contrast, etc.), there is
not much offered when it comes to adding text. However,
I will provide the best instructions below, without
the use of any additional plugins or software.
1.)
After launching Irfanview, select FILE >
OPEN or press O for a
shortcut.
2.)
Once the open window appears, navigate to the picture
you wish to watermark and either double-click
on the image, or select it once and then click on
the Open button.
3.)
Now, after your picture appears, left-click and drag
a box-selection around the area you wish to insert
text.
4.)
Now that we have defined a region, we can insert text
by selecting EDIT > Insert Text Into Selection
(or CTRL + T)
5.)
A text window will appear, and you may now enter the
text you wish to appear above your image. Make sure
that the 'Text is Transparent' option
is checked, and you can customize the font appearance
by clicking on the 'Choose Font' button. When done,
click OK.
6.)
Finally, press CTRL + S to save the
file (same file-name), or press S
to save the file as a different name (recommended).
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