Watermarking Photos (Batch)

Gene from Texas, using Photoshop CS with windows on a Dell M60 PC, writes in with:
[Quote:] How do I put a watermark on all photos in a folder? If I have several photos from a wedding, and I want to put a studio name watermark across all of the photos before I burn them to CD for the bride to look at.
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This is a very frequent question, and we're working on a pictorial tutorial of this but there are several others ahead of it. For now, there is the step-by-step...

The Watermark

Start with a pencil and a note pad. Make a note of any settings as you go along. This will be a big help once we generate the action and droplette.

Next, open a typical photo image you'll be watermarking.

If you haven't already set up a logo or symbol for watermarking that's okay, we'll simply use type. If you have a logo for watermarking, then use it instead of the type. For most photos you will want the watermark to work in both light and dark situations, yet still have an amount of transparency so it allows the photo to be viewed clearly. So, we'll have to introduce some white and some black. Additionally, we recommend a sans serif font to reduce the visual complexity of the mark.

Click new layer
Type in the watermark info as you wish it to appear.
Rasterize the type
Run the Emboss Filter, adjust settings to suite
Set the layer blending mode to "Hard Light" to let the image show through

This sets up the file and its attributes.

Choose: File > File Info

Key in the information you want attached to the file. Enter author's name, business name and insert your URL if you have one. For the sake of automation, don't insert any information that is pertinent to this specific file -- you want generic, company information only.

Be sure to enter the copyright notice (c) 2004 and your business name. Use the Copyright symbol key. Make sure you select the Copyright Status and set "Copyrighted Work"

Click Okay and the info is added to the file.

Flatten the file.

Recording the Action

Next we'll record the action. Of course you kept notes of all the settings for the file, right?

Move that file window to the side and open the next file.

Open the Actions Palette (Window > Actions)
Click the "New Action" button (next to the trash can.)
Name the action and select the Function key you want to activate the action.
(In lieu of this, you can simply run the action from the Actions Palette, but the F-key will be much more convenient.)

Now, are you ready? Click the "Record" button and it will glow red.
This means you are in record mode.

Now, walk through each step you took before. (Got notes?)
Be sure to select the font, size, leading, etc., exactly as before.

When done, click the STOP button. (Black Square)

Open a new photo and test the action by clicking on the "Run" button.
Did it work? What did you leave out?

Once it's perfect, it's ready to go.

From this point on, any time you want a watermarked photo, just run this action.

Batch Watermarking

If you have a whole folder you want Watermarked, proceed to the File Menu and
choose Automate > Batch.

In the resulting dialog is divided into four sections: Play, Source, Destination and Errors.

In the Play section pull down "Action" and select the Action you just created.

In the Source section, click the 'Choose' button and highlight the folder of files you want watermarked. (Hopefully you copied the folder, and will actually be watermarking copies of your files!)

In the Destination section choose "Save and Close"
If you wish to move the newly copied files to a new folder, click Choose... and find the folder.

Are you ready? Click "OK" and sit back. Have coffee. When you get back, your files
will be watermarked.

Questions?

If you'd like to know when the pictorial is launched, then subscribe to the DTG newsletter or leave a note at: Photoshop 911 contact.

Comments

[Andy]

Handy action. This maybe considered a new thread but what happens if you want to watermark each photo with a file name how does that work?

[aman]

thanks for the tutorial really worked for me.
thanx

[Shawn Walters]

Awesome tutorial, thanks so much. I'll be using it EVERY day :)

[Ryan]

btw in response to ...

This is a great batch system unless you're using a directory of jpgs. Then it prompts you everytime it tries to save because it's so darn considerate and wants to tell you that you aren't going to have layers anymore. No coffee break. You've got to sit right there and click 'No' over and over again. Any suggestions please tell me.

Posted by: steve | 2004.09.10 at 09:45

All you have to do is when you go to the automate program click the little Overide Save As option.... that wont allow the save as that you did in the actions (script) just wanted to help anyone out that is reading this nowadays lol

[Ted Rheingold]

Here's how to place a watermark relative to the edge of any sized image.

http://www.equilibrium.com/Internet/Equil/Support/DeBabelizer/FAQ/image+processing.htm
and go to
"How can I place a logo on a series of different-size images?"

Have fun

[veronica]

hi there thanks for this great tutorial!

ok i've figured out how to do it fully automated after several tries...

when recording your actions, don't just stop after you had done the watermark. remember to 'flatten image', 'save as' (better option than save, this saves you to click every now and then to set the quality of the jpg), then finally 'close'.

then u can really sit down and relax while PS does the job :)

cheers!

[Daniel]

I have found your tutorial incredibly useful and easy to understand and reproduce. I did have one questions/problem that I wanted to inquire about. This may be unique to my situation, but I would be surprised if others have not run into this before.

I have a large number of photos that I need to watermark and for about 50% of them, this tutorial works perfectly. One thing that I am having trouble with is, not all of the photos are of the same orientation. Meaning, some are landscape and some are portrait. Additionally, the size (dimensions) varies from folder to folder.

What ends up happening is, for those photos that are of a different size and orientation, the watermark gets placed in odd locations. Though it’s the exact location as the original action was recorded in, it doesn't work for all photos.

I guess what I am looking for is a way to have the text placed in a relative position to the bottom right corner of the photo. Say, 20px from the bottom and 20px from the right.

I believe this would resolve the problem, but I am unsure of how to achieve this relative placement.

If anyone has any ideas on how I could do this, I would appreciate it.

Again, outstanding tutorial!!!

[Stan Krute]

I was also having the problem with the JPG dialog coming up.

Nothing I googled on the web noted the gotcha.
Here it is: when you record the Save As... command, DO NOT use progressive JPGs, DO USE plain old simple baseline JPGs.

That fixed things. Now I can go take a walk while Photoshop churns through the piles.

-- stan

[Mike]

Do you have a answer to ErratiKs question ?
'cos im having the same problem.
Regards

[Luis]

Does this work with Photoshop Elements?

PS 911: No. You have to take a little different approach -- which unfortunately goes beyond the scope of comments to this post. Watch the front page for the posting of a full explanation of this.

... thanks

[Jennifer]

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this tutorial. After having pictures of my daughter taken by someone else who then passed them off as pictures of her supposed baby, I had scrambled to find a decent way to watermark everything. I wasn't sure how to go about doing so, so I googled and your tutorial was the first that came up.
Thanks again! :)

[TC]

Diana,
I'm having the same problem! Did you ever get it fixed? Thanks, TC

[Diana]

I'm having an odd problem. I create the text layer as described, proper settings, rasterize, yadda yadda. When running a batch of images, after about the 10th image, the Text starts piling up on top of each other, resulting in a very ineffective watermark.

Any ideas why this would be happening?

[Tom]

This doesn't work because it prompts you to save it each time it's done. As the above person stated, no coffee break...you have to sit there and hit "OK" to save it each time or "Cancel"

[PS 911] Actually it will work -- you just have to build the SAVE into the action sequence. Remember when building actions for batch processing you have to anticipate feedback states from Photoshop, and then set up those sequences to set it up so that it doesn't ask the question. In this case it would be the "Save As... " to a different directory.

[Ducati]

Turn "File Compatibility" off in your preferences. No more prompt when saving JPG's.

[eRRaTiK]

Hi Steve,

I don't have that problem when executing the batch command on a folder of jpg files.

Have you saved the action with the "flatten" command followed by a "save" instruction?

The issue I'm having with this is the placement of the watermark is fine if any image is the same dimensions as the original (640x480) used to record the action, but once I have an image of different orientation (480x640) the watermark doesn't appear correctly as it's placed based on the dimensions of the original.

Any way of getting around this? or will I need to set up a second watermark action for the different dimensions and separate all photos into the two different sizes? (that's a heck of a lot of work when dealing with hundreds of images)

[steve]

This is a great batch system unless you're using a directory of jpgs. Then it prompts you everytime it tries to save because it's so darn considerate and wants to tell you that you aren't going to have layers anymore. No coffee break. You've got to sit right there and click 'No' over and over again. Any suggestions please tell me.