How I Created a Custom Watermark Using PicMonkey

Today's post is another for those beginning bloggers out there.  I want to share the easy steps I took to create my custom watermark for all my photos and how I add it to every one of my blog photos.  You may be wondering why you'd want to create a watermark when you can just type it in during the editing process.  I'm here to tell you that creating one, saving it to your computer and just simply adding it to the image is WAY easier and looks so much better!

When I first started blogging, I never put our blog name on our photos.  At the time, I was just trying to get the hang of even editing photos that adding a watermark was not on the top of my to do list.  In case you don't know, a watermark is the faded name of the photographer or company/brand on a photograph...in my case it says "ABC's of Life".  Watermarks can be big or small, semi faded or almost white, in the middle or on the top of the photo.  It really just depends on your personal preference.

For me, I want to make sure I'm getting our brand out there so a watermark is not just about protecting the copyrights of my picture but also a way for people to see our blog name.  So I created one that's semi-dark and usually put it somewhere in a lighter spot of the picture.

Here are the steps of how I created my custom watermark using PicMonkey.

1. Open up PicMonkey and click on "Design"

2. When the empty image opens it will be a white square and should automatically open to the "Canvas Color" selection.  Click the box for "Transparent canvas" (which will make you white square image look like a grey checked image).  Click "Apply".

3. Click the "Resize" selection and resize the image.  Ours is set to 400x200 (this will look like a horizontal rectangle) because our watermark is one line of words.  If you are creating your watermark to have multiple lines or possibly an image you can play around with that number to get the right shape and size.  The main thing to note here is that it doesn't need to be the automatic 2000x2000 which is way too large for a watermark AND that you want to resize the image BEFORE you add text because it will change the shape of your text. PS Uncheck "Keep Proportions" if you don't want a perfect square.  Click "Apply".

4. Click the "Tt" to add text.  Get creative here and find the right text that matches your brand or look.  You can also upload your own font if you have one saved that you love.  Once you've found your font, click "Add text".

5. Drag out the text box to cover the entire checked/transparent image and type you blog's name or brand into the text box.

6. Change the font position (left, center, right), color (remember it will be faded) and fade amount.  Our fade is set to about 32%.  You can also add an image (from PicMonkey or upload your own) by clicking the butterfly icon if you'd like.

7. Click "Save".

8. Change the title of your image to something you'll remember like "watermark" and set the image type to png.  Click "Save" to save to your computer or external hard drive.

Now you have created your watermark!  When you are ready to add your watermark to your photo, here's how in PicMonkey.

1. Open PicMonkey and click "Edit".

2. Open the image you want to add your watermark too.

3. Once the image is opened in PicMonkey (and edited if you need to edit it), click the butterfly icon on the left.

4. Click "Your Own" at the top of the icon list.  This will open up a box for your computer.  Open your watermark that you previously saved by double clicking it (or click once and click open).  TIP!!  I save a original watermark image in my template folder and the copy the image to the folder that holds the images I'm editing so I don't have to go back and forth between folders to find it.  This saves time when editing multiple pictures at once.

5. Once your watermark has been added to your picture, position and resize it so it fits with the picture.  Here you can also fade the watermark even more if it's too dark for that particular image.  (This is why I only fade my original watermark to 32% so it's not too light on certain pictures.)

Now you have added your custom watermark to your images!

I hope you enjoyed this beginning blogging adventure, and as always, thanks for stopping by!