ADDING A WATERMARK TO YOUR PICTURE

This is a lesson on how to add a custom watermark to your pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements. We'll be creating this as a new blank file so that you can drag and drop your watermark into any image. This lesson is from Scott Kelby's "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 for Digital Photographers" book. This is an excellent book for learning the different aspects of editing an image and using Elements. Photoshop Elements is now in version 6. A version 6 of the above book will probably be released, if it hasn't been already, but you can use exercises from the version 5 book. It just won't cover additions or changes in the newest version. Any of Scott Kelby's books on Photoshop and digital photography are excellent books, easy to read, and affordable if you purchase them at Amazon or Buy.com. Scott also publishes a newsletter for Adobe Photoshop Elements, at www.photoshopelementsuser.com. This is an excellent source for Elements users and addresses the scrapbooking aspects as well.

Step 1. To create a file, choose File>New>Blank File. Click on the Foreground color and choose a medium gray from the color picker and click OK. Then press Alt-Backspace to fill the background with grey. Then press the letter D to reset your foreground color to black.

Step 2. Press T to switch to the Horizontal Type tool. In the Options Bar, choose a font like Arial Bold from the font pop-up menus, and the click on the Center Text icon. Click the cursor on on the gray background, press-and-hold the Alt key, type "0169" using your numeric keypad (NOT the numbers at the top of your keyboard), and release the Alt key to create the Copyright symbol. (Note: On a laptop, press-and-hold the Function key to access your keypad, the numbers superimposed over the left-hand side of your keyboard). Then press Enter to move your cursor to the next line and type the name you want for they copyright photo. If needed, adjust the leading (space between lines) by selecting all your text (Control-A) and choosing a point size in the Set the Leading pop-up menu in the Options Bar (located above your document and below the menus). Creating text automatically creates a new layer in the Layers palette for the text. Now hide the Background layer by clicking on its Eye icon in the Layers palette.

Step 3. Highlight your name (but not the copyright symbol) with the Type tool and increase the size of your name by using the Set the Font Size pop-up menu in the Options Bar. When it's at the right size (your call), highlight just the copyright symbol, and resize it upward until it's quite a bit larger than your name. This is optional. Make this type whatever size suits your need.

Step 4. Go to the Artwork and Effects palette (if it's not visible, go under the Window menu and choose Artwork and Effects), and in the More fly-out menu choose Large Thumbnail View. At the top of the palette, click on the Special Effects button (the one right in the middle). In the pop-up menu in the palette's upper left-hand corner, choose Filters. In the second pop-up menu, choose Stylize. Now double-click on the Emboss effect. A warning dialog will appear letting you know that the Type layer must be simplified. Click OK.

Step 5. In the resulting Emboss dialog set the Angle to what appeals to you, I used 135 degrees, and change the height to 3 pixels and Amount to 100%. Click OK, and this will apply a beveled effect.

Step 6. Go back to the Layers palette and change the blend mode for this Type layer from Normal to Hard Light. This will make the watermark transparent. Now you can make the Background layer visible again by going to the Layers palette and clicking in the empty box where the Eye icon used to be. You can now see the Emboss effect clearly.

Step 7. Open the photo you want to contain this transparent watermark. Make sure this photo and the document with your embossed watermark are visible within Elements (if not, exit Maximize Mode by going under the Window menu, under Images, and choose Cascade).

Step 8. Press V to switch to the Move tool, then click-and-drag the watermark's Type layer from the Layers palette of the embossed watermark document (and ONLY the Type layer, not the Background layer) and drop it onto your photo (you're dragging a layer between documents). Once the watermark is in your new document, you can resize it as needed. Just press Control-T to bring up Free Transform and click-and-drag one of the corner handles. Add the Shift key to resize the type proportionally. Press Enter to complete your transformation.

Step 9. Now to to the Layers palette and lower the Opacity of your Type layer so it's clearly visible, but doesn't dominate the photo. You now have a new Layer with your watermark. Save this document in the Photoshop format (psd) so that you can edit the watermark layer later, if needed. Then Save As for a new document and save a JPEG document to use for the web or another document.

Be sure to save your Watermark document as a PSD file too, so that you can use it on other images or edit the information if needed. If you need additional help, email me at vickiconquest@fixthatpicture.com.