I went back through the requests and saw someone wanted to learn how to make a custom watermark to stamp on images they post on their blogs. I think the word mentioned was when someone “steals” an image from your blog. Really, I know when I put something online that there is a high likelihood that it will be lifted. I’m ok with that. I make the images pretty small that would never look good printed and I put an unobtrustive stamp on each image.
I figure if it’s used, it will most likely still show my logo (think about placement when stamping) and then my name will just be shared with more people. Now wasn’t that nice free advertising? Generally, I like to know if my stuff is featured on another blog, but if you have good google analytics, you can figure it out from the referrer eventually. I do understand why some bloggers want to be asked ahead of time though.
SO…..the way to make your own stamp in photoshop is creating a custom brush.
1. Open an image in photoshop that you want to make a brush. I open my logo design.
2. Select the entire image by using the shortcut: ctrl+a and you will get the dancing dash marks all the way around the image.
3. In the top menu of photoshop, go to EDIT and scroll down to DEFINE BRUSH PRESET
4. A pop up will then show with your brush on the left and you will need to name (Blog watermark) it and hit ok.
5. To use your brush, have an image up that you want to “stamp”
6. Make sure you are on the brush tool in your toolbox—looks like a paint brush. You might have to right click on the pencil or another box because some tools share a square.
7. Below I have arrows showing you how to change the size and where to select your logo. You can see right under the bar on the top of Photoshop next to Brush: is my logo really small and an arrow down box (by the orange line). That is where you select your logo and below that is the size. You can also do ctrl and the “+” key together to make it bigger and the “-“ to make it smaller for a shortcut. 8. Click you left mouse button to STAMP your logo and there you have it! I sometimes click 3 times in a row to make it dark, sometimes I want it softer. Sometimes in white, black, or maybe a color to match the image.
(below, it is an outline hovering on top, then the orange is the stamp)
If you don’t have a logo, you can simply type out something like your website and make that a watermark. Just open up a new photoshop document (file–new). I sized mine to 10 wide x 2 height for long and skinny. Type out the website in any color. Make sure you flatten the layers (white background is one layer, green type is another layer) into one by selecting on the top bar Layer–flatten image. Then repeat the steps above for a logo file. Watermark until your heart is content! Have a great day! ~Kristen Duke
P.S. I am starting something fun each week called Friday Facebook Freebie. By being a fan on my facebook page, I will upload a full size landscape image that my fans can download and print as they’d like. Check it out!
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Christine says
love it thanks!
Sharon at Momof6 says
This is actually something on today’s “to do” list for me…. I am finally starting to use more of my own images for my blog, and I wanted to stamp them as mine. Thank you so much for the tutorial!
Kendra aka "Domestic Princess in Training" says
Sweet! I was just wondering how to do this! I’m revamping my photo blog and wanted to create new watermark…..yay!!!!!
Jaime says
THANK YOU! I just got my new logo and this is the perfect way to put it on my photos!!! Thank you!!!
shantel says
do you have any tips or ideas on how to make your own logo? thanks!!
Sarah says
I have photo shop elements and I tried following the tutorial and I was not able to get it to work. The first problem I encountered was there was not a “define brush preset” option under my edit bar. Do you have any tips for me? Thanks.
Kristen Duke Photography says
Sarah, I don’t have elements, but I will try to google and find out and you do the same…see who gets the info first!
alyssa says
Try without selecting all [step 2] – I did select all first and it would only allow me to greate a stamp. I deselected and then tried Edit again and it let me create the watermark. HTH
You’re awesome! Thanks!
Super helpful and just what I was looking for. I saw someone “steal” one of my pictures and decided I needed to get this done. Thanks!!
Thanks for this great tutorial! I have been fiddling with this for a while and never figured it out.
Thanks. I truly want to turn my photography experience into a business. One of the things I have not understood before was how and where to get/make a water mark. Thanks so much. I am going to try making my own now.
Thank you for sharing this! It works great! Just one question though… Do you need to do this every time, or is there a way to save it so it appears under brushes all the time. I can’t seem to figure that part out… Thanks! :)