Where to place a watermark, how transparent to make it, which text to use and what a watermark can and cannot protect, for photos, product pictures and PDF documents.
A watermark is a short piece of text or a logo placed on a photo or document. It can credit the author, discourage casual copying, or label a file as a draft. A good one does its job without ruining the picture; a bad one either gets ignored or spoils the work. This guide explains how to choose the text, placement, size and transparency, and how to be realistic about what watermarks can protect.
The purpose decides everything else. A credit mark can be small and polite. A deterrent should be harder to remove. A status label should be obvious.
Keep it short. A name or a page name, such as the handle people can search for, is better than a long sentence. For documents use plain capital words or a short line. If you add a date or a purpose line to a document copy, make it specific so it cannot be read as general permission.
Start with an opacity of 20 to 40 percent so the page stays readable while the mark is still clear. Pick a colour that contrasts with the picture: white on dark photos, black or dark grey on light ones. A mid-tone mark, in grey or a muted colour, stays visible on both light and dark areas. Choose a font that is clean and readable, and make it big enough that it can be read at the size the picture will be shared, which is often a small phone screen.
Always look at the preview at a small size. A watermark that looks elegant on a large monitor can disappear on a phone.
Text Watermark lets you apply the mark to all pages, only the page you are viewing, or a page range you choose. For a draft report, mark every page. For a document where only some pages are sensitive, such as the page with an ID copy, mark just those pages. Scroll through the preview pages before you download.
The mark is added in your browser. Your file is not uploaded, which is useful for private documents.
Always save the unmarked original separately, because a watermark is permanent in the downloaded file. Name your files clearly, for example wedding-shoot-original and wedding-shoot-web, and share only the marked copies publicly.
A sensible approach is to share lower-resolution, lightly watermarked versions publicly and provide the full-size clean version after an agreement or a purchase.
Watermarks exist for a reason, and removing one from somebody else’s work can break copyright or licensing terms. The Watermark Remover is meant for your own images, for example when you have lost the original of a picture that you marked yourself, or for a faint stamp on a picture that you have permission to edit. Read how to remove a watermark from an image for the limits of what it can do.
Choose a short, clear text, place it where it is useful, keep the opacity moderate, check it at phone size and save the original. A well-judged watermark protects your work and your reputation without getting in the way of the picture.
A determined person can crop it out, paint over it or retouch it, especially if it sits in a corner or is very faint. A watermark deters casual reuse and shows who made the work, but it is not a lock.
Between 20 and 40 percent is a good starting point. The watermark should be visible but should not hide the content. Adjust it by looking at the preview.
A corner mark is easy to crop away. A mark across the main area, or a repeating pattern over the whole page, is much harder to remove but also more intrusive. Choose by how much protection you need.
Removing a watermark from work you do not own can break copyright or licensing rules. Only edit images you own or have permission to change.