How to Add Watermarks to Images
A watermark is a simple, direct way to mark ownership of a photo or design before sharing it somewhere it might get copied or reused without permission — a portfolio preview, a proof sent to a client before final payment, or stock images shared for review. Done well, it protects the image without making it unpleasant to look at.
Text watermarks vs. logo watermarks
A text watermark (your name, a copyright notice, or a website URL) is quick to set up and works for almost any use case. A logo or image watermark reinforces brand identity more strongly and looks more intentional in a professional context, at the cost of needing to prepare that logo file (ideally as a transparent PNG) beforehand. Photographers and designers sharing portfolio work often prefer a logo mark; anyone protecting casual or one-off images usually just needs text.
Placement affects how easy it is to remove
A watermark placed in an empty corner is the least intrusive to look at, but it's also the easiest to crop out entirely, since removing a small area from one edge doesn't damage the rest of the image. A watermark placed across the center of the image (often at a diagonal, and repeated as a subtle pattern) is much harder to crop away without destroying the image itself — which is why "proof" or preview images that specifically shouldn't be usable until purchased often use this more aggressive placement.
Getting the opacity right
A watermark that's too subtle can be edited out or simply ignored; one that's too strong makes the image unpleasant to actually view, which defeats the purpose if you're using it on something meant to be shown to a client or the public. A moderate opacity — visible enough to clearly mark the image, but not so heavy it obscures the actual content — is usually the right balance for anything meant to still be presentable while unprotected fully.
Batch watermarking
If you're protecting a whole set of images at once — an event photography gallery, a full product catalog — applying the same watermark consistently across every image (same position, opacity, and size) looks far more professional than watermarks that shift around from one photo to the next.
Watermark Image lets you add text or logo watermarks directly in your browser, with control over placement, size, and opacity. Once watermarked, Compress Image can bring the file size down if you're sharing a large batch of proof images.