Beginner Beans: How to Make a Watermark in PicMonkey

How to Make a Watermark with a Transparent Background in PicMonkey

I recently decided I wanted to start watermarking (subtly adding my Web site to) some of the photos I post on the blog. I googled ways I could do that with PicMonkey, and found two popular solutions:

Option 1: Open your photo in PicMonkey, choose the font you want and type in your Web site, change it to white and fade it to about 65% (or your desired subtly). This is a very basic solution and a process that is repeated on each and every photo you wish to watermark. I wanted to add arrows which can also be done here, but is even more work to do to every photo and can get sloppy trying to make it look the same every time.

Option 2: Open your photo in PicMonkey, and under "Overlays" click on "Your Own" option at the top. This is the easiest solution, however, you have to have a watermark image to begin with--and that's exactly what I was looking to make. Sure, you could use a basic logo, but basic logos have a white (or other color) background which will also show up on your photo. The good news...

You can make your own watermark in PicMonkey!

Use PicMonkey's collage option to make a transparent background for your watermark.

Go to PicMonkey.com and select "Create a Collage" from the main screen.

Change PicMonkey's collage background to transparent and save for your watermark.

Go to the paint tray image to change the background.

Check the "transparent background" option. Click "save" and save the transparent image in an easy to find location.

Upload transparent background to PicMonkey and add your watermark text.

Go back to PicMonkey's main screen and upload the transparent image you just created.

It may look like a black image in your computer files, but will be transparent in PicMonkey. Go to text and add your desired font and text. Change the color to white and fade it to about 65%. It's helpful to make the text the size you want now so the watermark doesn't need to be adjusted when added to photos. This will keep it looking uniform (read: professional) on all your images.

Use PicMonkey overlays and text to personalize your watermark image.

Add desired shapes.

Change their color to white and fade to 65% (or whatever color/percentage you chose for the text).

Crop PicMonkey image to size you need for your saved watermark.

Crop image close to actual watermark content.

Save PicMonkey watermark with transparent background for future use.

Save watermark.

Upload photo, add watermark with transparent background as your own overlay.

Use watermark in your photos!

Upload any photo to PicMonkey. Edit as desired. Go to "Overlays" and select "Your Own" at the top of the screen. Find your saved watermark image, move it wherever desired and save image. The watermark will show up best when the background is dark, but can still be seen on light backgrounds. That's the beauty of watermarking--giving you credit without distracting from the purpose of the photo.

Of course not everything needs to (or should) be watermarked. I'll share more about that when I learn more about it. Until then...