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14 HOW TO: Add a text watermark to photos in Picnik

May 29, 2011



I came across a post from Running with Scissors on Thursday, where her whole post was plagerized.  How terrible is that?  The offending site posted it as if it was their own - word for word, image for image.
 
I think it is super important that you watermark your images - that way you will at least have a bit of assurance that someone is less likely to steal your post if you have your name on everything.
 
The easiest way to watermark a photo without using any special software is via Picnik.com.
 
Go to Picnik.com
 
Upload your photo
Click the Create tab
Click text
Choose a font and type your blog name in the box on the top left and click Add
In the text properties box on the left choose Overlay under the Advanced Blend Modes (this will make the image blend in and be less intrusive)
Move/resize
Click Save & Share
Click Save Photo and save it to your desktop where you can then upload to your blog
 
Of course this isn't a sure-fire way to protect yourself from plagirism, but it is definitely a step closer.
 
Happy Blogging!
Creatively Posted by Kim Conner at 7:33 AM Filed under:

14 comments:

  2. Have been doing this for as long as I have been blogging but I put it in the corner, Since a friend of my whose son also has cancer had their WHOLE story plagurized I am moving the watermark to over my childs face. Can NEVER be to careful!

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  3. Thanks for the tutorial, Kim! I have just watermarked my first photos!

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  4. I see no sense in placing a watermark on a photo! If you don't want to share it then don't post it! It is very annoying to try to look at a photo and have writing all over it! The photos that I have seen with watermarks have been nothing special. I'm sure I'll catch a lot of flack with my opinion, but sorry, that's how I feel.

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  5. Thanks for sharing. I've added a link to your tutorial and started watermarking my pictures. I kinda agree with Charlotte about it clogging up a picture--so I've tried to make the watermark blend in with the "art" and just just RIGHT ON TOP. Not to mention it adds just another annoying step. =) But I hate stealing about all that, and would rather keep my pictures credited to myself. Again, thanks!!

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  6. Charlotte - It is one thing to share your photo, it is another for someone to STEAL it from you and try to pass it off on your own. It is not the photo stealing that is the issue - it is the taking credit for something you worked hard on. It is called PLAGIARISM and is illegal! To prevent that from happening I add a transparent watermark and put it in the corner to be unobtrusive as possible. You are entitled to your opinion, as am I. But this is why I add watermarks to my images.

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  7. thanks, as naive as i am, i thought that this couldn't happen. so far, when i see traffic from somewhere unknown, i go and check it out and it's being always credited and linked back to me. indeed, it does add another step, and since i'm not the faster blogger out, is rather a pain. but because it takes me long time to put together a post, and take decent pictures, it makes all the sense.
    i was watermarking only the collages, but now i am doing also the regular pictures! thanks for letting us know :)

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  8. Kim - so sweet to give us this tutorial. I use Picassa3 to add my watermark and it is very easy to follow. Please do visit my blog when you have time. I would feel happy if you become my friend/follower.

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  9. Charlotte, you are a bit naive, which I'd say is lucky of you. You would be shocked at the things some people will do... on message boards I've seen somebody steal an entire lifetime of photos, ultrasounds, etc and make up this whole story about how her soldier husband had gotten her pregnant and then left and died, and she was having twins. Somebody got suspicious and did a little looking around and found a person on facebook with all the same photos, except the twins were in reality three years old and their dad was alive and well. The couple was horrified to find out about the whole thing. It goes beyond just people stealing your tutorials, and watermarking doesn't necessarily prevent that kind of creepy behaviour but it's a whole lot easier to do that to somebody who doesn't have watermarks than somebody who does. :)

    Another - and easier - way to add watermarks, is if you write with Windows Live Writer, after you upload a picture you click the Format tab on top and add a watermark, and then click Set As Default and all your images will have watermarks as you set them automatically. I like that I don't have to think about it and its just done. I don't think my watermarks are the least but obtrusive, and if anyone does, they don't have to read my blog. :)

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  10. Kim- people with crap mind will do all sorts of things and any watermarking will not be of any use.People cannot appreciate the hard work done by us. There is no strict laws for copyright in net. Hence one cannot fight but can feel sad only.Please do check your mail-have sent a one.

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  11. Thanks for this tutorial. I have been using Picnik for photo editing, and getting to know how to use it better. I might start doing watermarks on mine. I do want to make a small one though. thanks for sharing.

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  12. As an artist who has had his work knocked off, and then seen those knockoffs entered in knockoff contests and shared in link parties to generate traffic for the websites which hosted the tutorials on how to knockoff my work, I can understand the desire to not have your work copied and those copies distributed.

    I can understand the feeling that someone is taking advantage of your hard work. I can even understand the feeling that someone is stealing from you. Perhaps with the the examples in this post, you can understand how many artists feel when they find their rights to their work being co-opted as knockoffs.

    None of the knockoffs of my work have been properly credited to me, only to the catalog that carries them. There are people behind some of the items you find in catalogs, and those people have the right to attribution, as you do in your blog posts. But even if they were properly attributed to me, the fact they they encourage people to copy my work worries me.

    What I cannot understand is an expectation for people to respect your hard work when knockoffs are generally copies of other people's hard work. The arguments made here against copying your work are the same ones that many artists and designers make against people knocking off their work.

    I do, however, believe that you folks should get credit for what you do, and it is wrong for people to copy your work, credited or not.

    I appreciate you allowing me to voice this here and hope that you will take my input in the spirit that I am attempting to give it. I want people to be creative, and I want us all to retain the rights we have as the authors/creators of our work.

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  13. Yup! My niece had her entired blog stolen by someone, who set up another blog and claimed all her photos, posts, even her personal details as themself. They made minor changes (age, name), but nothing big.
    My niece was immensely upset by this. Blogger took the site down when we all complained, but it didn't remove the distress and upset that person had caused.
    Watermarking doesn't stop people taking your pictures, but it would discourage them, especially if it made it very clear where the pictures came from.
    Thank you for this post - I will give this a try.

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  14. Great post, thanks for sharing. I'm new to blogging and never entertained the idea of watermarking my images because I don't think anyone would want to steal them (and I don't have much traffic, too) but after reading some of these comments, I guess one cannot be too careful.

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