How to Make a Watermark And Add it to a Photo in Adobe Fireworks

This tutorial was set up using Adobe Fireworks but may work on other graphics programs, however, they may use different terminology for the tools being used.

photo of a yellow rose with finished watermark

Finished photo of a yellow rose with a Watermark

How to Design the Watermark

Step 1. Open a blank new document (File/New). Set the width and height for your watermark image. This example was about 250 x 30 however, you may want a smaller size and smaller font if you are adding the watermark to smaller images. Choose transparent canvas color

Settings for a new document

Step 2. Type in the copyright name: Use the text tool to mark the spot on the image where you want the text to appear and indicate the font name, size and color in properties panel (I used Palatino, 16px and med gray). Choose a color similar to a part of the image, either slightly lighter or darker, depending on the background). Type in the text (usually the business name or domain) with the copyright symbol which can be found under Window/Others/Special Characters). See example below. Crop the image so it's slightly bigger than the text.

transparent watermark
Step 3. Save the image using "Save As" (not export) so it will be saved as an editable png file. Name the file with watermark-NameGoesHere.png. If you put "watermark" in front of the file name they will all be in one place after you save the files. Save the watermark image in: Applications/Adobe Fireworks/Configuration/Patterns. Also save a copy in your documents folder in case you ever have to reinstall Fireworks.

Applications/Adobe Fireworks/Configuration/Patterns/watermark1.png

Step 5. You have to restart Fireworks before the watermark will be available to apply to an image.

How to Add the Watermark to an Image or Photo

Step 6. Open the photo that needs a watermark. Make a rectangle about the size of the watermark with the rounded rectangle tool. It will pick up the last background color you used but ignore this as it will disappear later. Place the rectangle where the text will be mostly the same color as the image or some of the letters will be darker than others.

background color for text
Step 7. With the rounded rectangle box still highlighted, go to the properties panel and under "choose fill" click on the drop down box and scroll down and choose "pattern". It will bring up the pattern you save earlier. Click on it and it will apply the watermark to your image. Notice it looks distorted (repeating copyright text and off center), however, we'll fix that in the next steps.

apply and adjust watermark
Step 8. You can adjust where the text is placed with the pointer tool. Click on the black circle and move it to the lower left of the rectangle so the copyright symbol appears first. If there are letters above click on the blue highlight button on upper right and move that to the left and down until the upper letters disappear. Now click on the watermark again and move it where you think it will look best. It will show up better if you have a very similar color underneath the watermark. Place it in the main part of the image or someone may be able to crop it out (see image below).

move watermark
Step 9. Now lighten the color of the text so it's barely noticeable. Go to the properties panel under Opacity and using the scroll bar keep scrolling down until the text is barely noticeable (you want it noticeable enough so you will be able to spot it yourself incase you're searching for your images that have been copied). I chose an opacity of 25% on the following photo so you can barely see it. It appears as a light smudge near the center of the rose. The only way to make sure this image has a watermark is to click on filters and darken the image with the "adjust color" feature until it shows up.

finished photo with a watermark.
Step 10. Save the finished image as a png file so you can edit it later, if needed.

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Other Graphics Tutorials:
How to Make a Watermark on Photos | Straighten Distorted Photos | Emboss Images | Feathered Edges How to Design a Gradient Background | How to Design a Textured Background
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