Watermark/Captioning

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Up to two watermarks or captions can be added to images. This is useful for adding a caption to images for easy identification or for adding a watermarked copyright message to prevent unauthorized copying of images. The watermark can take the form of one or more lines of text or an image. The two watermark settings are completely independent and possible uses include using one to place the word "Proof" in the center of the image and using the other to caption the image for easy identification or to display the copyright information.

 

Select the "Watermark 1" or "Watermark 2" checkboxes and click on the "Settings" button to display the "Watermark Settings" dialog:

 

watermarksettings

 

First select the watermark type as text or an image.

 

The watermark/caption text can contain any of the HTML tokens (see HTML page generation) to include EXIF or IPTC data from the image e.g. use @year@ for the year in which the image was taken. The text can be broken down into separate lines by inserting \n for the line breaks. Use the "Alignment" drop down list to select the text alignment for multi-line watermarks.

Click on the "..." button to the right of the font display to select the font type, size and appearance. The watermark text will be anti-aliased (a technique to smooth jagged edges) if a TrueType font is used e.g. Arial. The size of the font in pixels is determined by the point size specified in the font settings dialog and output DPI of the proofed image. If the image is being resized using a DPI and size in inches or cm this will be the DPI that is used to calculate the font size otherwise the vertical DPI of the screen will be used (this is usually 96 DPI).

NOTE: To include the copyright symbol, ©, hold the ALT key down and enter 0169 on the numeric keypad.

 

The image can be a JPEG, GIF or PNG. GIF and 8-bit PNG images can contain single level transparency (i.e. pixels are either fully opaque or fully transparent). 24-bit PNG images support multi-level transparency making it possible to blend the edges of a logo with the underlying image and avoid the sharp edges you get with single level transparency.

For obvious reasons it isn't possible to use an animated GIF image.

 

Click on the "..." buttons after the foreground and background color displays to change the colors (this is disabled for image watermarks). The transparency dropdown lists define how the watermark is combined with the image. The transparency can be set from opaque through to 100% transparent in 25% steps.

 

Use the "Watermark placement" dropdown list to specify where the watermark should appear. The horizontal and vertical offsets can be used to adjust the position of the watermark. e.g. a vertical offset of 5 pixels with top, centered placement would position the top of the watermark 5 pixels from the top of the image. With bottom centered placement the bottom of the watermark would be 5 pixels from the bottom of the image.

 

Here are some examples to show some of the different settings:

 

 

watermark1

Black 75% transparent foreground White 75% transparent background Repeating strips at 1/5 & 4/5 height

 

watermark2

Green, opaque foreground 100% transparent background Bottom, center placement

 

 

 

 

 

watermark3 Black, opaque foreground White 50% transparent background Top, center placement

 

gifwatermark Transparent GIF image Bottom, center placement with 4 pixel vertical offset