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How to Protect Your Own Pics with Watermarks!
Watermarking your private photos is helpful against people on the internet reposting and maybe even claiming ownership of your hard work. It's not a guarantee, but a Watermark means that
a) If someone does upload your picture elsewhere and you (or FF staff) spots it, both you and FF are in a better position to ask for its removal.
b) It may keep people from reposting them in the first place (or at least from claiming they are you).
NOTE: The image I'm using is not of an FF member. It is an amateur photo that is fairly popular but unattributed (as far as I know) to any specific username or website (in other words, the originator should have Watermarked it ;)). The Watermark is being placed for purposes of this tutorial only. If this is your image, contact myself or any Moderator (preferably valenuk1 or Eafie if you are the girl) about providing proof of ownership via a verified photo. Verification info can be found here: http://www.facialforum.net/showthread.php?p=335151
Each step below corresponds to the same numbered picture attached to this post.
In order to do this you will need Adobe Photoshop. I am using version CS3 on a Mac, but the process should be pretty much the same in other versions or on PC. If you have another program that does the same thing you can apply the same principles.
Step 1. Unwatermarked Photo. This photo was never watermarked, or if it was, the words were placed too far away from the main action (the cummy face :D) so it could be easily cropped off and re-watermarked or left blank. I'm going to try to show you a watermark that's effective without being too distracting.
Step 2. Choosing Type. Click on the type tool (the large "T"). If you're not sure of what you're going to click on, leave your cursor over a tool. It should show you a small yellow box with the tool name after a few seconds. That goes for all the steps below.
Step 3. Choosing Color. Click on the Foreground Color box (Two small colored squares arranged diagonally near the bottom of the Tools palette; the Foreground is the top left).
Step 4. Changing Color. After you click the Foreground Color box, the Color Picker opens up. The best colors are either White (if you have a somewhat dark background) or Black (if you have a very light background). In this case the girl's skin tone, clothes, hair, and shadows are dark enough that White makes the most sense. If the settings in your window don't match those in the example, you only need to make the numbers next to R:, G:, and B: all 255 (OR C:, M:, Y:, K: all 0). If you wanted Black, just type "100" next to the K: box. Click the highlighted "OK" button once you're done.
Step 5. Choosing Font. Because you were on the Type tool before you went to the Color Picker, whatever you type will be in that color now. Once you exit the Color Picker the Type tool should be highlighted again automatically. If you don't have the Type palette showing on top like I do in my version, you can go up to the Window menu on the top right and click on Character. This opens the Character Palette where you can choose the Font and size. A basic font like Arial or Helvetica works best. You can choose something else if you think it makes your watermark more distinctive, but remember it must still eventually be readable. The font size depends on how big your picture is. You can always highlight what you've typed and go back to change the size afterwards. In this case I used 12pt type.
Step 6. Type your Watermark. The actual words are up to you. The most common is your FF username. Some people add "for facial forum only" (or some variation) as a nice gesture to fans here and also as further backup that the pics were originally posted on this site. You could also add your email address, which might make things easier if you ever have to email someone about the ownership of your picture.
I placed the words right under the chin so they'd be difficult to crop out without making the image obviously cropped, but still away from the facial itself. You might choose to put them on the face or at least partially intruding onto the face to make cropping even more difficult; however that really starts to intrude on the pic. Do whatever you feel comfortable with.
Step 7. Adjust Opacity (Optional). If you find the watermark too distracting in White but of course still want to see it clearly, you might want to open up the Layers palette also under Window) and make your type a little bit transparent. It should automatically be 100%, but I pulled it down to 50%. You can go even lower to make it less obvious, which will make you and your "fans" happy while still making sure the credit is there.
Step 8. Save As. With Type you suddenly have more than one of what Photoshop calls Layers. In order to save the image with the type as part of the image instead of on a layer, you go to the File menu at the top left and click on Save As.... When the next window comes up, you can choose what folder to save the image in, rename it, and importantly change the image type to JPEG. That will "flatten" the copy you're saving into something you can upload. After you save your "layered" file will still be open. You can just close without saving, or if you save it will become a .PSD file which you can open later to use your same type layer for other pics if you want.
Step 9. Done! Remember this is just an example. Another great Watermark example can be seen on the most recent pics by Alison88. Different choices, same principles: To show off hot pics while making sure everyone knows whose they are and try to cut down on the chance of reposting.
This tutorial is a work in progress. If anything in it is unclear, please contact jzzr and I will fix it.
