Watermarking Tutorial
for Paint Shop Pro 6

Watermarking your images is one of the simplest and quickest ways to stamp your ownership on your art. All you need is Paint Shop Pro 6.01, an image, and a few minutes of time. For an even simpler method of watermarking, there's a mini-tutorial (one paragraph, two sentences) at the end of this tutorial which you may prefer to use. Click HERE to go there now.

If you don't already have an image to use, you may use the large angel fish GIF image on the left

It's easier to start with a large image and a white background. Later, when you know what you're doing, it's a breeze to watermark any image on any background color. Right-click on the image, then "Save Picture As" or however your browser indicates the method of saving. Use the default name, or type in your own name. Save it to a folder where you can find it. I also made a tube of this fish which you may download by clicking on the sample image below:

Now let's get started - open a new image in PSP with these settings:

Using the Shapes Tool, let's draw an ellipse. You can, of course, use any shape you wish, but for this tutorial, use an ellipse. It doesn't matter where you draw it, just make sure the edges do not touch the sides of your background.

Use these settings:

Draw an ellipse similar to this:

Click on the text tool, then click inside the white area of your ellipse. Select the font of your choice, but a large thick one works best. Use these settings:

Your image should look similar to this:

From the top menu bar, click on Layers/Merge/Merge Visible. Then from the top menu bar, click on Selections/Select None. This will remove the "marching ants" from your text. Your image should now appear like this:

Click on the Magic Wand tool, set its control panel settings like this:

Click on your image background to select it. Then from the top menu bar, click on Selections/Invert. This will isolate your ellipse with the text in it.

Now from the top menu bar, click on Edit/Copy. Then click on Edit again and then Paste/As New Image. You should now have a transparent image of your ellipse with your name in it - like mine:

This step is very important! You want to be able to use this over and over again. You could make a tube at this point, or save it in your pspfiles folder under PSP. This is what I did. Then it's easier to resize and make any changes from a copy. Save it as a PSP file. If you don't have a pspfiles folder, create one.

Your watermark is much too big, so let's reduce it. Click on Image/Resize. Be sure the defaults are like mine, but the percentage I used was only an estimate. Try it. If it's not the right size, you can reduce it again, or undo and use a higher number.

   

If your fish isn't open, open it. Set it aside. Click on the title bar of your reduced watermark to make it active. Then from the top menu, click on Edit/Copy. Click on the title bar of the fish to make it active, then from the top menu, click on Edit/Paste/As New Layer. Pasting it as a new layer allows you move the watermark around your image until you have it where you think it will look best.

Once you have your watermark placed on the fish, go to the top menu and click on Image/Other/Emboss. Your watermark is now like this:

Click on the layers palette to open it and then on the layer showing your embossed watermark, cursor down and right click on it.

When it opens, click on the down arrow in the Blend Mode until you see Soft Light. Highlight it, make sure the rest of the settings are like mine, then click the OK tab.

If you don't like the placement of your watermark, move it around. When you're satisfied, go to the top menu and click Layers/Merge Visible.

Save to whatever format you wish. You may want it left on a white background for framing like the one at the beginning of this tutorial. If you want it transparent, go to the top menu bar, select File/Export/Transparent GIF. Accept the defaults and save it.

Here's my final watermarked fish reduced 50% and saved as a transparent GIF and another image I watermarked:

   

This pansy is also a tube I made. Click here to download it.

From now on whenever you want to watermark your art, open your watermark.psp file, reduce it, copy and paste it as a new layer to the image, emboss it, open the properties option in the new layer and set it to Soft Light. You may also want to play around with the other settings. Fill your shape with text if you wish; make the border thinner. You're limited only by your imagination.

A simple, yet effective way to add a watermark is to add a new layer to your image, type your text on it, right-click on the layer that says "floating" and cursor down to and select Defloat. Now in the layer where you typed your text, move the slider bar until you have the desired image effect. When finished, don't forget to choose Layers/Merge/Merge All before saving.