04 Watermark Effects
This panel controls the appearance and positioning of your watermark:
1) Opacity: If you want your watermark text to be a solid colour, set this to 100%. I prefer a semi-transparent watermark that’s just barely visible, so that it doesn’t detract too much from the image but it’s still legible. A setting of 20% is very subtle but if you find it too hard to see against detailed backgrounds, try 30%.
2) Inset: This adjusts the distance between the edge of the picture and the watermark. You could leave the values set to zero, but I put frames around some of my pictures (like this one) so a small inset will move the watermark away from the edges and inside the frame. Remember – you’re aiming for settings which will suit all your images, not just the one you’re currently looking at.
3) Anchor: Use this to set the position of the watermark. I like mine to be in the bottom right corner of the picture.
4) Preview: This window shows your watermark as it will appear with the current settings. Mine’s a little too faint to make out at this magnification, but it is there!
05 Save a preset
When you’re happy with your watermark, click the Save button in the bottom right corner of the Watermark Editor dialog. You’ll be prompted to choose a name for your new watermark preset, and from now on it’ll be visible on the pop-up menu in the top left corner of the dialog.
06 Save a new export preset
You should now be back in the Export dialog, with your new preset selected in the Watermarking panel. If you want to use this watermark export preset again in the future, you should save it now… so click the Add button in the bottom left corner of the dialog, underneath the presets panel, and choose a new name.
07 My watermarked picture
This is my exported picture, and you can see the watermark that’s been added in the bottom right corner. It’s subtle enough not to spoil the image, but visible enough to be (just) legible. Don’t forget, if you want your watermark to be more visible than this, all you have to do is set a higher opacity in the Watermark Editor.
See also
More Lightroom tutorials