Watermark Opacity for Photographers

As most photographers know, watermarking is a process that helps protect the copyright of your work and ensures that it cannot be reused or altered without your permission. This means that people can still preview your work before purchasing it, without the risk of them stealing it. Luckily for photographers, watermarking is as simple as superimposing a logo or text on top of a document or image file.

Additionally, watermarking can be used as a branding tactic. Much like a painter will mark their work with a signature, digital watermarking is a way to get your name out and heighten brand awareness. That way you know that any time your work is shared, say on Instagram for example, your name or brand is always attached to it. This also applies to non-photographical pieces of media, as some people may want to watermark text or video in order to get their name out there.

“Watermark opacity should be visible enough to provide adequate protection against image theft”

What is Needed in a Watermark?

Design, Color, Size and Font

While watermarks are simple, to be effective you should consider the design, color, size, font, location, and opacity. Although it might be the easiest option to whip up a watermark in Microsoft Paint, you may not have as many options as you’d like.

To be effective, generally, a watermark should follow three guidelines:

• Be small and monochromatic – or have very little color
• Be placed in a discreet area of the image that does not interfere with the view of the image but will make it more difficult to remove or clone out
• Have limited text

This, of course, leads to underlying question of this article – should watermarks be visible? The answer is that watermarks should be visible enough to provide adequate protection against image theft. However, if they’re too prominent, they’ll obscure too much of the image for it to be appreciated at all.

Ideally, the watermark should be visible without detracting attention away from the contents of the image itself. For that reason, it’s better to use a watermark that’s free of any color or anything else that’s too eye-catching.

Opaque Watermark vs Translucent Watermark

Opacity

Now while color and design are simple – don’t choose anything too distracting – watermark opacity is a bit more difficult to determine a clear answer on.

The general consensus, from the photography community, is that your watermark should be opaque enough to make it visible, because the entire justification for having a visible watermark, after all, is that it’s seen. If no one sees your watermark, then what’s the point of it all?

However, your watermark shouldn’t be so opaque that it detracts the focus from your photograph. Even if you want your logo, or name and contact details to be seen, you still want the beauty of your photos to be seen too. If people can’t see your photographic work because the watermark is too opaque, they probably won’t care who has taken it.

If you’re not sure if your watermark detracts too much from a photo, check if you see your watermark or the image’s subject when looking at the shot. Make it slightly more transparent if the watermark is still too prominent.

On that note, make sure people notice your watermark, especially if you use it to display copyright information. It’s important to note here that some platforms delete this copyright information from the image metadata. Without your metadata details, a clear watermark is the only way to hold copyright information for an image.

Opacity Level on a Custom Watermark

Opacity Percentage

To summarise above, your watermark should be eye-catching and tasteful, not too visible, but still unmistakeably there. Many photographers find that a 20 to 30 percent watermark opacity makes their watermark visible but not too intrusive. However, that range is not the only option.

Some photographers use higher watermark opacity but place their watermarks away from the subject of the photograph. Some even make their watermark 100% opaque, placing it in negative space and matching the shade to a photograph color.

If you choose to go down this route, then your watermark opacity will depend on the size and location of your watermark. To find out what works best for your photographs and watermarking purpose, you will need to experiment a bit.

Does Watermark Opacity Change Effectiveness of a Watermark?

Visible Watermarks

No matter what you choose, the experience of countless artists shows that people who steal someone else’s images from the web don’t edit visible watermarks most of the time. Furthermore, only a few who try to remove watermarks can do so without making the image itself significantly degraded to the point of making it unusable.

Adding watermarks to an image will undeniably ensure that your work is protected from potential theft and misuse. Even if your watermark opacity distracts from your image, an obscured image will undoubtedly be more effective than a stolen one. Choosing a good watermark is a perfectly understandable and smart choice if you want to protect your digital property.

Start unlimited watermarking today!