Visual Watermark allows you to rename files once they’re watermarked. Here is how:

1. Add your images for watermarking.
2. Select your watermark template and edit it if necessary.
3. Open the Output Setting screen.
4. Select the Rename and Number Photos item from the Rename Photos list.
   
5. Visual Watermark will take Filename field value, add a photo number to it and rename watermarked images. For example, if you enter “My Trip” to the Filename field, you will get files named “My Trip1.jpg”, “My Trip2.jpg”.
   If you want a space between filename and image number, enter “My Trip ” instead of “My Trip” into the Filename field.
6. Click the Watermark button to start watermarking your files.

It’s a good idea to sequentially number images before sending them to your customers. It’s so much easier for them to say they want images 4, 8, 15 and 27 than look into filenames and say they want files DSC02154.jpg, DSC03153.jpg and DSC15345.jpg.

You can rename your files, watermark a number on your images or do both. A number watermark makes it easier for customers to order since they don’t need to figure out filename of the photo they’re looking at.

Here is how to watermark images with sequential numbers:

1. Add images you want to number into Visual Watermark.
2. Select a text watermark template on the next step.
   
3. Click the watermark on the 3rd step to select it.
4. Click the + Symbols button on the right and select Image Number menu item.
   
5. The program will add <number:1> string into the Text field. I’ll remove “Mark Jacobs” part of the string since I don’t need it. You may remove it as well or change it to something meaningful.
6. Visual Watermark will replace <number> tag with a sequential photo number when watermarking your images. Currently it shows a preview of all numbers you will get:
   
   I added six images into the program, so they will be numbered from 1 to 6.
7. You may start numbering from a different digit than 1. Simply change the number on the right of the colon mark. I want it to start from 2, so I need to change it to <number:2>. This will produce numbers from 2 to 7 instead of 1-to-6.
   
8. Click the Output Settings > button on top of Visual Watermark screen to proceed to the next step.
9. Provide an output folder and click the Watermark button.
10. Visual Watermark will then watermark your photos with sequential numbers.
    

With this version we’ve added a huge amount of features that were highly requested by you, our customers. And even more features are coming very soon!

Let’s see what we have in Visual Watermark v3 right now.

10 New Watermark Templates

Now you can create watermarks containing your name, logo, website, phone number, or various combinations of this information. And, of course, all these new templates support the auto-scale feature, which automatically adjusts watermark size and position on every photo.

Here is what you’ll be able to do with Visual Watermark v3:

Hundreds of New Built-in Fonts 

Visual Watermark v3 ships with 256 new fonts ready-to-use in your watermarks. Forget about boring fonts – now you can choose from tons of font styles to better express your individuality!

Curly, hand-written, foreign-looking, techno, gothic, basic and much more.

Refined User Interface

We simplified our application to make it even more intuitive, and here is how:

• Straightforward navigation. In this new UI you always know where to go next and how to return back if you need to adjust something. Visual Watermark v3 consists of 4 screens, each having its own purpose.
• Better watermark editor. It becomes much easier to move and resize a watermark or its parts. The Configuration screen never overlaps a watermark – we placed it on the right side of the screen, so both a watermark and its configuration screen are always visible.
• Watermark previews. Choosing a watermark has never been so easy. All watermark types are listed as thumbnails, and also we load your recently used template, so you don’t have to create it from scratch.
• Saving history. The new version remembers your output folder, format preferences and resizing settings when you quit the application. You won’t need to re-configure them next time you run it.

Watermark Rotation and More…

We always love to hear feedback from you. You asked – and we did it!

Now, you can rotate your watermarks using a slider on the configuration screen. If a watermark consists of several parts, all of them can be rotated simultaneously.

A glass-like and “drop shadow” watermark effects are coming soon in a free v3.5 update.

Prepare Photos for Online Publishing

Publishing low-resolution images online is a good idea to protect your originals. That is why we added the capability to downsize and upscale your photos when watermarking.

Now, you can watermark and reduce image resolution at the same time – so that you’ll need only to upload the resulting photos to your web site.

Blazing-Fast Image Loading

In Visual Watermark v3 we introduced new algorithms of loading photos into the application. With this improvement, now it takes only a couple of seconds where it took a couple of minutes in Visual Watermark v2.

Import from iPhoto

You no longer need to export your images from iPhoto before using them in Visual Watermark.

Visual Watermark v3 correctly supports all iPhoto libraries.

Missing Features

We worked hard for this release and did our best to implement as much features as possible. However, even more features are coming soon.

One of them is integration with Facebook and Google Plus (probably, the most anticipated one) – will be released this summer in v3.5. Also, we are planning to release a glass-like appearance and a drop shadow filter for Mac. These features are already available to our Windows customers, and I feel we need them urgently for the Mac version too.

All these things will be rolled out as soon as they are ready. So, expect a minor update with Facebook, then another for G+ and so on every couple of weeks. All of them will be free to all v3 customers.

New Visual Watermark won’t work on OS X 10.6. I regret about this loss because it is still a very good OS and it works faster than modern versions in many situations. Unfortunately, many system libraries we rely on doesn’t support 10.6 anymore. We could rewrite them from scratch, but this will delay this release for a year at least. We couldn’t afford that delay. I’m sorry for this.

Pricing

Visual Watermark v3 is a major update, which includes new big features and thus isn’t free. If you bought in Feb 2013 or before, check your email for your special discount. If you purchased Visual Watermark in Mar-May 2013, check your email for new activation details. This update is free for you.

Please let us know what you think!

• Keep the watermark simple and clean;
• Position and size accurately;
• Blend the watermark with the photo;
• Add you copyright and contact info to the meta of your photos.

Read the full article here.

It’s obvious however, that visual watermarks (like logos, large stamps or texts) carelessly placed, distract from the overall look and feel of a photo. When you see such a watermarked photo, all you think about is the watermark.

If you want images you share online to be attractive and cohesive, you should tastefully and unobtrusive integrate watermarks. Your watermark shouldn’t impact the overall look and feel of a photo. Instead, the watermark should be a part of a photo. Carefully integrated watermarks are hardly noticeable. Their removal is a labor intensive process.

This is the subject of this tutorial. I’ll demonstrate you how to blend a watermark into a photo using Visual Watermark. Note this is a time-confusing process and cannot be suited to all types of photography.

Image copyright Bogdan Khartchenko

1. Import your images into the program. Mac: Drag them into the program screen, or click the Select Pictures button. Windows: Drag photos into the left side of the program, or click the Add Images button.
   
2. Fit your watermark into the right place within a photo.
   1. Open watermark editor. Mac: Click any of the photos you’ve just imported. Windows: Click the Create New Watermark button.
   2. Add and design your watermark. I’ll use a text watermark for this tutorial with a name in it. Mac: Click the Add Watermark – Text menu item. Windows: Click the Add Text button. Enter watermark text, select color and size on the screen appeared.
3. Finally, blend your watermark with the rest of the photo so that it looks like a part of the photo. I’ll make the watermark partly transparent by setting its opacity to 60% and change its color to be slightly yellowish.
   
4. Windows: Click the Apply button to return to the main screen and then – Watermark button in the bottom-left corner. Mac: Click the Go button to start watermarking.

And I’m done. I’ve successfully integrated a watermark so that it doesn’t distract from the original photo. Before you integrate a watermark into your next photo, carefully position and transform it. Stay tuned for more tutorials.

Get Started Batch Watermarking

Run Picasa 3.9.0. Select the photos you would like to watermark and click Export as shown in the screenshot below:

This invokes the ‘Export to Folder’ dialog:

Follow the steps listed below to protect your copyright in a batch:

1. Specify the Location folder to which watermarked images will be exported (copied).
2. Specify Image Size if required. Leave this option unchanged to use the original size.
3. Select an appropriate image quality. Let’s use Maximum.
4. Select the Add watermark option and type the text.
5. And you are done. Click Export to run the batch watermarking.

Picasa Limitations

• In Picasa, image watermarks are not supported. Only text can be used.
• You cannot specify font settings (font name, size, color, etc). In Picasa, a watermark is white text (for dark photos) and black text (for light photos).
• You are not allowed to specify the location at which a watermark should be embedded. In Picasa, a watermark is added to the lower-right corner of photos.

Want to embed images or adjustable strings to the required location?

Performance Measurements

Finally, let’s measure how much time it takes Picasa 3.9.0 to embed a custom string in multiple images. The results are shown in the table below:

Processor:    Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU 2.00GHz 2.00GHz

RAM:          8.00 GB

System type:  64-bit Operating System 

Want to watermark much more photos during the same time?

Get Started Watermarking

Run Adobe Lightroom 4.0. In the Library, select photos need to be watermarked and click Export:

This invokes the ‘Export’ dialog allowing you to specify the destination folder, file settings (image format, color space, size, sharpening, etc), watermarks and much more.

To add a watermark, turn on the Watermark option, and select Edit Watermarks… from the dropdown. This invokes the Watermark Editor allowing you to create a text watermark or use an existing graphic.

Creating Text Watermarks

1. Select Text Watermark Style.
2. Type the required text within the edit box displayed below the image.
3. Customize Text Options – font name, font style, horizontal alignment, color and shadow settings.

4. Adjust watermark effects if required. These include opacity, size, horizontal and vertical offsets, location within a photo.

1. Click Save to save the new watermark as a preset and close the Watermark Editor dialog.  Once saved, this preset can be used again.
2. Click Export start the batch process.

Creating Graphic Watermarks

1. Select Graphic Watermark Style.
2. This invokes the File Open dialog allowing you to choose the graphic to be used as a watermark.
3. Adjust watermark effects if required. These include opacity, size, horizontal and vertical offsets, location within a photo.
4. Click Save to save the new watermark as a preset and close the Watermark Editor dialog.  Once saved, this preset can be used again.
5. Click Export start the batch process.

The result is shown in the image below:

Performance Measurements

Finally, let’s measure how much time it takes Abode Lightroom 4.0 to embed a graphic in multiple photos. The result is shown in the table below:

Processor:    Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU 2.00GHz 2.00GHz

RAM:          8.00 GB

System type:  64-bit Operating System

Want to watermark 10K photos during the same time?

Whether you are a photographer, web designer or blogger, you’ve most probably had to deal with the headache of protecting your digital photos copyright. It’s easy enough to watermark, let’s say, ten or twenty pictures. But what if you have to process 10K pictures?

Batch image processing can make this process extremely faster and nearly painless. In this article, you’ll learn how to add the watermark to multiple photos in a batch using Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.

Get Started Watermarking

Run Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. Go to the File menu and select ‘Process Multiple Files…’ as shown in the screenshot below:

This invokes the ‘Process Multiple Files’ dialog:

In this tutorial, let’s do the following:

1. Specify the Source folder which contains images you want to watermark. Note all your images should be contained in the same folder (or device).
2. Specify the Destination folder to which watermarked images will be copied.
3. In the Labes group, select ‘Watermark’, type the text and customize its settings (position, opacity and font settings).

You can also use additional options to rename watermarked images, perform image enhancements (use Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Color and Sharpen options), specify the size, quality and output file type.

1. And you are done. Click OK to run the batch watermarking.

Limitations

The batch engine in Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 doesn’t allow you to use images or vector graphics as watermarks.

Want to use images as watermarks? 

Performance Measurements

Finally, let’s measure how much time it takes Abode Photoshop Elements 11 to embed a custom string in multiple images. The results are shown in the table below:

Processor:    Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU 2.00GHz 2.00GHz

RAM:          8.00 GB

System type:  64-bit Operating System

Want to watermark 10K photos during the same time?

You can find a lot of articles online regarding which digital image format should you shoot: RAW or JPEG. I newer shoot JPEG. Here‘s why.

Extended Dynamic Range

You get the most of the possible data from your image sensor in the camera. You can make HDR photos.

Huge Control

You can adjust picture settings after you’ve taken it. These are: white balance, contrast, sharpening, noise reduction, exposure, saturation, levels and much more parameters.

Highest Level of Quality and Lossless Post Processing

Pixel values are more precise and the photo is rendered more accurately. You can make adjustments to your photos yourself. Having made a change to one photo, you can save these settings and apply those to other photos taken in similar conditions. When you make adjustments to a RAW file, you don’t modify the original image. You can resent your adjustments, and start over again.

Advanced Color Correction

12 or 14 bits of image data provides unlimited editing capabilities in working with colors, highlights and shadows.

Multi-Format Converting

You can convert a RAW file to other digital image format: JPEG or TIFF. When exporting a RAW file, you can choose from any color space.

KickStarter is a website that allows inventors to promote their projects using images, video presentation and descriptions for everyone to see and generate funding. When a project is fully funded, it is brought to market and begins shipping.

The number of photography-related products is incredibly high, ranging from unique iPhone lens attachments to versatile camera stabilizers and more! Here are our top 10 favorite KickStarter photography projects (continued).

Projects 1-5 are available in the previous part here.

6. CineMoco ● Motor Control for your Camera by Cinetics

CineMoco is a small motor-controlled dolly and slider developed by Cinetics that allows you to take great videos and time-spanning images. The idea is simple: you place the camera on the dolly, set the motor to move it slowly past the scene and either take multiple shots, or one continuous video.

You can also use the CineMoco along with the CineSkates to capture cool panning images using the motorized dolly. The software that controls CineMoco is open-source and Cinetics invites photographers and videographers to write their own scripts for the dolly and create a library of pre-programmed movement shots.

Take a look at the presentation video and also visit their website and KickStarter page for more exciting information.

7. Bird Photo Booth – Experience nature like never before by Bryson Lovett

Created by bird photo enthusiast Bryson Lovett and inspired by the Polaroid Land Camera from the 1950s, the Bird Photo Booth is an innovative bird feeder that allows you to observe birds like never before.

You can easily setup the booth by putting your iPhone, iPod Touch or GoPro camera inside and then walk away from the booth and watch a live stream on an iPhone, iPad, or other device using a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity.

Photographs can be snapped remotely by connecting your iPhone to an iPad that runs a remote camera app. When you want to snap a picture of a bird that you like, simply press the button on the app and you’re done!

Here you can watch a video presentation and make sure to check their KickStarter page and website for more details. Another video presentation is available here.

8. EZ-Steady- iPhone, DSLR, GoPro Camera Stabilizer by Kyle Hart 

Created by inventor Kyle Hart, the EZ-Steady Camera Stabilizer is a small but clever DSRL stabilization system that helps you create professional videos using the camera that smoothly runs around the scene.

The concept is simple – the hand-held device eliminates camera shake and gives your videos a sense of flying. Typically, when you move with the camera in your hand you are sending some of the body’s vibrations on to the camera. This stabilizing system detaches the camera from your using a gimbal.

The camera remains vertical at all times by having attached a set of weights around the frame of the stabilizer that creates balance for the camera. Once the camera is stabilized you can freely walk or even run around taking it by the handle – the camera remains fixed on the gimbal, unable to capture your body’s movement or shaking.

Check out the presentation video and also visit their website and KickStarter page for more interesting facts.

9. Astro: Time-Lapse + Motion Control by Oscar Ramírez 

Created by Oscar Ramírez, the Astro Time Lapse Motion Controller allows you to add a little more creativity to your images and videos by creating great time-lapsed panning.

The Astro will be placed under your camera and allow you to control both the duration and range of movement from 0 to 360 degrees. Astro is compatible with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Minolta and just about any camera with a remote input.

Astro connects to your camera using a cable and runs on 2 AA batteries. Go watch the video presentation and also check out their KickStarter page for more cool details.

10. Lens/Focus Shifter – Lens Mounted Follow Focus by Daniel Bauen + Microfacturing

The Lens/Focus Shifter has been developed by Daniel Bauen + Microfacturing and its purpose is to improve manual focus when taking photographs. The arrow on the Shifter ensures smooth transition between focus points.

The Shifter and Focus Marker Board attach easily to any lens with diameter between 56mm – 98mm. Attach the Shifter by sliding it onto the lens focus ring and hold it in place by tightening the ball end. The Focus Marker attaches to the lens with a rubber band and has elastic feet to stop it from slipping.

Here you can watch a video presentation and also visit their KickStarter page and website for more details.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are a lot of great ideas out there and with some help from you and other photography enthusiasts, some of these will come to life. What projects would you be most interested in to purchase for your photo and video productions? Go over to KickStarter and back the projects that you liked most!