Welcome to my little corner of "The Cloud"
LIST OF FREE PATTERNS
BOTTOM LEFT SIDE OF PAGE

FAVORITE PAGES INDEX TOP RIGHT
DOUBLE CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE FOR VIEWING
All patterns written in US crochet terms

Top 10 Most Popular Patterns This Week

Friday, September 1, 2017

How To Protect Your Photos

There are free apps you can download to watermark your photos but this is the easiest, free way i know how to do it, all you need is Microsoft paint on your system. This is written for computer but I am pretty sure where I say click, you can probably  just tap on your tablet or phone. 


Open your pictures folder and locate the photo you want to watermark, right click on the photo and choose “open with” from the drop down menu.  Then Choose “Paint” from the list of options.

Screenshot (136)


When Paint opens, the photo will probably be huge, so open the view tab and click on zoom tab to get your photo to a usable size.

Screenshot (138)


On the “Home” screen, you can rotate your photo, or not, before you place your watermark.   Click on the “A” in the tool bar to activate a text box. 

3   b

Choose where you want to place your watermark.  Drag the cursor across the photo and down to create a text box.  It will have a dotted line around it.  You can resize it by dragging it more. You can make it the size of the whole photo, or you can just start over.  When the text box is open you see a new tab with “text tools”.   Choose  your font style, font size and font color.  I suggest you choose a contrasting color for your font.  Light gray or white on dark photos and a darker shade on light photos.  Also be sure to choose “transparent” in the background box so you will not have a white background bar across your photo when finished.

Screenshot (142)

Once you have your tool selections made, click inside the text box, that you have drawn.  This is where you write the information you want to use for your watermark.  This is your choice.  I use my blog URL (internet address), you can use your name, the URL of your Etsy Store or Blog page.  Anything you choose.  Just don’t make it too long as it needs to fit on the face of the photo. While working in the text box you can still change the color of the text or the size by highlighting that text and select the new color or text size.  That way you can judge what looks best.
Once you have typed what you want for your watermark, click anywhere outside the text box.  The box lines will disappear and your watermark is set.  But if you don’t like it you can go to the little blue “redo" arrow and keep starting over until you get it how you want it. 
I suggest you give it a bit of thought, and create your watermark with a plan for long term usage.  By watermarking all of your photos with the same watermark, you are marking your property and style. 

This method is also excellent for writing names and/or dates on old family photos for the next generation or even events, awards or vacation photos. 


Once the photo is marked the way you like it, choose “File” then choose “save as” and click on JPEG Picture.  Be sure to choose a “different name” for your photo before you save it.  That way your original photo will still be intact. 
You can change your photo as long as it is active in Paint.  Once you close paint there is no way to undo your watermark.
I suggest you use only watermarked photos on the internet unless you don’t mind if someone steals them. 

PS:  This is the link for the pattern used in this tutorial.
563000_347526755298535_2109692566_n2
http://idealdelusions.blogspot.com/2012/03/raspberry-sherbet.html
Dorie