How to Easily Use Watermarks in Lightroom

If you’re like most outdoor photographers, you work hard to capture a great composition. You might post your best ones on various sites like Flickr, Facebook, and Instagram. You worry about your images being used without your permission and even for profit. How do you protect your photographs from theft? By using watermarks on your image files. You can create these watermarks in Lightroom. In this video lesson, Outdoor Photography Guide’s pro photographer David Johnston shows you how.

You begin by editing an image file in Lightroom to your satisfaction. Now begins the process of adding watermarks in Lightroom. Select Export in the main File menu, then scroll down to the Watermarking setting and select Watermark, and then Edit Watermark. A new image window appears and offers you options to place your watermarks in Lightroom. David recommends the copyright option, e.g., © David Johnston.

The next step in watermarks in Lightroom is selecting the anchor point, where the copyright will appear on your image. David selects the lower left, the most common location. There are other adjustment options: size, font, opacity, and positioning, and you may want to experiment with those.

Watermarks in Lightroom also offers you the choice of using your own logo. Under the File menu, select Image Options. David suggests using a PNG file for its transparent background. You also need to create a logo file with personalized symbols that represent your work. Once you choose a logo, you can import it into Lightroom and follow the same procedure as with copyrighting.

In this video lesson, Outdoor Photography Guide’s professional photographer David Johnston walks you through the process of placing a copyright symbol on your images. Watermarks in Lightroom will help you protect your images and also show your brand.