How to add a watermark to a photo
If you share photos of your work —designs, products, photography— a watermark keeps your authorship visible and discourages use without permission. You don't need a complicated editor: it's enough to put your name or brand over the image, with the right size and opacity. This guide shows where to place it, how to keep it discreet but legible, and how much it really protects.
Text mark: the simplest and most effective
The most common and quickest watermark is text: your
name, your @handle or your brand name. You type it, drag it
wherever you want and adjust size, color and effect. The key to a
professional look is in three details: position, size and legibility.
Step by step
- Open your photo in the watermark tool.
- Type your name or brand.
- Drag it to a corner and shrink the size (or use the tiled mode to cover the whole image).
- Choose a light color with an outline or shadow so it reads on any background.
- Download as PNG or JPG.
Where to place it: protection vs. aesthetics
- Corner (bottom right): the standard, discreet and elegant — but easy to crop off.
- Centered or large: harder to remove, at the cost of covering part of the photo. Useful for previews you don't want used.
- Tiled (repeated): maximum protection, minimum aesthetics; used by stock image banks.
For most cases, a discreet mark in a corner is the best balance.
The detail: readable on any background
A white mark disappears over a light area; a black one, over a dark one. That's why it pays to enable an outline or a shadow: it separates the text from the background and keeps it readable always, no matter what's underneath. White with a subtle dark outline is the safest combination.
How much does it really protect?
Let's be honest: a watermark deters, it doesn't armor. One in the corner can be cropped; a centered one, someone can try to remove. But it keeps your authorship visible, stops casual use and works as a signature. For more protection, combine the mark with not publishing the full resolution of your photos.
Without uploading your photo anywhere
Everything is composed in your browser: the watermarked photo is generated locally and isn't uploaded to any server.
We tested it: tiled and hard to remove
We applied a text watermark repeated diagonally over the whole photo. With the opacity at ~28% the mark is readable but doesn't cover the image, and being tiled it's much more annoying to erase than a single mark in a corner.
You can change text, color, size, angle and spacing live. Everything is applied in the browser, without uploading the photo: useful precisely when you want to protect an image before publishing it.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I place the watermark?
A corner is discreet but easy to crop; centered or large protects more at the cost of aesthetics. For most cases, a corner is the best balance.
What opacity should it have?
Semi-transparent, with a light color and a subtle outline: it looks professional and doesn't cover the photo. Neither too opaque nor too faint.
Does a watermark fully prevent my photo from being stolen?
Not 100%: it deters and keeps your authorship visible. For maximum protection, combine it with not publishing the full resolution.
Is my photo uploaded to a server?
No. The watermark is composed in your browser; the photo isn't uploaded or stored.
Add my watermark →More guides and tools
Photo filters
Black & white, sepia, vivid and brightness/contrast/saturation adjustments, in your browser.
Remove the background from a photo free, no watermark and no sign-up
Exports come out clean, with no watermark — the opposite of what many "free" tools do.