Watermarking is a common method for enhancing copyright protection. By adding a watermark to your photos, most users won't be able to steal your photo. But did you know that watermarks can be undone? In this article, you'll learn how watermarks are removed and how to protect your images by adding watermarks that are difficult to remove.
Please be advised that we do not condone removing watermarks for the purpose of stealing or duplicating works by others. We will not reveal any advance watermark removal techniques.
Watermarking Mistakes
Adding a watermark will stop some from illegally using the image, but there are still many left who will take the time to remove the watermarks. Watermarking over a plain or simple background is unsafe against those with strong intentions to illegally use the image. Here's why:
Watermark Over a Plain Background
Watermark Over a Simple Background
{mospagebreak title=Watermarks Can be Undone}
Watermarks Can be Undone
Anyone with a strong background with advance image editors like Photoshop can remove watermarks. If they can duplicate your watermark, they can remove the watermark from your photo. We won't show you how to remove the watermarks, but we'll show you how safe different types of watermarks are and then we'll show you how to prevent advance watermark removals. For someone to remove the watermark techniques shown next requires that the user be able to accurately duplicate the watermark.
50% Opacity Watermark
50% Opacity + Color Watermark
50% Opacity + Color + Overlay Watermark
50% Opacity + Emboss
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How to Create Safe Watermarks
Follow these guidelines to create safe watermarks that are difficult to remove.
Place the Watermark on a Busy Background
This method prevents the simplest watermark removal techniques; painting. It'll take more than Microsoft Paint to remove this watermark!
Use a Large Watermark
Use a large watermark that fills most of the image. This will make it difficult to remove the watermark suing the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush tool.
Use at least 50% Opacity
The lower the opacity, the easier it is to remove the watermark and the less visible the artifacts will be. It is mostly better to use an opaque watermark rather over a small area than a translucent watermark over a large area.
Make the Watermark Hard to Duplicate
Some of the advance watermark removal techniques require duplicating the effect 100% accurately. To prevent this, make the watermark hard to duplicate by using unique fonts, type settings, and effect. Consider adding more than text, such as a logo or a unique shape
Ensure That the Watermark is Visible on All Channels
If you don't know what channels are, don't worry. This only applies to a very few watermark styles that are either 100% red, green, or blue.
Most watermark styles are visible on all layers, but there are some that may only be visible on one channel. If the watermark is only visible on one channel, the watermark in that channel can be replaced with information from another similar looking channel.
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Show/Hide commentswritten by Nils, November 30, 2008
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written by noone, July 24, 2008
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written by Simon Brown, June 11, 2008
Sorry Ken, you're wrong. There are a lot of thieves out there; and they will strip out watermarks, along with ITPC and exif data. As a working pro this is a significant concern, enough to consider the cost of commercial watermarking systems a viable expense.
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written by amerikanu, March 23, 2008
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written by Beware, February 04, 2008
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written by Encore, December 29, 2007
and I just figured out how you removed the watermarks by looking the images.. really neat thinking
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written by Ken, November 29, 2007
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