Visible watermarks are an easy and reasonably effective way to identify and protect copyrighted or proprietary images. Nevertheless, when it is necessary to watermark a large number of images, the process can become very tedious. Through the use of a profile, however, there is an effective solution to this difficulty. Once an appropriate watermark has been designed, be it a signature, logo or other identifying text, a profile may be written to perform a set of instructions that insets the watermark in the image. Some image processing packages, such as Image Converter Plus, provide profileing support to perform batch watermarking of images.
Original image
Image with visible watermark
The profile for batch watermarking should specify the image to be used as the watermark, the placement of the watermark in the photo or other image to be marked and, possibly, any additional operations. The watermark may be simply placed over the image, or it may be added in a transparent fashion that largely leaves the image scene undistorted. Embellishments may also be employed; for instance, text used for watermarking may be embossed or engraved. Image formats that can handle transparency are best for the watermark image, since they can provide higher-quality appearance with less unwanted image distortion. Once a batch of image files is specified, the profile may be run to add the watermark to each image. Since the process is performed automatically by the image processing package, even inexperienced users can produce results that appear clear and professional.
The output of a batch watermarking should be a set of new files, since it is best to maintain copies of the original images. Once watermarked, the original image file is permanently altered, and restoring the original scene may be extremely difficult or impossible.
Batch watermarking provides a convenient way to identify and protect a large number of images. This process can be useful if the images are to be uploaded to the Web. The uniformly added watermarks provide a way to identify the source of images and to give a professional appearance to photos or works of art that have been made public, either on the Internet or, if printed from the watermarked file, out in the real world.
Author: Jeffrey Clark