Image Watermark Adder
Mark an image as yours — without handing it to a website first.
What the image Watermark Adder does
A watermark is a claim of authorship printed onto the image itself, so it survives being screenshotted, re-saved and re-posted in a way that a metadata credit does not. This tool applies either a text watermark or a logo image, composites it onto your picture with the Canvas API, and gives you back a PNG.
The controls cover the decisions that actually matter. Position offers the nine standard anchor points; bottom right is the default because it is where viewers expect a credit and where it is least likely to sit over the subject. Opacity is the setting people get wrong most often — somewhere between 40% and 60% is usually right, visible enough to read but not so heavy that it competes with the image. Size is set as a percentage of the image, so the same setting works on a thumbnail and a full-resolution photo. Rotation is mainly useful for a diagonal mark.
The tiling option repeats the watermark across the entire image on a diagonal. It is far harder to crop or clone out than a single corner mark, which makes it the right choice for proofs and preview copies that you are sending to a client before payment. It is the wrong choice for a portfolio piece, where it destroys the image you are trying to show off.
For a logo watermark, a PNG with a transparent background gives much the best result — a logo on a white rectangle will stamp that rectangle onto the photo. Output is always PNG, so the watermark edges stay crisp; run it through the Image Compressor afterwards if you need a smaller file.
How to use it
- Load the image you want to protect.
- Choose a text watermark and type your credit, or switch to the Logo tab and load a transparent PNG.
- Set position, size and opacity — around 50% opacity in a corner suits most published images.
- For proofs sent to clients, tick Tile so the mark cannot easily be cropped out. Then download.
A worked example
Two very different jobs, from the same photograph:
| Purpose | Settings | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Published portfolio image | Text, bottom right, 5% size, 45% opacity, no tiling | Readable credit that stays out of the composition |
| Client proof before payment | Text, tiled, 6% size, 30% opacity, −20° rotation | Covers the whole frame so it cannot be cropped away, but light enough to judge the picture |
| Brand asset for social | Logo, bottom left, 18% width, 80% opacity | A logo reads as branding rather than as a defensive mark |
The tiled proof is the case people underestimate. A single corner watermark takes about four seconds to crop off; a tiled one at low opacity across the whole frame cannot be removed without visibly damaging the image.
Frequently asked questions
Does a watermark stop people stealing my photo?
It raises the effort and makes casual reuse obviously attributable, which is often enough. It is not absolute — a determined person can crop, clone or inpaint one out. Tiling makes that meaningfully harder; a small corner mark barely slows it down.
What opacity should I use?
For published work, 40–60% is the usual range: legible without dominating. For proofs where deterrence matters more than looks, 25–35% tiled across the frame works better, because it covers everything without obscuring detail.
Why does my logo have a white box around it?
The logo file has a solid background rather than a transparent one. Use a PNG with real transparency; if you only have a JPEG logo, the white background is baked into the file and cannot be removed by this tool.
Does watermarking change the original file?
No. The tool builds a new image in your browser and offers it as a download. Your original file on disk is untouched, and nothing is uploaded at any point.