Creating a Transparent Overlay for Signatures and Watermarks in Photoshop

I’ve been asked how I create the transparent watermarks / overlays I use on the images I post online, so I’ve written up a small tutorial.

So here we go … quick and easy:

Open photoshop and crank up a new document 800 x 800 or so

Background contents: transparent

Hit ok

Duplicate this layer

Open text / type tool

Type the text that you want to use for your watermark or signature on the second layer

Select the text (don’t let it create a new text layer … select on the text layer itself)

Go to “styles”

Look for “Clear Emboss – Outer Bevel” which is a gray box with a hint of an edge to the bottom and right …(this box is located to the immediate left of a gray box with a large wide red border) … these are in your regular Photoshop style offerings.  You may have to append some that are stored in PS to find it 

Click the gray box with the hint of an edge

You will see your text raise up, with a hint of a shadow

Save as whatever you want to name this document, as a .png file (with 2 layers) … do not flatten or merge down. I’m on a Mac, so I just save to the desktop …

“Interlace – None”

I then actually delete the original overlay … and go to my desktop and slide the new transparent overlay back into Photoshop.

It should be on a gray and white checkerboard and appear as a single layer.

On the transparent overlay layer, select all … then go to the image you want it to use it on, select paste … and there it is.

Transform the overlay to where you want it to sit on the base image, and adjust to what size you want it to be.

Depending on how paranoid I’m feeling on the day I post the image, I adjust the opacity of the overlay layer.   Sometimes I lower it, but sometimes I even duplicate it to make it more pronounced.  

I’m all about protecting our online artwork and other postings as much as we can, so please feel free to share this blog.

Questions, just let me know.

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