There are several ways to add your logo, or watermark, to pictures used on your blog. This helps deter individuals from stealing original pictures from your website and then using those pictures without giving you credit.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to add a logo like I have done in this picture of my new bento box.

Let’s get started.

First, you need a graphics program to do this. I use Photoshop Elements, and it will be the program I feature in today’s post.

Second, you need the file that you want to add the watermark to. For this example, I’m using my recent picture of my new red, rectangular bento box (the one above.)

You also need a black and white picture of your website’s logo. The logo image must be smaller than the image you plan to add it to. Here’s a look at my black and white logo image.

Now, you’re ready to begin working in Photoshop Elements. You need to open both pictures in PSE.

In the center of the light gray area is the picture you are working on. Below it is a dark gray area with the thumbnails of the two pictures you opened. This is a navigation area of all the images you have opened in PSE.

Double click the black and white logo image. It will now become the active image in the middle of the light gray area.

The next thing we want to do is to select this whole image so we can copy it onto the other image. You will do this by pressing Ctrl+A. This executes the “Select All” command. A dotted line should appear around the edge of the image indicating you’ve selected the whole image.

Now, click Ctrl+C, or Edit>Copy, to copy the image to your computer’s memory (or clipboard as it is called).

Now, double click the thumbnail (remember that dark gray area?) of the picture you want to place this logo onto. This brings that photo back to the center of the work screen.

Click on Edit>Paste.

This will paste the black and white copy of the logo onto your picture. Normally, it will appear right in the middle of the screen.

Before we go any further, we must talk a small amount about layers.

In the lower right hand corner of the PSE screen is the Layers Palette. This shows you all the layers of your image. Think of layers as transparent pieces of paper that you can lay ontop of each other. This means, you can make changes to one layer to achieve a certain look without changing another layer or damaging your original picture. This is very useful, especially when you want to undo changes you’ve made.

Now, I want to rename this layer so that I know exactly what is in this layer. Double click on Layer 1. The text becomes highlighted in blue.

You can now rename the layer.

I’m going to name this layer “logo watermark.” You can name your layer whatever makes sense to you.

Next, I want you to notice that the logo watermark layer is light gray. That means this is the layer currently active…the layer you are working on. This is very important for the next step. If your logo layer is not the active layer, click on it once in the layers palette. It should then turn light gray and be ready for modifications.

Now, we need to move the logo to its proper position. In this photo, I want the logo to appear in the lower right hand corner. The first thing I need to do is select the logo. I do this by using the Move tool. You can either click on the move tool in the tool bar or you can press “V” key on your keyboard. The move tool is the first tool in your PSE toolbar on the left side of the working area (where your image is).

When you select the move tool, place holder boxes show up around the active layer. You can click and drag those place holder boxese to enlarge or shrink your logo. I like the size of this logo in comparison to the rest of the picture. So, I’m going to leave its current size alone.

Now, we need to move this layer. I do this by holding down the Ctrl key while dragging the layer where I want it to be. I will drag the layer by clicking on the logo and holding the left mouse button down while moving the logo into the position I want. By holding down the Ctrl key while dragging the layer, I can move it anywhere I want. The explanation on the importance of the Ctrl key is going to take longer than I wish. Just trust me, and hold down the Ctrl key while dragging.

Now, drag that logo layer into the position you want it.

Perfect! That’s just where I want the logo. Now, I just don’t want it to be so noticeable. The first thing I’m going to do is make an adjustment to this layer.

Look at this layer in your Layers Palette. In the layers palette, you’ll notice a drop down box called Mode. These are the different blending modes that can be applied to layers in an image. Your logo layer should say Normal right now.

The blending modes apply an effect that blends into the layer and causes it to look different. We want to choose the darken mode. Here’s what Darken does. It finds the darker color and uses that as the base color, the color that won’t change. Then, it finds any pixels lighter than the base color and replaces those. Or so, that’s what PSE’s help file says. Here’s what I know. With a black and white layer, like our logo, the Darken mode will keep the black part and the white parts of the image will disappear.

Choose darken…

The logo layer will now look like this:

Way cool huh? Now, I don’t want that logo to be so stark. I’d like to lighten it a bit so that it’s still noticeable, but not quite so in your face. The next thing we are going to do is to adjust the transparency of the logo layer. In the layers palette, this is called opacity. It is currently set at 100%. This means that the colors of that layer are at their strongest. If we bring the percentage down, it will lighten this layer, allowing the layer behind (the background layer) to show through the logo. In the case of this black and white image, it will also mean it will turn more gray, rather than being a stark black.

Set your transparency, or opacity, between 35% and 45%. Your logo should now look something like the one below:

Before we can easily save the file as a jpeg in PSE, I want to flatten all these layers. That means I’m going to meld all those transparent sheets of paper together into 1. I won’t have control anymore over individual layers, but that’s okay. I’m done with my image now. This the absolute last step in the process. Don’t flatten your image until you’ve made all the adjustments to your picture that you want to make.

Select Layer in the menu bar at the top. Then, click on Flatten Image.

After you do this, notice your Layers Pallete.

It went from having two layers, like this:

To having one layer, like this:

Now, you’re done with your image. Simply save it as a jpg, load it to your blog, and post!

Hopefully, this tutorial was clearer than mud!